PAOLO MARTIN in CAR STYLING MAGAZINE
Aerodynamics, Automotive Design, Concept cars, Concourse D'Elegance, De Tomaso, Designers, Experimental Vehicles, Ferrari, Flamboyant Cars, Fuoriserie, Italian Cars, Italian Coachbuilders, Paolo Martin, Pininfarina, Show cars, Sports Cars, Supercars, Tuned for the road 3 Comments ».
Combining creativity with complete know-how and modern technology.
I would like to share with you this report recently published in Japan by Car Styling magazine. A special issue dedicated to the Italian Designers and “Carrozzeria”.
Within the territories of one-man-design-show, resisting in and around Torino, Paolo Martin keeps his creativity and design work running in many directions. As usual. His hairs are whiter than ever but his genius is evergreen, just as it is the case for secluded Marcelo Gandini and public-persona Giorgetto Giugiaro.
He is one of the very few talents left that has a complete understanding of car design and body construction. One of the few men who can tackle any aspect of the process. As such he is a very precious heritage of the traditional art of coach building.
It is for this reason that he regrets that he receives less commission from the car, yacht and motorcycle industry these days of decline. He still has plenty of good ideas that could be turned into a successful project. Even more relevant he regrets he has few chances of passing over to the young generations his past experience, just as Maestro Giovanni Michelotti did with him when he was 16 years old.
On the other side, he is happy to take commissions from private investors and enthusiasts. He loves the human relations with them and the exchange of cultural input, be it from the Arabian Peninsula, the Far East or the Americas.
On the projects he develops for private customers he must keep the secret, unless authorized by his patron.
Recently, he was allowed to release some interesting design works he developed in the past couple of years.
Three projects he had a lot of fun to work with.
One for a multifunctional “Desert Running Suite” that combines a carry-on tent of some 100 square meters blossoming from a sort of very large 6×6 all-road heavy-duty vehicle carrying a small living room with all comfort and all the most sophisticated equipment that tycoons, VIP, government officials may want or need to take with them in the desert for a mission, a week-end excursion or a party.
One derivative also considers a sort of moving “ceremony hall on wheels for the desert”.
A sophisticated mechanism develops the huge tent in minutes and displays solar cell panels providing plenty of energy for the satellite communication centre and other amenities. The execution of the vehicle has been put on hold after the recent turmoil in Nord Africa.
The second project is a typical “coachbuilder” sportcar that is clearly inspired to the popular De Tomaso mid-engined V8 two-seater that the new “De Tomaso” company is to unveil at the Los Angeles auto show later this year. His project has not been commissioned by the company but by a private collector who was eager to see what could done at this time to revive the myth of the affordable supercar and have one built for himself.
The layout, dimensions and proportions are very modern and yet there is the de Tomaso DNA in this car.
This second project shows how Paolo Martin has kept up with the CAD and virtual modelling technologies and indeed he has developed the “2 Posti Sportiva 2012” in few weeks on his PC with all the technicalities integrated into the project and the basic data for quick and economical milling.
Probably Paolo Martin is the only star designer who emerged in the great old times (the 60ies and 70ies) of Italian coachbuilding and has developed his skill to confirm and visualize his design ideas through contemeporary virtual technology.
See his renderings for self-speaking evidence. Obviously we need not to comment on his own, very elegant and dynamic design for a modern mid-engined sport car.
We would simply add that we would love to see it in the real world.
We can show also a third project that Paolo Martin has developed on his own after the instigation of a journalist who asked him how he would design the Modulo of the third millennium.
In no time Martin penned what he calls the “Modulo Enzo”. A design that is absolutely up to the mythical name of “Modulo” and of Ferrari. Again, the project is not just a beautiful rendering created on a PC but a realistic vision (though futuristic, like he Modulo) of a super Ferrari. The car is feasible, with few concessions, and recently a famous connoisseur and collector has shown interest in having one built for himself.
That would certainly be a dream of millions enthusiasts coming true and a fantastic promotional vehicle for a high-tech company.
End of this report by Giancarlo Perini ©.
Eventually, the big day for Jason Castiota with Stile Bertone came yesterday. Its Stile Bertone Corvette ZR1 Mantide was presented to a small number of friends, colleagues, suppliers and friends, at the superlative Fiat Group Automobiles proving ground in Balocco just a couple of hours after the latest details were fixed in Caprie. 
Faithful to the coachbuilder tradition the one-off came late to the meeting, as if that had been orchestrated to further tease those eager to see it and get a first hand impression. 
Well, my first impression is that the Mantide look fine in pictures and a lot better in reality. Some fussy detail in the back are much less obvious, the roof profile looks very dynamic and express a clear message of high speed, the design is structured and occasionally complex but the main surfaces are perfectly mastered. 
It is at the front that Castriota’s team has left room for improvement. Obviously organising in a harmonius composition the never-ending surface of the front bonnet is not easy, especially when you want to make a strong impression. 
The many facets of the front seem to be inspired to a diamond but the outcome is not so brillant. 
In action, at very reasonable speeds (no problem was the imperative), the silhouette look very exciting and by the end of the day I might end up liking this design better than that of the Pininfarina P4/5 Ferrari Enzo. 
According to Jason Castriota, the Mantide might be sold to a Chinese enthusiast. The price is now at 1.5 million Euros, but those who are ready to pay some 650,000 euros for one the five units (one per continent?) might get one to their own specifications. Bertone would love to build if as many orders are placed after the car is presented, tomorrow, at the Concorso d’Eleganza di Villa d’Este. 
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