Addio Sergio

As you may have read, Tuesday marked the passing of a giant in the field of automotive design, Sergio Pininfarina, who was 85 years old. While Sergio was not personally responsible for many of the designs that bore his family's now legendary name, it was his tremendous business acumen as much as his artistic sensibilities that saw him not only keep his father's venerable carrozzeria alive after taking its helm in the mid 1960s, but expand it, build upon it, and cement his father's legacy for all time.  In the process, he created Pininfarina's R&D center, built a wind tunnel, and using early digital technology brought his company strongly into the computer age while many of his competitors faded into second tier status or disappeared completely.  I recently took some photos of a 246 Dino, which was one of the first production cars created under Sergio's directon. I thought this a fitting time to share them with you. Click for high resolution.

Comments

[F1 Tommy]

Some great and not so great designs over the years. Pininfarina made a good name for itself after WWII, although another design house also called Pininfarina made some good designs up until the early post war years. Sergio was responsible more than his father for the Pinin legacy as the company really grew with much larger production facilities being built after his fathers death. It is sad to say Pinifarina is no longer producing. They may end up being just like Ital Design and Bertone in the near future.


Tom Tanner/Scale Designs/Ferrari Expo 2013-Chicago March 2013