Automobiles - Italie - carrossiers : beaux livres - histoire et modèles

L'art de la carrosserie semble naturellement associé à l'Italie. Avec les autres arts appliqués, la carrosserie a réagi aux avatars de l'histoire en croisant parfois les courants artistiques. Nous avons joué avec ces incidences plus ou moins fortuites.
De temps à autre, des dialogues se sont instaurés entre le design et les arts plastiques, de loin en loin, des résonances ont été perceptibles dans l'architecture ou le cinéma.

Ce large panorama embrasse les différentes facettes de la carrosserie italienne, du style au design. L'activité industrielle, avec les productions de série assurées par les constructeurs eux-mêmes ou conçues par des consultants extérieurs. Les carrossiers qui ont réalisé les productions hors série de façon artisanale ou sur une échelle plus industrielle. Les designers et stylistes qui chez les carrossiers ont imaginé des pièces uniques, carrosseries spéciales ou concept-cars.
Cette répartition montre la diversité de la carrosserie italienne, ses flirts avec les arts majeurs et sa place dans la naissance du design industriel.

Celebrating the rich, deep partnership between the British car industry and Italian design, this book is packed with coachbuilt cars, design classics and concept cars from the 1920s to the current day. The story starts with the early days of coachbuilt cars on separate chassis from illustrious marques like Bentley, Frazer Nash and Rolls-Royce, which were bodied by such Italian coachbuilders as Pinin Farina, Viotti and Zagato.
After World War Two came the golden era of coachbuilt cars, with Italian companies creating some of the world's most beautiful shapes of all time on chassis from the likes of Aston Martin, Austin-Healey, Bristol, Jaguar, Jowett, MG, Riley and Rover.

Then came the era when Italian carrozzerie morphed into design houses, penning shapes for mass-produced cars like the BMC 1100/1300 and Triumph Herald, and crafting what are widely recognised to be some of the world's most beautiful cars, such as the Aston Martin DB4, AC 428 and Lotus Esprit.
Finally came the era of the 'concept car', with incredible show designs based on British marques such as Jaguars by Bertone, the BMC 1800 Berlina Aerodinamica by Pininfarina and Lotus by Italdesign.
This book reveals the full stories behind the intense, diverse, sometimes surprising and always fascinating links between British cars and Italian design: the characters, the deals, the designs and above all the cars themselves.

British marques included: AC, Armstrong-Siddeley, Aston Martin, Austin, Austin-Healey, Bentley, BL/BLMC/BMC, Bristol, Daimler, DeLorean, Elva, Ferguson, Ford, Frazer Nash, Frisky, Gordon-Keeble, Healey, Hillman, Innocenti, Jaguar, Jensen, Jowett, Lea-Francis, Lola, Lotus, MG, Mini, Morris, Panther, Reliant, Riley, Rolls-Royce, Rover, Singer, Sunbeam, Standard, Triumph, TVR, Vauxhall, Vanden Plas, Wolseley

Italian coachbuilders included: Allemano, Ares, Bertone, Biemme, Boano, Boneschi, Boniolo, Breuer, Casale, Castagna, Cattelan, CECOMP, Coggiola, Drogo, F&F, Fiore, Fissore, Ford Centro Stile, Francis Lombardi, Frua, FT, Garavini, Ghia, Ghia-Aigle, I.DE.A, Indestor, Italdesign, Italsuisse, Michelotti, Monviso, Motto, Opac, OSI, Pilato, Pinin Farina/Pininfarina, Schiaretti, Sibona-Basano, Sports Cars, Stabilimenti Farina, Tjaarda, Touring, Vignale, Viotti, Zagato

The world of automotive design knows the name of Paolo Martin, who is, no doubt, one of Italy's design greats. Not only has he designed some of the most important milestone cars from the 1960s and 1970s, such as the Fiat 130 Coupé, the Lancia Beta Montecarlo and the Ferrari Modulo, but he has also been the creative mind behind several landmark motorcycle and scooter designs for Benelli, Gilera, Moto Guzzi and Piaggio, as well as several beautiful boats, industrial products, and even a typewriter.
One of Italy's most prolific designers, Paolo Martin writes about his life, his designs, his thinking, and his design philosophy in "Paolo Martin: Visions in Design".

Features:

• One of the world's leading and highly influential automobile designers since the last half century
• First time a book that features all designs by Martin; including cars, two-wheelers, boats, industrial designs, and household products
• Features the design process and thinking behind cars like the Fiat 130 Coupe, the Peugeot 104, the Lancia Beta Montecarlo, and the Rolls-Royce Camargue
• Including several legendary concept cars such as the Pininfarina Dino Berlinetta Competition, the BMC 1800 Aerodynamica and the Ferrari Modulo
• Also, motorcycles and scooters such as the Moto Guzzi 850 Le Mans, the Benelli 350 Sport and the 750/6 and the Gilera GSA 50

A design hero for all generations of automotive enthusiasts, American legend Tom Tjaarda's name and fame has been synonymous with the De Tomaso, Ferrari, Fiat, Ford, Innocenti and Lancia marques.
Among his many designs are the Pantera, Deauville, Longchamp, the Fiat 124 Spider, the Ferrari 365 California and the Ford Fiesta.

Brought up in Detroit when the American Dream was beating out its rock 'n' roll rhythm, Tjaarda came to live and work in Europe while the cultural revolution was in full swing. He had a ringside seat at the heart of automotive styling activities in the Mecca of vehicle design, Turin, during the most exciting times.

Though Tom Tjaarda may not have been as prolific as others, the American's influence and importance in the history of automotive design, specifically in the second half of the 20th century, is almost unbeaten. With his charming, accessible personality and good humor, he remains one of the most popular design legends of all times.

"Tom Tjaarda: Master of Proportions" is a comprehensive appraisal of the life of a design giant, and features all his automotive, as well as his non-automotive, designs.

Tracing the history of Ghia brings to light models of particularly evocative appeal such as the Fiat 508 Sport Spider (1934), various Alfa Romeo 6C 2500s and the 1900 SS Abarth (1954), not to mention a number of unusual Ferraris from the same decade.
A decade that was of fundamental importance to Ghia that, one after the other, produced a series of opulent cars inspired by the styling canons in vogue in the United States in that period, but also styling exercises such as the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia (1955).

The Sixties were no less prolific, with further "classics" such as the Fiat 2300 S (1960), the De Tomaso Mangusta and Pantera (1966 and 1970) and the immortal Ghibli from 1966.
As was the case for other Italian coachbuilders, there followed a period of crisis that saw the Ghia marque change hands on a number of occasions before being acquired by Ford.

From the early 1930s until the mid-60s, Touring created true works of art. From the Milanese atelier that had in Felice Bianchi Anderloni his deus ex machina appeared a number of models that became authentic icons in the history of the automobile: that was the case with the admirable Flying Star, which was built on an Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 GS rolling chassis and an Isotta Fraschini 8, as were many other Alfas constructed with open and closed bodies in the years that preceded the Second World War.

In that period, Touring brought to life its unforgettable Superleggera, cars of extraordinary fascination and elegance that were always the descendants of in-depth aerodynamic studies.
Their client list became longer from 1947, with other customers, including Ferrari and the iconic 166 barchetta, Maserati with the extraordinary 3500 GT, Aston Martin, Lancia and Lamborghini.
That brilliant trend came to a close in 1966, when Touring was forced to close, only to return 40 years later when the Touring Superleggera returned to spawn a new generation of one-offs.

This books tells the fascinating history of Touring, a name of absolute excellence among the creators of Italian car bodies, through a wealth of illustrations and brief texts.

The Masterpieces of Style series dedicated to the greats of Italian coachbuilding - including Zagato, Pininfarina Touring and Giugiaro - could hardly not have a title devoted to the Turinese atelier founded in 1946 by Alfredo Vignale.

This book covers, model by model, the entire output of an illustrious marque that was at its peak in the Fifties and Sixties when, thanks above all to the extraordinary talent of Giovanni Michelotti, it produced numerous bodies for Ferrari chassis (such as the 166 and 212 Inter, the 250 and the 340 MM), along with diverse Fiats with special versions of the 500 and 600.

Not to forget the various Lancias such as the Appia and the Flavia Convertible and the prolific collaboration with Triumph.

For more than a half century Italian body builders were the leaders of world style, generating creativity, a trend towards innovation and an ability of execution that appears super-human today.
The aesthetic values and technology expressed by their work transmitted Italian culture and genius across the globe. Their creations were multiplied in millions of examples, influencing taste and trends in car design, among other things, in every corner of the world.
But in spite of the dimensions and importance of their work, the Italian body stylists were often undervalued.

This book brings together the profiles of no fewer than 36 of the best known stylists in the history of Italian car design: they include Allemano, Bertone, Castagna, Ghia, Pininfarina, Touring, Vignale and Zagato.
The story of each one of them is told through the extraordinary wealth of their iconographic patrimony, most of which have never been published.

The body stylists appearing in this book are: Allemano, Balbo, Bertone, Boano, Boneschi, Castagna, Colli, Ellena, Fantuzzi, Fissore, Francis Lombardi, Frua, Garavini, Ghia, ItalDesign, Lotti, Michelotti, Monterosa, Monviso, Moretti, Motto, OSI, Pininfarina, Riva, Savio, Sala, Scaglietti, Scioneri, Siata, Sibona, Sportscar/Piero Drogo, Stabilimenti Farina, Touring, Vignale, Viotti, Zagato.

A story, that of Serafino Allemano, which developed fully in the first 15 to 20 years of the immediate post-World War II period, when the most established names of the time, such as Pininfarina or Bertone, were the spearhead of Italian coachbuilding.

Thanks to the collaboration with Giovanni Michelotti and an executive quality of yesteryear, Carrozzeria Allemano was able to secure a leading position in the history of Italian Style; a prestigious atelier from which cars such as the Coupé FIAT 1100 TV, the Maserati 5000 GT, and all the Abarth granturismos of the early 1960s emerged.

They are just some of the many testimonies of the great esteem in which Allemano was held by the most prestigious national and international car manufacturers, one of which, the Japanese Prince, allowed Allemano to achieve a record: to have opened up new opportunities for Italian creativity in the land of the Rising Sun.

In Italy "Coriasco" is the name given to every light compact truck. Apart from thousands of his most famous Fiat 600 and 850-based commercial vehicles, this coachbuilder also made many more special bodies, from coaches to ambulances, from advertising vehicles to giardinettas, elaborata and even a few sports cars.
This book tells the full history of Carrozzeria Coriasco, illustrating it with a wide selection of pictures, often never published before.

Moretti was a big name in Italian motoring history, his activities ranging over several fields for more than sixty years. Moretti built motorcycles and three-wheelers, then worked on electric vehicles during wartime before becoming an important car-manufacturer, the fourth biggest in Italy.

Finally, he was a major coachbuilder and originator of many famous models from the Grand Turismos to the small Midimaxi off-roaders.
This book, the result of a long and deep research, tells all the history of Moretti, illustrating it with a very big picture directory that cover all its production.

Rocco Motto was the coachbuilder of several famous cars, often working behind the scenes and due to that was never as famous as he deserved.
Specializing in aluminium work, both before and after WWII he coachbuilt countless sports cars which were raced successfully across Europe and America.
In the 1950s he also built some wonderful granturismos before finally moving to the emerging touring caravan and motorhome industry.
This book tells the full history of Carrozzeria Motto, illustrating it with a wide selection of pictures, often never published before.

Carrozzeria Scioneri is a great example of the best Italian automotive art. Established during wartime, making the little jobs available by then, specialized later in the "elaborata" cars with fashion visual-tuning, that were a huge commercial success, giving to almost everybody the opportunity of buying a special car, even if often just based on a cheap Fiat model.

Scioneri also made commercial vehicles and sports cars, but thanks to the "elaboratas" the company went ahead until the 90s.
This book, the result of a long and deep research, tells all the history of Carrozzeria Scioneri, illustrating it with a very big picture directory that cover all its production.

Alfredo Vignale was one of the most illustrious names in the Italian art of the carrozzeria. In twenty years he built countless models, from the early Ferraris to series production of Lancia, Fiat and Maserati cars. Coachbuilder, industrialist, collaborator with brands like Cunningham, Opel, Daihatsu, Jensen, Tatra, he covered the whole arc of the Italian coachbuilding industry, from the post-war boom to the crisis years of the 1960s.
This books recounts his whole personal and professional history.

Carrozzeria Viotti has been one of the major representatives of the Italian art of making special car bodies. Founded in 1921, it always combined quality and excellence of craftsmanship with industrial working methods becoming, for a certain period, the largest Italian body-builder.

After the beginning as a luxury manufaturer of special bodies on Fiat, Lancia, Itala and Alfa Romeo chassis, it built standard serier and wonderful sport versions for the two bog Turinn-based firms; in the post-war years, invented the multi-purpose "Giardinetta" concept, helping the restart of Italian special bodies industry. Later it worked as a supplier for Lancia and built granturismos on Fiat chassis.

This book, the result of a long and deep research, tells all the history of Carrozzeria Viotti, illustrating it with a very big picture directory that cover all its production.