Automotive News Europe - March 2, 2009 - 8

PAGE 8 · www.autonewseurope.com March 2, 2009 Sketch: Courtesy of Road & Track Sketches (top) made by Giorgetto Giugiaro (left) on October 16, 1964, were turned into a full-sized model (second from left) last year. The car resembles the Lamborghini Miura (third from left). Some believe Giugiaro’s sketches influenced the creation of the Miura. The late Nuccio Bertone (far right) also claimed to have played a major role in the design of the car. Its designer, Marcello Gandini, says he never saw the sketches and that he, and he alone created the Miura. Q & A: Marcello Gandini Gandini: I am the father of the Miura Former Bertone chief designer denies he saw sketches some believe inspired sports car TURIN, Italy Forty-three years after the Lamborghini Miura debuted at the March 1966 Geneva auto show, the debate on its true design genesis remains a controversial topic. The indisputable facts are that design house Carrozzeria Bertone styled the car and that then-Bertone Design Director Marcello Gandini, now 70, penned the lines of what many enthusiasts consider to be the most beautiful sports car ever made. What is unclear is how much Giorgetto Giugiaro’s work on a mid-engine sports car for Bizzarrini influenced the final look of the Miura. Giugiaro worked on the sports car while he was design director at Carrozzeria Bertone. The drawing for Bizzarrini in many ways resembles the Miura, which was designed by Gandini shortly after he succeeded Giugiaro as design director at Carrozzeria Bertone. Another unanswered question is: How much input did Bertone boss Nuccio Bertone really have in the Miura project? To answer these questions and clarify his role in the Miura’s creation, Marcello Gandini requested an interview with Automotive News Europe after the newspaper published an article last September linking Giugiaro to the project. “It is useless to talk with historians when the people who made the things are still around.” Marcello Gandini letter that was sent to the newspaper and promptly published by L’Equipe. Gandini says he is the one and only father of the Miura’s design and plays down the alleged role that anyone else had in the car. ANE Senior Writer Luca Ciferri interviewed Gandini at his design studio in Almese, 29km west of Turin, on February 5. Mr. Gandini, who designed the Miura? I did the Miura – and I did it alone – in just three months. Any alleged influence by [Giorgetto] Giugiaro in that car is simply not true. This misinterpretation of history first surfaced when the car was unveiled in 1966. Why was there confusion over who designed the car back then? It was because of a mistake made by French journalist Jean Bernardet, who was working for L’Equipe (a French sports daily newspaper). The car was from Carrozzeria Bertone and Giugiaro was my predecessor there. Bernardet wrote that Giugiaro penned the Miura. Carrozzeria Bertone immediately denied this in a You are saying that this entire matter should have been resolved 43 years ago. Actually, it was never properly addressed. In many interviews over the years, Giugiaro never strongly stated that he had no influence in the Miura’s design. Last summer we saw a full-sized model inspired by some early drawings for a Bizzarrini mid-engine sports car that Giugiaro did before leaving Bertone. Did you see those drawings when you replaced Giugiaro in November 1965? Giugiaro left very few sketches behind before leaving Bertone. The only thing we later used – but only after substantial modifications to the front and to the rear – was the design of the car that would become the Alfa Romeo 1750. Giugiaro did not leave behind any drawings of a mid-engine sports car? None that I found had that mechanical layout, believe me. Probably Giugiaro is a bit confused. He could have made the sketches [for the Bizzarrini mid-engine sports car] at Carrozzeria Ghia, where he went after he left Bertone. In a tape-recorded interview I did with Nuccio Bertone in 1988, he said that when you joined his company the design for the Miura was “clearly already set out” and that he “guided” your hand as you were just beginning your car designer career. Nuccio Bertone was the boss, thus he had the right to say anything he wanted about his own company. I believe he said these things because he was risking his company’s future when he let a young guy like me design several crucial new products. I always thanked him for the chance he gave me. Nevertheless, after I left Bertone, Nuccio started to say he had personally penned many crucial cars. This was done to systematically diminish my role in the company’s success. By the way, his anger toward me decreased over time. Late in his life we were on decent to good terms. Lamborghini historian Stefano Pasini says you saw Giugiaro’s drawing before starting the Miura project. It is simply useless to talk with historians when the people who truly made the things are still around. Pasini was just a kid when I penned the Miura. What he writes is based on things he was told, not events he ANE saw with his own eyes. Giugiaro: Miura Gandini’s work Having left Carrozzeria Bertone in November 1965 to join Carrozzeria Ghia, Giorgetto Giugiaro founded the company Italdesign – Giugiaro in 1968. He remains its chairman to this day. He was happy to set the record straight for Automotive News Europe about where he feels the credit for the Miura is due. “Gandini designed the Miura and I have never said anything different to this simple statement, so I have nothing to deny,” Giugiaro told ANE. “I honestly do not know if he saw – or made any use – of the October 1964 drawings I had penned at Carrozzeria Bertone for a Bizzarrini mid-engine sports car,” Giugiaro added. “At that time, I was working on the Giorgetto Giugiaro clarified that he never claimed to have designed the Miura. Ghia cars for the 1966 Geneva show. Nevertheless, there are some clear similarities between my drawings and Gandini’s car, which could also have occurred by pure coincidence.” ANE

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