Mr. Pantera - Tom Tjaarda - has left us
06/03/2017
His name is (and was) less well-known than perhaps Marcello Gandini or Giorgetto Giugiaro. But Tom Tjaarda was one of the great designers of the last century. He died the day before yesterday (on June 1, 2017) at the age of 82 and left behind an extensive body of influential designs that includes far more than the De Tomaso Pantera ( pictured above) with which his name was most often associated.
After his training and initial short stints, Tom Tjaarda, the son of an American car designer, joined Pininfarina, but also worked for many years at Ghia, where he was head of design from 1968 to 1977. Later on, he worked for Fiat and repeatedly worked as a freelancer. Even in his old age, he continued to design, for example he was still designing the Shelby Series 2 in 2006.
It is not easy to name outstanding models in view of his extensive oeuvre, but a few should nevertheless be picked out here.
Working for Pininfarina, he designed the Chevrolet Corvette Rondine in 1963, the same year he also created the extremely elegant Lancia Flaminia Pininfarina Coupé Speciale.
In 1964, he gave the Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 Series 1 its unmistakable design.
In the same year, Pininfarina also presented his Mercedes-Benz 230 SL as a coupé.
One of the most important models he designed for Pininfarina was undoubtedly the Fiat 124 Spider, which was ultimately built for 20 years, a compliment to its timeless lines.
With the De Tomaso Zonda, he created an extremely elegant front-engined coupé for Ghia in 1971, which would have suited the brand well.
The Ford Fiesta , which he designed in 1972, was ultimately produced in its millions.
The Ford Mustela II was another concept car created by Ghia.
Tjaarda designed or influenced around 100 vehicles that are still known today. We will miss his pencil and his calm, friendly manner - I had the privilege of meeting him two or three years ago on Public Day at Villa Erba!
His life and work is documented on a comprehensive car historian website ( in English).
