Giovan Battista Farina
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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 02 September 2008 |
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It was during the 1960s that the idea that a car was judged solely on its external design died out, but conversely it is also true that a low cost machine need not be mediocre from the point of view of styling. Today, the majority of cars are seen as a whole: firstly in terms of safety, followed by versatility and reliability.
When Giovan Battista Farina, later to become Pininfarina, set up on his own he did not consider the question of aerodynamics. That was yet to come. Pininfarina, who was self taught, believed that a custom built body should firstly please the eye, and be more functional than a mass produced car. At the time this aim was comparatively easy to achieve as the mass produced bodies of the post war period were neither elegent nor comfortable.
Within the space of a few years, Pininfarina’s sense of proportion and his innate good taste brought him acclaim. The designs of his son Sergio and brother-in-law Renzo Carli have been more futuristic, and perhaps more interesting to the engineer than to the man in the street. The wind tunnel built by Pininfarina some years ago has enabled this celebrated workshop to achieve unforeseeable, streamlined shapes. Thus David Bache’s prediction that the bodywork of cars of tomorrow will be designed more by a computer than the pencil of a stylist, whatever, his flair, seems to be coming true. On the other hand, Sergio Pininfarina is convinced that in the future the public will still choose safe and functional cars that are offered at the same price. Though it is becoming more an instrument of work and less a status symbol with every day, the motor car continues to be shaped to please the eye so it seems likely that there will continue to be a place for the car body designer for some time to come.
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