MARCELLO GANDINI
1938-2024
Marcello Gandini’s standing as one of the all-time greats of car design was never in doubt during his lifetime. Some argue – and have done so vociferously since he passed away on 13 March – that he was the greatest ever. It’s difficult to argue to the contrary. This fame-shunning Torinese had a CV that only his arch-rival Giorgetto Giugiaro could match in terms of productivity and, perhaps more importantly, influence. He conjured everything from supercars to mopeds, and helicopters to hotels. All were imbued with his own particular quirks: you could never accuse him of being a copyist.
His work inspired generations of car fans, many designers among them. Future Fiat and Lancia styling director Michael Robinson was so taken with Gandini’s Stratos Zero concept as a teenager that he decided to become a designer. The Californian even upped sticks and headed to the crucible of car design, Turin, to follow in his idol’s footsteps. The reverence afforded to
Gandini was, however, a source of discomfort to him as much as pride. His almost pathological aversion to the limelight wasn’t feigned. He was not without ego, but was painfully shy.
Born in Turin on 26 August 1938, Gandini was steeped in culture from an early age, but eschewed a career in music – his father was a sometime orchestra conductor – on discovering a book on automotive engineering while at an impressionable age. Gandini subsequently tinkered with friends’ cars and got a foot in the door working as a freelancer for Touring when in his early 20s. He then landed his big break at Bertone. Gandini had first approached the styling house in 1963, but resident wunderkind Giugiaro vetoed him joining. It was only after ‘Il Maestro’ departed for Ghia in late 1965 that Gandini was brought in to replace him.
It soon became clear he was prodigiously talented – witness the Lamborghini Miura, even if others would claim partial authorship. The
Countach achieved the seemingly impossible by being wilder still. Studio chief Nuccio Bertone gave Gandini the room to breathe and the hits rolled in. From the mid-’60s to 1979, there were other Lamborghini production cars and concepts including the Marzal, Espada, Jarama, Urraco and Bravo; the Alfa Romeo Montreal and Carabo; the Ferrari Dino 308GT4; the Fiat Dino Coupé, plus the X1/9 and the Autobianchi Runabout that inspired it; the Innocenti Mini; the Audi 50/ Volkswagen Polo; and more besides.
His protean output as a freelancer during the 1980s and beyond didn’t hit quite so many high notes, but there was still plenty of exotica (the Maserati Shamal, Ghibli Mk2, Quattroporte IV and stillborn Chubasco supercar, plus designs for De Tomaso and Cizeta), and mainstream fare such as the second-generation Renault 5. Gandini packed a lot into his 85 years, and his influence is still felt. That is the mark of true greatness. Richard Heseltine