The famed Italian designer, Marcello Gandini has sadly left us on 13 March 2024
Legendary car designer Marcello Gandini dies at 86. The son of an orchestral conductor, Gandini was born in Turin on 26 August 1938. In 1963, he approached Nuccio Bertone, head of the Gruppo Bertone company, for work. While this may be a common story so far, no one could have guessed just how important this moment in history would become.
Despite being a legend today, back then, Gandini was an unknown entity and as such, Giorgetto Giugiaro, then Bertone’s chief designer, opposed him being hired. When Giugiaro left Bertone two years later, Gandini was hired, and worked for the company for fourteen years. There you go, a happy ending, after all.
Moreover, Gandini became famous through his designs for many Lamborghini sports cars, beginning with the groundbreaking rear mid-engined Lamborghini Miura, with a transversely mounted V12, in the mid 1960s, a car often cited as one of the most beautiful sports cars ever, followed by the highly futuristic Marzal concept, the exceptionally low-built full-fledged four-seater Espada, and the spectacular Lamborghini Countach in the early 1970s.
When Gandini applied the rear mid-engined layout even to the very rakish 2 + 2-seater Lamborghini Urraco, Ferrari hired him to design a very similar car for them as the second generation Dino, the Dino 308/GT4, later rebranded as Ferrari’s first V8-engined car, it became the only Bertone Gandini designed Ferrari, ever taken into production.
On top of that, Gandini left Bertone in 1980, pursuing freelance automotive, industrial, and interior design. He also worked in other areas, including home architecture, the design of a nightclub interior, and the body styling of the Heli-Sport CH-7 helicopter. This showed he was proficient in more ways than one and is the reason behind his beautiful designs too.
Gandini’s car designs also include the Alfa Romeo Montreal, Autobianchi A112, Audi 50 / Volkswagen Polo, BMW 5 series E12, Citroen BX, Fiat Dino coupe, Fiat 132, Fiat X1/9, Lancia Stratos, Renault 5 turbo, Renault 5 supercinq, and many, many others. Sadly, he will not be able to design breathtaking cars anymore but we are sure he is happy to be resting.
It is always sad news when one departs from the land of the living, however, there can be no life without death, and Marcello Gandini certainly made the most of his very long and very exciting life, this cannot be denied so while we enthusiasts may mourn his loss now, his work and legacy lives on forever in the cars he designed. Take solace in that fact.
