Gautam Sharma•1 Nov 2012

NEWS

Ferrari's tribute to Pininfarina

Prancing horse stages a star-studded exhibition featuring the finest Ferraris penned by the legendary Sergio Pininfarina

The Ferrari Museum in Maranello has inaugurated The Great Ferraris of Sergio Pininfarina exhibition, which focuses on the years during which Sergio, the son of founder Battista “Pinin” Farina, made a pivotal contribution to the creation of the Prancing Horse’s most famous models.

The legendary stylist and the sportscar manufacturer had a lengthy collaboration dating from 1952 to 2010, and the exhibition showcases the finest fruits of the partnership. It comprises 22 models, including one-offs such as the Pinin – Ferrari’s first and only attempt at a four-door car.

The cars in the exhibition are split between three separate themed halls – the themes being “The Racing Cars”, “The GT Cars” and “The Concept Cars”. In addition to the cars, the exhibition also features artefacts from the Pininfarina family’s private and company collections, such as the wooden styling buck of the Modulo concept car.

Also on display are some of the racing cars Pininfarina penned for Ferrari – the 250 LM, Ferrari’s last overall winner at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 500 Mondial and 250 MM berlinettas, the classic 375 MM racer, the spectacular 512 BB Le Mans, the short-wheelbase 250 GT Berlinetta in which Stirling Moss won the Tourist Trophy, and the Sigma Formula 1 prototype from 1969.

The 11 road cars in the exhibition are divided between the front-engined berlinettas, such as the 1966 275 GTB4, and the mid-rear-engined models, notably the milestone BB, powered by a flat-12 engine.

In case you happen to be in Italy between now and January 7, the exhibition is open to the public seven days a week from 9.30am to 6pm (excluding December 25 and January 1).

Collectors of memorabilia may also be temped by the large-format catalogue (on sale at the exhibition) that includes a rendering of each of the 100 Ferraris designed by Pininfarina.

THE CONCEPT CARS

P6 (1968)

The P in the P6 moniker stands for prototype, the category of car that competed in the World Manufacturers’ Championship, which was a source of great success to Ferrari in the 1950s and ’60s.

One of the most famous of these victories came courtesy of the legendary P3 and P4 at Daytona. The P inspired not one but two concept cars: the P5, now in Japan, and this P6 (pictured), which proves categorically that production car lines can be inspired directly by experimental cars.

The P6 is a classic example of that phenomenon, in fact. This 1968 prototype paved the way for the forms of the great Ferraris of the 1970s – from the BB and the 308 GTB all the way up to the 288 GTO.

Sigma (1969)

Formula 1 provides the most striking examples of the progress made in improving car safety. When the Sigma Grand Prix was unveiled, in fact, F1 was still an incredibly dangerous sport for drivers, although the risks of those days have now all but been removed. Safety was one of Sergio Pininfarina’s favourite subjects and Formula 1 did not escape his attention.

The Sigma Grand Prix is the result of research carried out by an international team of experts and incorporates features that, at the time, were considered absolutely cutting-edge but are now standard fare. These included multi-layer fuel tanks and an onboard fire extinguishing system.

Modulo (1970)

The Italian carrozzerie produced a veritable explosion of controversial and innovative forms to clothe the new mid-engined architecture of the competition cars of the late 1960s.

The Modulo marks the pinnacle of Pininfarina’s obsession with achieving ever-simpler and idealised forms. Little remains of a conventional car or its functionality, even the wheels have almost disappeared under a fairing that actually prevents it making sharp turns.

The whole effect is of a spacecraft inspired by the science fiction film 2001 A Space Odyssey.

Mythos (1989)

Luca di Montezemolo’s mission to ensure Ferrari’s successful transition into the new millennium via new technologies and forms was hinted at in this concept car which is both a return and an homage to the radical excesses of the most prolific era of Italian design.

In fact, it became something of a manifesto for the Ferraris of the next decade. The Mythos’ proportions were pushed to the extreme and the result was compact front volumes set against an imposing rear section. A truly sculptural and three-dimensional take on the classic barchetta.

THE RACING CARS

250 MM (1953)

The spectacularly successful 250 series of models dominated both track and road for 11 years, and received its baptism of fire in the famous Brescian road race, the Mille Miglia after which this model is named.

After its debut, the MM version of the 250 became something of a racing star but was followed by the 250 Tour de France, the Passo Corto or SWB as it is now generally known, the GTO and, last but not least, the LM and the P.

Its compact lines exude a sense of perfect harmony and, like all the cars of its day, it was designed solely with performance in mind.

375 MM Spider (1953)

This was the classic 1950s sports car, built to blister the roads as well as the track. The aggressive yet elegant 375 MM is basically a racing car that’s as good-looking as any show car.

Its sleek bonnet seems to go on forever and its air-intake is set like a diamond between the two bumpers, while the lines of the flanks flow back to form a kind of a wasp waist in front of the rear wheels. The car’s many elements meld effortlessly in a wonderfully dynamic, flawlessly executed design.

500 Mondial Berlinetta (1954)

This is a racing car given a compact berlinetta look that exudes the harmony of the open-top sports cars of the same category. Compact and functional, it is a genuine racer with no concessions to superfluous bells and whistles.

The proportions and treatment of the cabin and the flanks also introduced themes that would be fully developed in the models that followed too.

Pinin (1980)

Pininfarina decided to create a genuinely different Ferrari to celebrate its 50th anniversary: a four-door saloon powered by a V12 engine.

This was a wholly unexpected and unprecedented concept because Prancing Horse cars had always and only ever been two-doors.

The design itself was flawlessly sober with certain signature elements introduced that

would become popular only many years later, including the famous single-frame front grille, flush glass windows and a sleekly tapered tail section.

The design was such that, after months of research, there was a temptation to actually put it into production and a real prototype, displayed in this exhibition, was actually built.

However, the project was eventually permanently shelved at the specific request of Enzo Ferrari himself who did not want to introduce such a massive departure as he felt it would have changed the company’s image.

250 LM (1963)

Designed to take the place of the much celebrated and hugely successful 250 GTO
in competition, the LM was the model that saw the Ferrari engine shift from front to mid-rear position. Its forms were dictated by aerodynamic necessities.

The result is truly original with a rather high greenhouse pushed forward on the body by the rear-mounted engine. A profiled bonnet with faired in headlamps and a Kamm tail with a full-width spoiler also improved aerodynamic efficiency.

512 BB LM (1979)

The solidity of the design of Ferrari’s cars meant that even those originally penned for GT use made a successful transition to the track. The 512 BB LM, in fact, was a constant presence in the toughest endurance races at the end of the 1970s.

In its particular case, however, Pininfarina wasn’t so much the bodywork designer as an aerodynamics expert as it opened the first full-size wind tunnel in Italy in 1972.

275 GTB4 (1966)

A high performance berlinetta built for the road, the 275 GTB is one of the most iconic Ferraris of all time and a huge favourite with enthusiasts and collectors alike.

Its design, which was quite conservative for the day, really has become a timeless classic because of its perfect proportions and brilliantly fluid surfaces. Its engine capacity, referred to in the 275 of its name (as it represented the displacement of each cylinder), was 3300 cc. The model on show at the exhibition is the 1966 GTB4 version.

THE GT CARS

250 GT Coupé (1958)

This model was the culmination of the long and extraordinary 250 project. The design itself is incredibly simple and pure, not even including the classic side intakes. Its three-volume bodywork has a large rear window and, a result, the cabin is bright and airy.

The ovoid front grille is now narrower too, while the headlamps are more pronounced. Unveiled in 1958, the car was an instant hit and became one of Ferrari’s most successful models.

250 GT Berlinetta SWB (1959)

The archetypical Ferrari par excellence (pictured) and a seamless marriage of GT and track car that would later be made impossible by technical developments and rule changes.

Perfectly proportioned with simple yet powerful surfaces and pared-down decorative touches: a timelessly beautiful car. Sergio Pininfarina wanted an example for his company’s collection, but the example on show at the exhibition was raced by Stirling Moss in the famous Tourist Trophy.

365 GTS4 Daytona Spider (1969)

The Daytona brought a new formal language to classic front-engined architecture, a language that was the direct result of experimentation done with the show prototypes.

It featured tighter and more integrated surfaces that were less concave, while the headlamps are more characterful and the front grille subtler and more slender. The spider version is particularly rare and sought-after.

Testarossa (1984)

The Testarossa is one of the most extroverted Ferraris ever built and was created specifically to be gloriously eye-catching, brilliantly interpreting the spirit of the 1980s.

It featured stacked volumes, very broad tail section, large straked air-intakes on its sides, a grille integrated into the front bumper and horizontally-slatted louvers hiding the rectangular tail lights.

These new styling cues only served to underscore the car’s powerful presence. But behind each one was also a specific technical choice and the car’s shape was designed to deliver unprecedented mechanical and aerodynamic performance.

BB Berlinetta Boxer (1971)

When it came to designing the first mid-engined Ferrari 12-cylinder, Pininfarina remained faithful to his philosophy of creating exquisite balance and simplicity, and, rather than taking his inspiration from the more radical prototypes he had developed in previous years, created a road-going version of the P6.

The model seen at the exhibition is the first prototype that was built in 1971. Production would only begin two years later on what became officially known as the 365 GT4 BB.

330 GTC Coupé Speciale (1967)

The 330 GTC exudes a sophisticated, minimalist elegance and, as a result, was one of Sergio Pininfarina’s personal favourites.

The version exhibited is a unique example with a completely separate stylistic language that offers a twist on several themes broached by the Dino on front-engined running gear: the ovoid radiator grille on the nose, unapologetic dihedral along the flank and, most of all, the concave curved rear screen.

Dino 206 GT (1967)

Ferrari opened its arms to the rear-engine under the Dino name which used engines of under 12-cylinders.

This meant that Pininfarina could finally pour all of the research he had done with the 1965 prototype into a production car, adapting the bonnet to road use whilst remaining true to his original ideas: pronounced mudguards, dihedral on the flanks with a long air-intake scoop, concave back screen and perfect Kamm tail.

The Dino 206 GT was the first mid-rear-engined car built in Maranello and given Enzo Ferrari’s aversion to this layout, it is probably no surprise that it sported the Dino rather than the Ferrari badge on its bonnet.

SA Aperta (2010)

The 599 GTB Fiorano was the last Ferrari whose design was supervised from start to finish by Sergio Pininfarina.

His experience and taste added an inimitable touch of elegance to a deliberately aggressive and extreme design. Ferrari created this particular SA Aperta special series car with barchetta bodywork as a tribute to Sergio and Andrea Pininfarina.

360 Barchetta LdM (2000)

The car on show in this exhibition is a unique barchetta take on the 360 Spider commissioned by Fiat boss Giovanni Agnelli as a wedding gift for Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo.

The 360 Modena itself had hailed a major turning point in terms of innovation, design and technology. For the first time, the classic Ferrari front grille was replaced by two intakes reminiscent of those sported by the F1 car from 1961.

In the finest Pininfarina-Ferrari tradition, that decision was influenced by aerodynamic and functional demands. The 360 Modena was also the first all-aluminium Ferrari.

550 Barchetta Pininfarina (2000)

The 12-cylinder engine that returned to its classic front-mounting in Ferrari’s most powerful production car, the 550 Maranello, also found itself clothed in the seductive proportions of the 275 GTB with an extra whiff of the track (from the high roll-bars) in this barchetta.

An imposing bonnet with an attractive grille, pulled-back cockpit and powerfully dynamic bumper all hark back to the blisteringly fast sports cars of the past. Ferrari built this strictly limited edition barchetta as a tribute to Pininfarina.

456M GT (1992)

Aggressive yet sublimely elegant, the 456 GT cleverly hid seating for four beneath a sports berlinetta exterior.

Its harmonious design cherry-picked inspirations from everything from the Mythos concept car to the legendary Daytona, but was a seamless blend of past and future, making it an instant classic perfectly in line with Sergio Pininfarina’s purist aesthetic philosophy. The model shown in this exhibition is the modified version from 1998.

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Ferrari's tribute to Pininfarina

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