Jalopnik: Giugiaro

1970 Porsche Tapiro Concept

Ben Wojdyla — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:40:00 EDT

Does the BMW M1 Homage concept we saw yesterday try just a little too hard to impress? Does a bear shit in the woods? The gaping maw of modern styling is chewing through heritage designs at an astonishing rate, and starting to look at eras not often remembered fondly for its great cars. Just because the malaise era produced blasé cars doesn't mean there wasn't cool styling. It was 1970 and a young Giorgetto Giugiaro had joined Ital Design and, as his fourth concept car, produced the Porsche Tapiro. The Tapiro was based on the Porsche 914/6 but managed to break all of the Porsche molds.

It featured gull wing doors up front with a radical cut line around the windshield, and matching gull wings over the cargo area. The car had a longitudinally mounted air-cooled 2.4 liter flat 6 good for 220 HP and a 4 speed manual. Though it never really was intended for production, it's got all those great Italian styling elements from the era - wedge shape, enough glass for a dolphin aquarium, scant use of chrome, and plenty of nice geometrically shaped air ducting. If BMW wants to play around with styling elements of the seventies, they should feel free, just as long as they don't forget the stuff that was actually cool. [LotusEspritTurbo]

Giugiaro Quaranta Concept Fully Revealed, Has Toyota Hybrid Drive Under Strangely Sloping Hood-Windshield Thing

Ray Wert — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:40:00 EST

The Giugiaro folks have been teasing us for days with cropped crap shots of the Quaranta concept car they'll be revealing at the Geneva Motor Show next week. Now we've got a set of press photos of the edgy wedge that's been four decades in the coming in all of its full glory. Oh, and we told you it'd be greener around the gills, but did we tell you it's getting Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive? No? Well it will. Again we must tell you — look, but don't touch. We wouldn't want you to hurt yourself on all those sharp pointy parts. Full commentary from the boys at World Car Fans after the jump.

"The Italian design house used Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive to power their idea of a futuristic super car employing state-of-the-art F1 technology. Giugiaro claims: "It is an "extreme", ecological, 4WD super-sportscar, the first hybrid car with mid-engine and driving position and a roomy cabin able to accommodate three adults plus a baby in complete comfort."

[via World Car Fans]

Giugiaro Quaranta: Giugiaro Concept Named, Third Set Of Teaser Shots Dropped

Ray Wert — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 10:40:00 EST

The good little Italian boys n' girls over at Italdesign have gone ahead and released their third batch of teaser shots of the car we're very much looking forward to seeing in Geneva next month, the Giugiaro Quaranta. We've already shown you a few shots and this hot load rounds out the threesome of teaser shots from the Italian design shop. Oh and yes, that's right — we were also very much right on the name — it's the Quaranta which is Italian for forty. Qua-ran-ta! Quah-ran-tah! Qua-rahn-ta! No matter how you say it, it's sure fun to pronounce, isn't it? Probably as much fun as it'll be to see in person. We'll be careful to not cut our fingers on those sharp lines and creases.

[via Italdesign]

Giugiaro Continues To Tease, Releases Another Mystery Concept Photo Ahead of Geneva

Wes Siler — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 08:45:00 EST

Giugiaro has released another teaser image of its forthcoming Geneva concept car. So far nameless, commenter Mark Miller has made an educated guess that it'll be called Quaranta - Italian for forty. 2008 is ItalDesign's 40th birthday. We also predict some sort of hypothetical green power plant, you know the kind that is supposedly capable of saving the world, but is really just some hot air stored under a heavily tinted engine cover. All the speculation will end on March 4th, when the vehicle is officially revealed at the Geneva Motor Show. [Via Giugiaro]

Giugiaro Readying Mystery Concept Car For Geneva

Wes Siler — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 14:00:00 EST

The big teases at Giugiaro are planning on dropping a hot new concept car on Tuesday, March 4th at the Geneva Motor Show. So far there's no details other than these shots and the promise of an "Exclusive Event," which we assume means a bunch of auto hacks in Fiat fleeces. They've also used the tag line "Nature has never been so powerful," so we're going to go out on a limb here and assume the vehicle will have some sort of green power, maybe a hydrogen fuel cell. Check out our Geneva Motor Show page for full show coverage. [Via Giugiaro]

Maserati Bora

Jonny Lieberman — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:00:00 EST

With last weeks whopping, landslide inclusion of the McLaren F1 (96.8% yes) we asked ourselves, "How many more hot-shit performance monsters do we really need in this here Fantasy Garage?" Along with the F1, we've got the king of the world Veyron and the over-performing Ford GT. We've even (somehow) still got the RUF RT12. With that in mind we've decided to slow things down (a bit) and ask you to contemplate a true heart string plucker, the amazing Maserati Bora. And actually for its time, the Bora could fly. Have a look.

Created to compete with the likes of Lamborghini's madcap Miura, De Tomaso Mangusta and eventually Ferrari's Berlinetta 365 GT4 BB, the Bora therefore had to be a mid-engined 2-seat supercar. Unlike the other Italians however, the Bora was to be more mature, reserved and even a touch understated. This was part of the plan from the very beginning, as evidenced from the ITAL DESIGN Press Release:

The brief called for a car that was clearly a Maserati, modern but devoid of the exotic look that unnecessary decorations can create, strikingly sporty but not inordinately aggressive. In short: innovative but not revolutionary.

With these cues in mind, Giorgetto Giugiaro turned to his own masterpiece, the Ghilbi for inspiration. The Ghilbi sported the classic lines of a front-engined GT, similar in proportions to the Jaguar E-type. But with the Bora's engine nestled longitudinally behind the seats, Giugiaro's pen was free to create something entirely new and quite futuristic looking, especially at the 1971 Geneva show where the Bora wowed everyone in attendance. You don't have to squint very hard to see a correlation between the Bora and BMW's iconic M1. A whole lotta DeLorean, too. Although he penned the design by hand in a wind tunnel free environment, Giugiaro managed to achieve a drag coefficient of just 0.30. Also cool, the A-pillars and roof were constructed out of brushed stainless steel.

This slippery shape meant that if fitted with the right engine, the Bora could go very fast. Maserati reached into its bag of tricks and came back out with the familiar 4.7-liter DOHC V8 (the same one also found in the Ghilbi). Now fitted with four Webers, the mill was good for 310 hp @ 6000 rpm and a very respectable 325 lb-ft of torque at @ 4200 rpm. Displacement was eventually upped to 4.9-liters and output grew to 320 hp and 335 lb-ft of twist. This meant the Bora could reach 166 mph, among the world's fastest in the 1970s.

Refinement was also a key concern. In order to bridge the gap between wild supercar and gentlemanly grand tourer, Maserati chose to mount the engine (and transmission) separately from the steel monocoque in its own subframe. To cut down on NVH Maserati spent considerable time developing and tweaking the four flexible engine mounts. They even opted to carpet the aluminum engine cover and rear glass was double-glazed to further reduce the racket. A coilover suspension set up (again — at all four corners) and anti-roll bars further smoothed things out.

Note the horrendous US-spec, Malaise Era Bumpers

What's not to love?

The innovation didn't stop there. The Bora features four-wheel independent suspension, a first for a Maserati. The decision to build the Bora just so happened to occur at the same time that Citroen purchased Maserati. You know what that means — hydraulics! High-pressure French-tech was used to operate the vented disk brakes and the pop up headlights. In fact, the Bora's seat was on hydraulics. I say "on" because the seat didn't move backwards and forwards, nuh uh. It only moved up and down, hydraulically. But what if you're a tall gent? Well sir, the pedal box (gas, brake and clutch) can be slid to accommodate your height. Hydraulically, of course. As you may has guessed, the Bora's adjustable pedals were a world first. The steering wheel not only tilted but telescoped and with standard AC, the Bora was known as the comfortable Italian exotic.

Buff books of the day (like Road & Track) declared the first mid-engined Maserati to be, "one of the best-handling cars money can buy." Part of the reason for the car's well sorted handling was that Maserati test driver Guerrino Bertocchi hated mid-engined cars. In fact, he would go out of his way to find explain what exactly sucked about the Bora's handling. This caused a series of delays in the development process, but ultimately because of Bertocchi's constant nitpicking the Bora became one of the most accurate and compliant high performance cars in the world.

Beautiful, exotic, luxurious, fast, innovative and Italian. If those attributes don't make a Fantasy Garage car, I don't know which ones do. Happy voting.

[The Jalopnik Fantasy Garage appears every Wednesday. Readers vote the cars in or out. The idea is that we'll have 50 cars in our Fantasy Garage, the world's greatest mechanic and endless wads of cash. Would you like to nominate a car for the Fantasy Garage? Write tips@jalopnik.com with the subject line "Fantasy."]

Driving the Giugiaro Mustang Concept

Mike Spinelli — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 10:00:52 EDT

Our connection over at Fast Lane Daily scored a drive in the Fabrizio Giugiaro-designed Giugiaro Mustang. Some say the orange custom job — with, er, Mustang-skin interior? — hearkens the look of the next-gen Mustang. Could be, though Ford's got a tunnel to get through before we can start thinking about that kind of thing.

Only in Geneva: One Man's One-Off Ferrari Concept Is Another's Daily Driver

Mike Spinelli — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 05:34:08 EST

Seriously, if you were Giorgietto Giugiaro, wouldn't you drive your one-off Ferrari concept car across the Alps to Switzerland? And once you got there, wouldn't you just slam it into a parking garage, in sight of all the plebes' Ford Focus C-Maxes and Renault Twingos? The Winding Roadies caught Giugiaro's Ferrari GG50, which was a gift to himself on occasion of his family firm's 50th anniversary. It even has road mud. We'd imagine him saying something like, "The car, she is made to be driven, not kept like in a root cellar next to the dried cod, like grandmother." Maybe not exactly like that. – Mike Spinelli

Geneva Motor Show: One-Of-A-Kind Ferrari Casually Parked In Swiss Garage [Winding Road]

Geneva Showcase: Giugiaro VAD.HO

Mike Spinelli — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 07:41:06 EST

What happens when a famous Italian design house builds a conceptual two seater around BMW's Hydrogen 7 motor? Hilarity is bound to ensue. Actually, ItalDesign-Giugiaro's VAD.HO concept is less hilarious than future-slick. It looks like one of those Pinewood Derby cars built by some kid's dad who works at NASA. It's got an asymmetrical layout, with the laterally oriented cockpit to one side, and the BMW liquid hydro engine to the other (the whole thing is about the size of a Ferrari Maranello). The cockpit has some neato video terminals, with an interface and optical technologies designed for aerospace applications. All controls can be manipulated by joysticks; one in the rear works only with the IT system. Aside from being a tech piece, the VAD.HO is also the showcase car for ItalDesign's new identity, which trades on the name of its founder, Giorgietto Giugiaro. – Mike Spinelli

Geneva Pre-Show: Italdesign-Giugiaro Hydrogen Concept

Mike Spinelli — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 12:15:01 EST

The Italdesign-Giugiaro group, aka Giorgietto's Playhouse, created this concept racer as a showcase for the Italian design shop's new corporate identity. It's called the Vadh , and it's powered by a mid-mounted engine of some displacement running on liquid hydrogen. Joysticks control the in-line two seater, and all of its components are drive by wire. No details yet, other than that it'll be unveiled to some fanfare at the Geneva show next week. – Mike Spinelli

Giugiaro To Touch Down At Geneva Show With Hydrogen Future Carl Called Vadh [Winding Road]

Related:
Ciao, Pony: Giugiaro Mustang Concept Revealed [internal]

Two Giugiaros on the Giugiaro Mustang

Mike Spinelli — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 09:24:48 EST

Heir to the Giugiaro design legend, "little" Fabrizio offers a designer's eye look at the Giugiaro Mustang concept that bears his name. He also predicts the start of a new era in design in Detroit, a statement uttered so frequently during the past 30 years, it's got no more gravity than a recipe for Chex Mix. Special cameo by papa Giorgetto. – Mike Spinelli

[via MotorAuthority]

Related:
Ciao, Pony: Giugiaro Mustang Concept Revealed [internal]

eBay Find of the Day: Have Ghia 450 SS Will Travel to Port of Rotterdam

Mike Spinelli — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 08:29:27 EST

What happens when the most celebrated Italian designers get their hands on a Mopar catalog? Nothing much, these days (perhaps a Bertone-tuned Jeep Compass?). But there was a time when such pairups were as fruitful as the Rossellini-Bergman mashup. One such fruit was the Ghia 450SS, a Barracuda-powered model, designed by Giorgetto Guigiaro and built by Ghia's coachworks. Only 52 450SSs were hand built, and one of the specimens recently surfaced on the eBay machine. Still, with only 10 hours left as of this writing, and not a single bidder — at an opening price of $69,500 — we'd imagine the market hasn't quite raised its voice on these classics, the buying of which is still only a style play. Low supply plus low demand equals, huh? – Mike Spinelli [UPDATE: More on the 450SS from David at Hemmings]

1967 Other Makes GHIA 450 SS [eBay]

Jalopnik Late-Night: Photo Fun With Autoblog Frank!

Jonny Lieberman — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 23:16:11 EST

That's me, half-loaded, pretending to share a laugh with the master of retrofuturism, J Mays, at the Italdesign Giugiaro Mustang launch party. I'm apologizing in advance about the chest hair. When I drink, I get warm. And Ford was handing out the free booze, not me... – Jonny Lieberman

Viva La Mustang! Viva Free Booze! Viva La Lara Flynn Boyle! Giugiaro 'Stang Launch Party

Jonny Lieberman — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 10:00:00 EST

Yes, yes — Giorgetto's son and J Mays fired up the engine of the savagely orange Italdesign Mustang. But the highlight of the night was when Autoblog Frank, fueled by the courage only whiskey and Diet Coke can provide, began talking about how hot Lara Flynn Boyle's Victoria's Secret stylings in Men in Black II were, while seated on a couch next to Lara Flynn Fucking Boyle!! Why was Ms. Boyle there? Why were the martinis leading me to believe she was checking me out? Why is the "low tire pressure" warning light in my car on? Viva Los Angeles, Los Jalopniks and all our rowdy friends. – Jonny Lieberman

Related:
Ciao, Pony: Giugiaro Mustang Concept Revealed [Internal]

Ciao, Pony: Giugiaro Mustang Concept Revealed

Mike Spinelli — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 07:37:54 EST

If you thought the Ford Mustang was a fine car, just not quite Italian enough, you'll probably get all weepy when the company unveils a new Giugiaro-designed concept car at the Los Angeles show. (That is, unless you think Lambo doors are just too Italian.) The design house smoothed out the Mustang's retro design, giving it a more modern, sleeker look — which some might assume hearkened the next-gen model, set for 2010. But Ford execs will likely say this is purely a styling exercise, not an augur of what's to come. The concept also gets the GT's 4.6-liter V8, supercharged and tweaked by Ford Racing to get in the range of 500 hp. We'll see more during the LA press preview days tomorrow and Thursday. – Mike Spinelli

[via Autovisie]

Spy Photos: Giugiaro Mustang Coming to Los Angeles Show

Mike Spinelli — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 07:38:15 EST

Thanks to Dutch car mag, Autovisie, we've got tentative proof the top-secret Giugiaro Mustang — a concept car reported to be a joint project of Ford design boss J Mays and ItalDesign's Fabrizio Giugiaro — exists in sheetmetal form. Set for a debut at the Los Angeles auto show later this month, the Italianized 'Stang will, according to Wards's Auto have the most powerful Mustang engine developed to date. It's not the first time an Italian had his way with a Mustang; at the 1965 New York Auto Show, Nuccio Bertone's showed off his company's 100th design — a prototype Ford Mustang commissioned by Automobile Quarterly and designed by then Bertone sidekick, Giorgetto Giugiaro. – Mike Spinelli

[via Autovisie.nl]

Italiadesign Giugiaro Puts Fine Italian Hand to Next-Gen Mini

Mike Spinelli — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 09:00:03 EST

Those who were expecting the next-generation Mini Cooper to be a product of German engineers channeling Britain's moddish '60s (an efficiently rendered acid trip, to be sure) should realign their expectations toward those country's romantic neighbors. In fact, the 2007 Mini will have more French and Italian in it than a Latvian prostitute at the G8 conference. According to AutoWeek the drivetrain will be a product of France's Peugeot-Citroen, while the body and chassis engineering is being handled in its entirety by Italiadesign Giugiaro.

Next Mini has Italian Roots [internal]

Related:
Bertone to Build Limited-Edition Mini [internal]

Ferrari to Show Giugiaro-Designed Concept in Tokyo

Mike Spinelli — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 08:18:57 EDT

Auto designer Giorgietto Giugiaro is celebrating is 50 years in the business not with cake (well, maybe with cake too) but with a concept Ferrari coupe that he says marks his "great adventure" in the world of car design. That concept is the Ferrari GG50, a compact 2+2 coupe built on a shortened version of the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti platform. It also appears suspiciously similar to the 600 "Imola" (or Testarossa) coupe that's destined to replace the current Ferrari 575M [violin theme builds].

Ferrari GG50 concept [Italiaspeed]