Italian Variations on a Coupé Theme, Circa 1950

There are all sorts of reasons why automobile designs from different sources can seem quite similar.  In some cases, a stylist from one firm would be hired by another and he continued in his usual manner.  Another possibility is stylists from different firms meeting in the same bar and trading stories, though this is difficult to document if it ever happened at all.  A third would be a zeitgeist argument, that certain idea were simply "in the air" at a given time.  Fourth might be the state of the technological art driving what kinds of shapes and packages were possible at one of these given times.

The present post presents coupé designs from three Italian carrozzeria: Pinin Farina, Touring, and Ghia.  Those designs featured similar passenger compartment "greenhouses" along with some other similar features.  Please correct me, but as far as I can tell, there was no transfer of stylists between the firms during the period 1947-52 when the cars shown below were designed.  The "same bar" hypothesis can also be ruled out.  Technology was a consideration, as I'll explain.  What happened was that Pinin Farina came up with a design suited to the immediate post- World War 2 glass-forming technology in Italy.  Then Touring and Ghia, within changing limits of technology, refined Farina's concept.

Gallery

Pinin Farina - 1947 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS Coupé
I don't know if this car or the one in the following image came first, but their bodies are identical aside from wheelbase and brand identification details.

Pinin Farina - Delahaye 1947 135MS Coupé
Windshields are two-pane, flat glass.  Side windows are also flat glass.

Pinin Farina - Delahaye 1947 135MS Coupé
Back windows are fairly small, with glass curved slightly horizontally.  The shape of the top is large-radius and uncomplicated by the presence of a second set of side windows abaft of the doors.

Touring - 1949 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Super Sport Coupé
The passenger compartment greenhouse in this Touring design is better shaped, more graceful than Farina's original effort.  The lower body is entirely different.

Ghia - 1949 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS Coupé
A Ghia version of the same Alfa type features through-fenders like Farina's '47 Alfa 2500.  The greenhouse is shorter and airier due to larger windows.

Ghia - 1952 (circa) Alfa Romeo 1900C Coupe prototype
A few years later Ghia created this refinement on the theme.  Now glass-forming technology allowed a one-piece curved windshield and a larger, more-curved backlight.

Ghia - 1953-54 Alfa Romeo 1900 Sprint Speciale Supergioiello
Few examples of this design were built.  The greenhouse is not like the Farina version aside from the side windows and presence of the large aft quarter pillar -- yet the general spirit remains.  The name "Supergioiello" might be freely translated as "fabulous jewell."