Automotive
ThomasM celebrates Stile Bertone, the legendary Italian design house, by highlighting its profound impact on automotive design. His post delves into the origins of iconic cars like the Lamborghini Miura and Countach, emphasizing Bertone's pioneering role in developing design concepts such as the mid-engined supercar, the wedge shape, and cab-forward aesthetics.
Stile Bertone - the road cars styled by the House of Bertone are the stuff of legend and dreams - The Lamborghini Miura, Countach. The Lancia Stratos HF world champion rally car. The Diablo.
What is too often forgotten, or even never known, is that the origin of some of the most significant automotive designs of the 20th century, the impact of the concept cars created by the House of Bertone, is impossible to overstate. The early home of such brilliant designers as Staglione, Giugiaro, and Gandini, it is frustrating for me that too often, except for automotive historians and design students, the landmark concept cars have for the most part faded from public memory. But from frustration comes inspiration and opportunity...
For example, the Gandini designed Lamborghini Miura, conceived under the roof of Stile Bertone in the 1960's, can rightly be considered the first supercar, or the epitome of the pure aesthetic of the old school long bonnet - pure aesthetic because the traditional functional need to house the motor in a long bonnet, the functional archetype being the Jaguar E Type; that traditional functional need was made obsolete and superfluous by the Miura's mid-engined design, the world's first execution of a mid-engined road car.
What is rarely known is that this superfluousness of the long bonnet was recognized by the genius at Bertone, and the first expressions for two design concepts which are now part of the global design language - the design language of the wedge school; and the idea of the cab-forward design - were brilliantly conceived and given birth at Bertone. (whether they budded anywhere else before or contemporaneously I do not know and would love to learn if any readers know of this. I am a fan, but not a fanboy...)
Following on the global success of the Lamborghini Miura and the significance embedded in its design, both mechanical and aesthetic, Gandini took the raw idea further, and Bertone showed the Carabo in 1968 (the Alfa Romeo Museum story board says 1969) based on the Alfa Romeo Type 33 Stradale chassis and drive train. Besides the daring experimentation with the shape and dimensions of the bonnet, freed of drive train considerations and limitations, the Carabo also introduced the world to the now famous "scissor doors" (also know as "guillotine doors" or popularly known today as "Lambo doors" as seen on all the big bulls since the Countach. The too little known impact of Gandini and Stile Bertone continue to astound me..."ah, so that's where it came from!" 
Yet the UR car and still widely considered ultimate expression of the cab forward, ultra low wedge shape was Stile Bertone's next landmark blockbuster, the Lancia Stratos Zero, shown in 1970 -
The Lancia Stratos Zero:
The lowest roof line of ANY fully functional running automobile ever created.
The first and widely considered purest expression of the cab forward design concept, later embodied so powerfully in the Countach and Diablo.
Sadly, even the most rabid Lambo fan or exotic car nut today too frequently are inappropriately dismissive due to ignorance - "what the hell is that? a kit car?" Culture, history, and context...sigh...
Anyway, with the Geneva Autoshow coming up next week, the 100th Anniversary of the House of Bertone in 2012, and the 50th Anniversary of Lamborghini this year (2013), in the coming weeks and months I hope to be sharing some more history and eye opening blockbusters from years gone by from Stile Bertone and Marcello Gandini.
"The greatest antidote to arrogance and outsized egos is a healthy dose of history.
Afterall, if you don't know where you've been, how do you know how you got here?"
===============
"God created Farrah Fawcett; Marcello Gandini created the Countach."
Ciao,
TM
This message has been edited by ThomasM on 2013-03-07 08:09:24
.. one of my first illegal outings on public roads was with a Bertone X1/9 ... I`m completely at your side Thomas, as a young kid not the Ferraris but the Lambos and Bertone concept cars where my heroes ... can you imagine the look on my face at age 17 when my best friend came over to show me his new car ? :-) A year later i had to settle with the VW ... not that i was complaining but in the following years the X1/9 remained the COOL car, even if it wasn't as fast as the Jetta .... . I remember
Hi, Bim, The Ferrari Bertone Rainbow took this basic outline to an extreme. Many people also don't realize that Bertone built the X1/9 at Carrozzeria Bertone; they also built the Mini GP! Cheers, TM
I could not wait for the next issue of Motor Trend to be delivered so I could see all the great car designs (and read the articles). In the early 80's I wanted a new Corvette and my father said "If you get a Corvette now what will you have to look forward to later in life". My answer was "Plenty, trust me". I clearly remember several wedge shape Bertone concept designs over the years. This history shaped the current exotic car industry. JerryW
sadly they also designed the Vauxhall astra convertible :( (pic courtesy of google)
but they were rust buckets even by the very early 80's. UK weather and Italian steel dont mix well. it does seem sad when so many iconic design houses start having their names attached to mainstream cars. Ghia is a prime example, its now just a word for a bit of leather and wood in a Ford. G.
Cool memories. Best, Nicolas
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