Behind every classic car we admire there is a person with a pencil and a vision. Some designers, however, did more than draw beautiful cars: they changed the way everyone else designed. Here are five of them.
Photo: vishpool / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Battista “Pinin” Farina
Battista Farina, whom everyone called “Pinin”, the little one, founded the studio in Turin in 1930 that would become Pininfarina. The 1947 Cisitalia 202 was a revolution: low, smooth, with the wings integrated into the body rather than sticking out. In 1951 the Museum of Modern Art in New York exhibited it as a “rolling sculpture”. Pininfarina’s decades-long relationship with Ferrari gave us some of the most beautiful cars of all time.
Harley Earl
The American Harley Earl was the first head of design at a major carmaker, General Motors, from 1927. Before him, cars were designed mainly by engineers. Earl used clay to shape the forms, built the 1938 Buick Y-Job, the first prototype made purely to show ideas, and brought the famous tailfins to Cadillac, inspired by a wartime fighter plane. He was also the man behind the first Chevrolet Corvette of 1953.
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Flaminio Bertoni
The Italian Flaminio Bertoni was a sculptor before he became a car designer, and it shows. Working for Citroën, he designed the Traction Avant, the 2CV and, in 1955, the Citroën DS, a car that seemed to come from the future. He is said to have shaped the first models with his own hands, like sculptures. The DS remains one of the boldest designs ever put into mass production.
Giorgetto Giugiaro
Giorgetto Giugiaro is perhaps the most prolific designer of all time. From the Lotus Esprit and Maserati Ghibli to the 1974 Volkswagen Golf, the Fiat Panda and the DeLorean, his designs covered every category, from the simplest city car to the most exotic sports car. In 1999 he was voted “Car Designer of the Century” by an international jury of journalists.
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Marcello Gandini
If Giugiaro designed for everyone, Marcello Gandini designed to shock. Working at Bertone, he gave us the Lamborghini Miura, the Countach, the Lancia Stratos and the Alfa Romeo Montreal. The Countach, with its scissor doors and wedge shape, was hung on posters all over the world. Gandini died in 2024, leaving behind some of the most recognisable cars in history.
These five people did not just design cars. They designed the dreams of several generations. And every time we look at one of their works, we understand that a car can also be art.
P.Kefalas