Sergio Pininfarina died on July 3, 2012
07/04/2012
Sergio Pininfarina, born Sergio Farina in 1926, died yesterday at the age of 85. He was rightly regarded as one of the fathers of the Italian line and designed countless automobiles that we still consider to be among the most beautiful creations in automotive history.
In 1950, he graduated from the Polytechnic of Turin with a degree in engineering and immediately joined his father's company, Battista Farina. In 1960, he took over the overall management of Carozzeria Pinin Farina. Among other things, he built a 1:1 wind tunnel in 1972, floated the now steadily growing company conglomerate on the stock exchange in 1986 and later expanded abroad. He was awarded the title of senator for life by the Italian state. Countless awards bear witness to his influence on automotive design in the second half of the 20th century.
Pininfarina's groundbreaking creations include the Dino Berlinetta Speciale from 1966 (and its famous relative 206/246 GT/GTS), ...
the Lancia Florida, one of his favorite creations and predecessor of the Lancia Flaminia sedan, ...
the Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider - with the Fiat 124 he also created a direct competitor - , ...
but also pioneering studies such as the Ferrari Modulo or the Ferrari 512 Berlinetta Speciale from 1969.
Sergio Pininfarina also successfully entered the automobile production business and built vehicles in small and large series for manufacturers such as Peugeot, Fiat, Alfa Romeo and other brands. The Pininfarina Eurospider, based on the Fiat 124 Spider, even bore his name as a brand.
With the passing of Sergio Pininfarina, the automotive world has lost a great designer and a far-sighted company patron. We will soon be devoting a detailed article to him and his work.
