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 ©.

Just 21 days ahead of the Auto Shanghai 2011 show, BMW has officially released the news concerning the very unique and amazingly fast M3 Pick-up developed by a task force in a very short period of time.

Considering the speed of the entire development, today I prefer to let the press-office tell you the entire story by reproducing here the full press release, issued just few hours ago.

Media Information 01 April 2011

Unique: BMW M GmbH develops the world’s fastest pickup. Drive and suspension technology from the BMW M3 – comprehensive testing completed on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife – 420 hp and 450 kg load capacity – world premiere on 1 April 2011.

Munich. Following the BMW M3 Coupé, BMW M3 Convertible and BMW M3 Sedan, a fourth body variant of this globally successful high-performance sports car is about to cause a stir. Under the strictest secrecy, the world’s first high-performance pickup has been created at the BMW M GmbH development centre. The sportiest example by far in this vehicle category, the BMW M3 Pickup will fire the imaginations of all motorists with a deep appreciation of top performance matched by a keen practical bent. 309 kW/420 hp under the bonnet and a rear-axle load capacity of up to 450 kilos take the hallmark BMW M relationship between race-oriented driving pleasure and everyday utility to an entirely new level. This unique vehicle has already completed extensive test and set-up drives on the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife in advance of its global unveiling on 1 April 2011.

With this vehicle, BMW M GmbH once again furnishes evidence of its exceptional competence in developing and building high-grade, individual dream cars. With a high-revving V8 engine at the front, a generously sized load area behind and a removable Targa roof above, driver and passengers in the BMW M3 Pickup will relish an unprecedented take on the familiar M feeling. Yet this spectacular new development is unmistakably recognisable as a member of the BMW M3 model family. Corroborating this kinship are not just the inimitable power of the engine, but also fine-tuned aerodynamics and a tailored suspension set-up. Measurements in the wind tunnel at the BMW Group’s Aerodynamic Test Centre showed a Cd factor on a par with that of the BMW M3 Coupé. Like every BMW M model, the BMW M3 Pickup has also demonstrated its dynamic potential on the North Loop of the Nürburgring. Official lap times have not yet been released, but the needle in the dial vouched for a top speed of 300 km/h.

The kerb weight of the world’s fastest pickup undercuts that of the BMW M3 Convertible by around 50 kilograms. Removing the Targa roof shaves off a

further 20 kg while at the same time lowering the car’s centre of gravity. This most unusual experience of top-down driving pleasure in a BMW M3 thus goes hand in hand with further optimised dynamic handling.

The practical features of the BMW M3 Pickup are no less impressive. Maximum load capacity has been raised to 450 kilograms. The load bed of the BMW M3 Pickup is clad in high-grade structured aluminium sheeting and provides the biggest cargo capacity ever offered on a BMW M vehicle. In terms of the unit of measurement generally applied to premium automobiles, that gives the loading area of the BMW M3 Pickup the capacity to carry up to 20 standard 46-inch golf bags. What’s more, the BMW M3 Pickup is the first BMW M3 variant in the 25-year-plus history of this model range to come with a trailer tow hitch.

Notwithstanding these unquestionable stand-out qualities, the BMW M3 Pickup will not be heading for the golf course or series development, but will retain its status as an exclusive one-off. It is earmarked for use as a workshop transport vehicle for BMW M GmbH. With this in mind, the current BMW M3 Pickup – unlike a similar predecessor built back in the 1980s – has gone through the requisite procedures to earn its road certification. Which makes it officially a truck – but one that puts a whole new spin on the meaning of the word.

According to Turin and Detroit insiders, the famous Italian coachbuilder Zagato has just completed the new (and rather unusual) Alfa Romeo TZ 3 “Stradale” that was expected to be unveiled in May this year at the Concorso d’Eleganza di Villa d’Este but instead it will be seen in public for the first time at Pebble Beach in August. And that is for a good reason and a good cause, as we shall see in a moment.

Last year at Villa d’Este Zagato exhibited the Alfa Romeo TZ3 Corsa as a celebration of the 100^th anniversary of the Italian carmaker and won the Design Award of the event.

On that occasion, Andrea Zagato promised a TZ 3 Stradale as a completion of the Alfa Romeo celebrations.

What is indeed surprising today is that the new Alfa Romeo branded “fuoriserie” has actually been built on the bones and mechanics of an existing Dodge Viper ACR. Not the one that Dodge designers are finalising for regular production next year, but one of the old generation, which production was stopped last year, after 18 years in the supercar market. There are some unsold Vipers at the Dodge’s dealers and they could well be dress-up to become fuoriserie by Zagato, according to a long lasting tradition.

Now, the iteration of the thinking behind this Viper/Alfa Romeo TZ 3 Stradale follows a step-by-step logic that is hardly convincing but a convenient fantasy. Viper is a Dodge creature and part of its recent heritage. Dodge is about to share platforms with Alfa Romeo for new cars in the C and D segment, such as the Giulia due to follow late in 2012. Dodge and Alfa Romeo have certainly a common future.

There is more: the Viper itself will share major components “made in Italy” and here is the point. Just like the limited production Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione, the 2010 Zagato TZ 3 Corsa fuoriserie is powered by a V8 Maserati engine of some 420 HP and share several more components sourced from Modena. As such it seems that the TZ 3 Stradale can well establish a spiritual bridge between the past and the future Viper to be exclusively “designed in Detroit” but possibly built in Italy and be for sale around the world. Will it also generate a successor to the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione? Please ask Ralph Gilles the question the first time you meet him.

It may well be that he, and his talented designers, has had some fun actually designing one.

For quotations and to order your copy(ies) go to www.calendari-ufficiali-ferrari.it

Here is a preview for you to enjoy.

Lilli Bertone, the strongly minded widow of the late Nuccio Bertone, is reportedly the only owner of the Stile Bertone design think tank as of July 28^th. After the Turin Court ruled that Mrs. Bertone has the right to a minimal majority stake in the company, with the remaining 49.9periodical in the hands of her two sisters, the Bertone matriarch has succeeded in buying them out and ensure herself 100% of the stakes into Stile Bertone.

The changes in the company management took place the same day, when the new board has been appointed and Marie Jeanne Bertone and her Managing Director, Mr. Gaudio left the company.

Lilli Bertone is the new president and chairman and Mr. Marco Filippa is the new managing director. Reportedly, Lilli Bertone controls Stile Bertone via Bertone Cento.

Jason Castriota, who has a contract as a consultant is still with the company and might stay.

According to a source close to Bertonecento (and indeed Stile Bertone) director Michael Robinson,

Stile Bertone would have no problems working with “such a good designer as Jason” and it will probably be up to Jason to decide if he wants to stay, probably in a different role. Here it will be up to Lilli to create the right conditions for the two talents to from a winning team.

LILLI BERTONE’S   BERTONE CENTO GET THE BRAND NAME AND THE HERITAGE.

Mrs. Lilli Bertone is reportedly the only bidder for the “Bertone” brand name. Or, at least this is what it clearly appeared after the deadline set for the offer. In this case, the three government appointees who are running the rescue-show of the coachbuilding manufacturing Carrozzeria Bertone would have no doubt about the purchaser and the selling price.

According to well placed sources Mrs. Bertone has offered to pay some € 4 million for all rights to the Bertone name and all  its logos and the company Archive.

These assets were considered part of the Carrozzeria Bertone.

The formalities should be completed in few days. As soon as Lilli Bertone is again the owner of the Bertone brand name, Fiat who has only acquired the premises and facilities of Carrozzeria Bertone will remove all Bertone names and symbols from the factory.

STILE BERTONE CORVETTE ZR1 MANTIDE SOLD FOR € 1.5m.

The project launched by Stile Bertone under the management of Marie Jeanne Bertone and Teresio Gaudio for a very special one-off of the Chevrolet ZR1 has been successfully completed. The project was proposed and has been implemented by consulting designer Jason Castriota who conceived, design and directed the entire development of the one-off Corvette ZR1 called Mantide and presented almost simultaneously at the Shanghai Motor Show and the Concorso d’Eleganza di Villa d’Este last April.

The Stile Bertone Mantide has promptly been sold to a wealthy gentleman driver based in the U.S.A. That is the British Dan Watkins who has already driven the car at Goodwood and is now taking his very fast beauty to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

The Stile Bertone Mantide has been test at high speeds on the Nardò ring and has topped 330 kph with its engine in standard setting. That is 20 kph faster than a regular ZR1. According to Jason Castriota, once the engine is set free to rev to the limit in top speed, the Mantide has all it takes to set a new class record at the Nürburgring, sometime next year. Dan Watkins is indeed an amateur racing driver and it is likely that he will hardly resist the temptation.

With the simple title of “Streamlining” the exhibition presented by the Prototype Museum in Hamburg shows the development of car with extreme streamlined bodywork designed to minimize air resistance and maximize performance (and fuel consumption in relation to performance).

To that aim, engineers and designers also seeked for maximum weight reduction and to get the best of the small engines powering their cars.

Here, and in the following posts, I like to report about the exhibition in general and of the very special, and often history making, cars on exhibit at Villa Erba.

Streamlining is the general term applied to the design of aerodynamically optimised car bodies. It goes back to what was considered to be the ideal shape as represented by the body of an airship. It is for good reason that Tom Wolfe entitled his famous 1965 collection of articles “Kandy-kolored Tangerine-flake Streamlined Baby” (http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780553380583&view=excerpt),  referring to the US cars of the 1950s and 60s as designed by Raymond Loewy and others. The range of cars in this special exhibition, though, should persuade you that the phrase “aerodynamics of the motor vehicle”, coined in Germany by Reinhard Koenig-Fachsenfeld, more closely hits the mark of streamlining and that the cradle of the aerodynamic car was to be found in Germany.
For streamlining not only involves reducing air drag to a minimum, it also embraces the phenomena of lift and down-force, which come into play in our everyday cars as much as in motor racing – where they are, of course, infinitely more significant by dint of determining victory or defeat. The Cd figure, or drag coefficient, cited in every test report – and in sales brochures – is the reference parameter which, multiplied by the frontal area of a body, gives you the vehicle’s aerodynamic drag.

The exclusive and very interesting examples of streamlined cars on display were:

KAMM K3 – BASED ON MERCEDES 170 V (1938);

PORSCHE TYPE 64 – BERLIN-ROME CAR (1939);

BMW 328 Wendler (1939);

DELFOSSE DVD (1947);

PETERMAX MÜLLER WORLD RECORD CAR (1948);

TATRA TYPE 87 (1949)  http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/motoring/classic-cars/tatra-type-87-562192.html

PORSCHE 356 COUPE (1950).