Auto Design

LILLI BERTONE HAS FULL CONTROL OF “STILE BERTONE”.

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. Read the rest of this entry »

According to some reports, Stile Bertone has stated that it plans to accept up to ten orders for their Corvette ZR1 Mantide “one off”, each carrying a price tage of 2 million dollars. That is some 1.6 million euros, just 0.1m euros higher than the price Jason Castriota mentioned when I talked to him at the Villa d’Este Concorso a couple of weeks ago. The add-on is probably the price of the full-optional ZR1 serving as the starting point for their job. Read the rest of this entry »

Within the frame of the Concorso d’Eleganza di Villa d’Este, the organisers arranged a very special exhibition at nearby Villa Erba dedicate to a special category of car design (and engineering).

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). Read the rest of this entry »

The Roadster 328 developed in 1935/36 is one of the legends of automobile history. Although it was developed with modest means, the visually attractive sports car quickly developed into a phenomenon that dominated the two-litre class across Europe. Modified motor sport versions won in the Le mans and the Mille Miglia Read the rest of this entry »

The Concorso d’Eleganza di Villa d’Este this years has been as good as the weather. That is to say that half of it was very good, with peaks of excellence, and the remaining half was bad, raining and boring, with touches of ugliness.

 By the end of the elegant week-end on the Lake of Como, one would say it was not one the best edition ever but still offered enough interesting cars to look at, people to greet and talk to, and subjects to discuss.

As such it was one not to be missed. Those who did not attend it missed the extremely rare chance of hearing the sibilo and smelling the pollution of its turbine engine, not to mention seeing this extraordinary visualisation of the dreams about the cars of the future they were dreaming in the fifties and sixties.

  Read the rest of this entry »

One of you has asked me which was your favourite car at Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2009?

Now I am in a hurry to catch a flight out of town but I can try to post a quick reply. Difficult question. Here the first answers. Considering this is a Concorso D’Eleganza and not a competition about the most attractive (for overall qualities such as rarety, power, brand, performance, style, etc.) among the classics my first choice would probably be the 1954 Aston Martin DB 2/4 built by Bertone.

Second choice would be the 1952 Lancia Aurelia B52 built by Vignale.

Among the “concept” I would say that none win my points for elegance but if I have to choose one among them as the most interesting I would say the Mindset (with its very elegant interior)

and the Stile Bertone Mantide for its dynamic proportions and style.

I shall come back to this in a week time, though.

 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.   

Interiors, details, people and more in the photo gallery:  

Far from Turin and Italy, someone else realized how favourable the Chevrolet Corvette chassis and performance package is good. That is the South African carmaker Perana Performance Group that made its first international appearance at the Geneva Motor Show on the Zagato exhibit. There, the world famous Italian designer presented their all-new Perana Z-One (read Piranha Zee-One) designed for the South African company in view of a “limited production” of 999 units per year and with a very strict selling price target, suggested at € 50,000 before taxes.

Here we are not talking of the top version with compressor and 620 HP but of the 6.2 litre V8 engine credited of 440 HP (328 kW) in its setting for Euro 4 emission standards.

The design had to meet the technical requirements of the planned production technology based on fibreglass bodywork, just as the original Chevrolet Corvette.

This high performance two-seater coupé marries a traditional steel-frame chassis, with front engine and rear wheel drive, with the sensual, fluid and yet powerful surfaces tailored to express a sense of commitment to high speed, designed by the talented Nori Harada in the typical Zagato style.

The proportions and volume of Z-One are even tighter, accentuated by a couple of long and dynamic curves with sharp edges which visually integrate strong design features such as the engine bay air outlets on both sides. Surfaces defined by those cutting edges are even more sculptured maintaining the modern Zagato style developed through the past decade.

Whereas the power is a little more than two-thirds of the Spada and Stile Bertone Corvettes, the performance and driving pleasure are only 15% inferior but the selling price is a fifth of the Codatronca and I am very curious to learn the selling price of the Mantide to check out at which fraction the Perana Z-One will sell for.

All right, the Perana Z-One is much less sophisticated and precious as a car but when it comes to design the emotion-for-price rating is easy to evaluate.

It is unfair to compare now the Codatronca with the Perana Z-One. The quality of their pictures is so different. This should be fixed shortly after the Concorso D’Eleganza when I expect to be able to photograph the Perana Z-One in daylight. In the meantime, I can offer you these images shot at the Geneva Motor Show last month.

Zagato is celebrating its 90^th anniversary, under the leadership of founder grandson Andrea Zagato.

Here eventually an image that reflects a bit of the latest Supercar designed by Jason Castriota for Stile Bertone. The ultimate fuoriserie from the famous Italian coachbuilder is called Mantide and will make its first public appearance at the famous “Balocco” Fiat Group Automobile’ proving ground. I think the car is going to look gorgeous, its sound will be intimidating and the speed really high, if the goads of cutting 250 pounds (some 115 kg) off the original weight and the low aerodynamics Cx have actually been achieved.

1970 Bertone Stratos – Just one of many benchmarks for J. Castriota.

According to absolutely unreliable sources, the bespoke supercar being completed at Stile Bertone facilities in Caprie under the direction of Jason Castriota might be called CAT 1. Speculative sources in Torino like to think this might eventually be the name to be given to the first public work of the Italo-American design for Stile Bertone. The bespoke “fuoriserie” into which Stile Bertone and Castriota have invested some six months of intensive design, engineering, manufacturing and video-taping work will be making its first public appearance at the Concorso d’Eleganza di Villa d’Este, in parallel with the disply of its full scale model at the Shanghai Motor Show. According to some, the name is the acronym of Coupé Aerodinamico Tecnologico 1, to stress the company tradition for futuristic design works. Other sources are ready to bet that the actual meaning of the acronym is Castriota Automobili Torino. It seems to be a joke but….why not.

According to one reader, the tail of Stile Bertone supercar has a strikingresemblance to the Stola 1998 Abarth Monotipo