Francesco Stanguellini b.1944
Farewell to the third generation of Modena’s first family of motoring, whose legacy is a museum of its achievements
ONE OF THE figureheads and inspirations of Italy’s Motor Valley, Francesco Stanguellini, has died after a long illness. Born in his beloved Modena, son of Vittorio and grandson of the company’s founding father Francesco, he grew up in an entrepreneurial family, full of passion for motor cars and steeped in motoring history. The family had been running an engineering workshop in Modena since the 19th Century and it was the Stanguellinis who first registered a car in the city, with the plate MO 1.
Francesco’s grandfather Vittorio was the one who transformed the company from being simply a well-known Fiat dealership to a successful tuner of cars such as Maserati and Alfa Romeo for competition, running a race team and building his own race cars. These tended to be Fiat-based, tubular-framed, smallcapacity sports and Formula Junior racing cars, created through the 1950s and ’60s.
Always sensational-looking, Stanguellini’s cars were highly competitive and, to capitalise on their fame, there were even brief forays into road cars, with the company’s Fiat 1100-based Berlinette and, much later, a hand in the Momo Mirage, as well as speed record machines.
Born into such Modena motoring royalty, Francesco was driven around on Nuvolari’s lap in a Cisitalia as a child, was friends with Fangio, and graduated to racing (and had vital input to the race cars) before gravitating to the business side. After that he ran the family dealership on Via Emilia Est for decades, but was primarily devoted to preserving the legacy of his forefathers. In 1996 he opened the Stanguellini museum, doing an incredible job of gathering, restoring and maintaining an enormous selection of cars, plus archive and automobilia. Visitors are welcomed by appointment only, and groups would sometimes find that their guide was the effusive Francesco himself.
As well as his museum, his principal legacy has been to pass on his passion for motoring, with both his daughter Francesca and son Simone involved in the family business, the museum and historic motorsport.