The early days – and the Manta
Giorgetto Giugiaro, born on 7 August 1938, has always had an extraordinary talent. He was only 17 when Fiat’s technical director, the ingenious Dante Giacosa, spotted the young man and immediately got him a job. And in December 1959, Nuccio Bertone appointed the then 21-year-old as head of the ‘Bertone Styling Center’. At 24, he designed the Simca 1000 coupé, and the coupé versions of the Alfa Romeo 2000/2600 were to become his first production car. The years he spent at Bertone were certainly important for Giugiaro; he learnt a lot, and fast. And he designed some real masterpieces for Bertone, the Aston Martin DB4 GT Jet Concept, the Ferrari 250 GT Concept, the Chevrolet Corvair Testudo Concept – and we certainly don’t want to forget the Fiat 850 Spider. And not to forget the Canguro for Alfa Romeo.
In November 1965, Giugiaro moved to Ghia, where he was again extremely productive. As early as 1966, he was able to add the Maserati Ghibli and the DeTomaso Mangusta to his portfolio. And because he is more of an artist than a designer, he remained very down-to-earth, and was not above designing the 117 coupé for Isuzu, a company that was still emerging at the time. But life at Ghia was also difficult, and things went downhill from the mid-1960s. First Luigi Segre died in 1963 after an appendectomy, then Ramfis Trujillo, son of the former dictator of the Dominican Republic, took over the reins in 1966 – and in 1967, Alejandro de Tomaso. But by then Giorgetto Giugiaro had already set up on his own for the first time: on 7 February 1967, he founded his own company, Ital Styling. He remained connected to Ghia, continued to work as a freelance designer – and above all, worked on his plans for his own company. On 13 February 1968, Ital Styling was renamed Studi Italiani Realizzazione Prototipi S.p.A. (SIRP). In addition to Giugiaro, the Mantovani family also had a share in the company, and Italdesign was formed from SIRP in 1968.
40 days, they say. 40 days is how long Giugiaro gave himself to build his first ‘own’ vehicle for Italdesign. He and his small team at Italdesign made it – and it was a great success, an important car for history. The basis was, of course, ideal: a Bizzarrini P538, a lightweight racing car. Giugiaro stretched a body over it that had never been seen before: a kind of half-moon made of folded paper with a comb-like rear end. One of the very first unibox designs. But it wasn’t just the exterior that was exciting; Giugiaro also broke new ground on the inside: the driver sat in the centre, with two passengers slightly offset to the rear on his left and right. Even by today’s standards, the Manta’s dimensions are astounding: the car is 4.13 metres long, a full 1.86 metres wide and just 1.05 metres high.
The Manta was first exhibited at the Turin Motor Show at the end of October 1968. It was painted in a bright green with orange highlights – which attracted even more attention. Later, the car was painted red and silver, and was presented to an astonished audience in Japan and the USA: Italdesign had quickly made a name for itself around the world.
radical: Mr Giugiaro, how, when and, above all, why did you come up with the idea of founding Italdesign?
Giorgetto Giugiaro: Ambition and the desire to keep creating new things. To achieve new challenges and new goals. I started at Fiat, then at Bertone and Ghia. In February 1968, when I decided to go my own way in the world of automotive design, I founded S.I.R.P. (Studio Italiano Realizzazione Prototipi) together with Aldo Mantovani. Within a few weeks, the name was changed to Ital Design; we wanted to have international horizons and ambitions from the outset. And so my career in industry began.
radical: Why did you choose a Bizzarrini chassis?
Giugiaro: I chose the Bizzarrini chassis because I had contacts with Giotto. We had worked together on a few models when I was at Bertone, and it seemed logical to start in this way.
radical: What did you get from Bizzarrini? A complete chassis with an engine? If so, what serial number could it have had? There are some uncertainties about all three (or four) P538s.
Giugiaro: If I remember correctly (it was a few years ago… laughs), it would have to be 003. I remember that it was a used car, not new. It came from the world of racing.
radical: What was it like working with Giotto Bizzarrini?
Giugiaro: I met Giotto Bizzarrini in 1960 when I was a designer at Carrozzeria Bertone and he was commissioned to design the small Ferrari that was later called the ‘Ferrarina’ and which then became the Asa 1000. Giotto was an absolutely brilliant engineer, extremely hardworking in development, very practical, very determined and quick in his decisions. Giotto was a dynamic person who focused on progressive aspects and was not afraid to take risks.
radical: The Manta was a completely new design – what was your inspiration?
Giugiaro: It was a prototype that was ahead of its time in many ways. For the first time, the driver was seated in the centre of the vehicle, with the two passengers seated on either side. The sleek and aerodynamic design, the low height of the cabin and the resulting very low driving position led us to an innovative solution. We added a blind that can be adjusted from the inside. The driver can open it to improve visibility at low speeds and when manoeuvring, and close it at high speeds to avoid affecting the aerodynamics. I chose the name ‘Manta’ because, when I looked at the car from above, it reminded me of a giant ray.
radical: Do you remember the audience’s reaction when you presented the car for the first time?
Giugiaro: It was very well received, although the colour, a Verde Acqua (Aqua Green), was perhaps a little too daring for the time. But its success was obvious, so much so that the car went on a world tour immediately after the Turin Motor Show, taking it first to Tokyo and then to Los Angeles. The American adventure inevitably left its mark on its history, and it disappeared from the scene for a few years.
radical: What do you think when you see the Manta today? Are you proud of the car?
Giugiaro: When I look at the cars I have designed in the past, I usually notice the mistakes or the things I could have done better first. For its time, the Manta remains a genuine research prototype with design lines and ideas that break the mould. But I’m used to always looking ahead. Now my son Fabrizio is continuing the family business GFG Style. I work for him as a consultant. Fabrizio is designing the new Bizzarrini Giotto; the story continues.
The story then continued at Italdesign. And how! It would be a futile and impossible task to list all of Giugiaro’s designs for Italdesign. The man was not only creative, he was also extremely hardworking. His most famous concept cars include the Alfa Romeo Iguana (1969) and Caimano (1971), the BMW Nazca concepts (from 1991), the Hyundai Pony Coupé (1974), the Maserati Boomerang (1972) and the Maserati Kubang (2003), Lamborghini Calà (1995). But even more important, of course, are all the production vehicles that Giugiaro helped develop: the Alfasud (1971, very, very important), Alfetta GT (1974), Audi 80 (1978), DMC DeLorean (1981), Fiat Panda (1980, a masterpiece!), Uno and Punto, Lancia Delta (1979), Lotus Esprit (1972), lots of Maserati, Renault 19 and 21, Saab 9000 (1984), lots of Seat from the Ibiza (1984) – and then, of course, the VW Golf and Scirocco (both 1974). In 2010, Audi took over Italdesign to secure the services of Giorgetto and his son Fabrizio forever. But in 2015, father and son set up their own company again, GFG Progetti.
This is an (extended) text from radical#2, the print edition. You can find all the stories here, along with more on the Bizzarrini Manta.
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