1948 Ferrari 166 Coupés and Berlinettas

Many observers, me included, consider Italian car styling from the late 1940s through much of the 1950s to be a kind of design golden age.  Today's post presents some designs from early in that era.  All are based on the Ferrari 166 (Wikipedia entry here).

Details are in the captions below.

Gallery

1948 Ferrari 166 Inter Coupé by Stabilimenti Farina, Giovanni Michelotti designer
I wrote about this and other Stabilimenti Farina designs for Ferrari 166s here.  Lacking on this design is the Ferrari oval grille with egg-crate bars introduced by Carrozzeria Touring on the 166 Barchetta.

Ferraris had V-12 motors in those days, justifying a long hood.  The side view is pleasing, very classic postwar Italian styling.

1947 Cisitalia 202 Berlinetta by Pinin Farina
But the design strikes me as being highly derivative of the classic (honored in a 1951 exhibit at New York's Museum of Modern Art) Cisitalia 202, often cited as setting the tone for Italian design.  The basic Cisitalia design was by Giovanni Savonuzzi, productionized by Pinin Farina.  Cisitalias had small Fiat motors, so the car was small and the hood not as long as the Ferrari's.  Derivative items on the latter include the aft roof profile, the fender design, and the side window theme.  Stabiliment Farina also built some Cisitalias to the Pinin Farina design, so the firm might have been quite familiar with it when the Ferrari was styled.  The hood on the Ferrari is higher and shaped differently, so maybe that was much of Michelotti's contribution.

Unlike the Cisitalia, the Ferrari has a trunk lid.  The tail light/reflector ensemble is awkward.

1948 Ferrari 166 MM Panoramica by Zagato, Luigi Rapi designer - photos via carrozzieri-italiani.com
The lower body is in the spirit of Touring's Barchetta design, including a variation of the grille.

Where the design fails is the side windows that curve up onto the top of the roof.  Zagato built a number of cars with this unfortunate feature that I discussed here.

The car is something of a hatchback -- note the cutlines near the backlight window.  All things considered, the passenger compartment greenhouse is too tall relative to the lower, Barchetta-influenced lower body.

1948 Ferrari 166 Inter Berlinetta by Touring, Federico Formenti designer
Early postwar, Touring made many cars based on the Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 platform.  A common Touring feature there was sculpted character lines on both front and rear fenders.  That feature is seen here too.

The greenhouse's rear profile seems a little awkward, but that is because Barchettas often had back seats requiring passenger headroom, whereas Coupes did not.  That said, this car had only a bench in back that might be used as a seat briefly.

The backlight window is large for its time.  I think the design would be improved if it was a bit narrower and less high.

Michelotti's 1952 Jaguars by Stabilimenti Farina

Customized Jaguars designed by professionals are far from unheard-of.  Even industrial designer Raymond Loewy, whose firm dealt with production Hupmobiles and Studebakers, got in that game.

An unusual case, today's subject, is a set of three Jaguars styled by the prolific Giovanni Michelotti (1921-1980, Wikiperia entry here). The carrozziera building the bodies was Stabilimeni Farina.

The work was done in 1952.  The three Jaguar designs were named "Meteor," "Golden Arrow" and "Flying Jaguar."  Here is some background from the carrozzieri-italiani.com site -- commentary from different pages:

"The Meteor was based on the Jaguar MK VII chassis, a luxury saloon platform that provided a solid foundation for Farina’s elegant and aerodynamic design.  Alongside the Meteor, Stabilimenti Farina also created two other exclusive Jaguar models: the Golden Arrow and the Flying Jaguar.  The Golden Arrow was essentially a convertible version of the Meteor, sharing the MK VII chassis but featuring an open-top design that gave it a more stylish and grand touring appeal.  The third model, the Flying Jaguar, was built on the Jaguar XK 120 chassis, a sports car platform known for its performance and agility."

"These bespoke cars were commissioned by the Brussels Jaguar dealer, who sought to combine Jaguar’s engineering excellence with Farina’s distinctive Italian design.  Today, all three cars; the Golden Arrow, Meteor, and Flying Jaguar; still exist, each a testament to the collaboration between Jaguar and Stabilimenti Farina."

Comparisons of the production and custom designs are below.

Gallery

1952 Jaguar "Golden Arrow" Cabriolet - photo via carrozzieri-italiani.com

1952 Jaguar "Meteor" Coupé - photo via carrozzieri-italiani.com
The customized Mark VIIs are identical aside from their tops, as would be the case if they were production models.

1952 Jaguar Mk VII Saloon - unknown photo source
Production Mk VIIs were sedans (saloons), so the cabriolet and coupé body styles on this platform were speculative, perhaps prospective supplements to the basic Mark VIIs sold by the Belgian dealer.

1952 Jaguar "Meteor" Coupé - photo via carrozzieri-italiani.com
Side view of the Coupé -- compare to the Mk VII below.

1952 Jaguar Mk VII Saloon - Bonhams Auction photo
The Jaguar design combines prewar, traditional English styling touches with postwar elements -- the flow-through fenders seen here.  Michelotti's design is classic 1950-vintage Italian, though built on a larger platform than usual.

1952 Jaguar "Meteor" Coupé - photo via carrozzieri-italiani.com
Simple shapes, subtly thought out.  The blue car in the background is a Bentley Continental, a contemporary.

1953 Jaguar Mk VII Saloon - Mecum Auctions photo
Again, the considerably different character of the production Jaguar.

1952 Jaguar "Flying Jaguar" Coupé - unknown photo source
Now for the "Flying Jaguar" based on the classic XK120.  Its design strongly echoes elements of the sedan-based customs.  For instance, compare the front ends.

1953 Jaguar XK120 Fixed-Head Coupé - Mecum
XK120 coupés first appeared in model year 1951, and this was the design Michelotti was commissioned to alter.

1952 Jaguar "Flying Jaguar" Coupé - photo via carrozzieri-italiani.com
Although proportions differ, the fenderline here closely resembles those on the sedan-based customs.  A noticeable difference is the placement of the side chrome strip.

1951 Jaguar XK120 Fixed-Head Coupé - car-for-sale photo
Despite -- because of? -- the passenger greenhouse, the XK120 seems to be a more interesting design than Michelotti's clean, classic Italian version.

1952 Jaguar "Flying Jaguar" Coupé - unknown photo source
Rear end closely matches that of the black coupé shown earlier.

1951 Jaguar XK120 Fixed-Head Coupé - RM Sotheby's Auctions photo
Yes, the Jag design looks pretty fussy when seen from this perspective.
An interesting feature of the Michelotti cars is that the designs are so similar, even though two platforms were used.  Was this a specification given to Michelotti?  Or did Michelotti decide to economize his workload by coming up with one theme to apply to all three cars?  I wonder if some documentation regarding this still exists.

Peugeot's "Fuseau Sochaux" 402, 302, 202 and 402 Légère by Henri Thomas Compared

Readers of this blog are probably aware of corporate head designers such as Harley Earl and Bill Mitchell of General Motors, and Virgil Exner of Chrysler.  But you and I almost surely hadn't heard of Henri Thomas, who was in charge of Peugeot design 1932-1960.

Some background on Thomas and his work can be found in the article "Designers : Henri Thomas, le père des Peugeot Fuseaux" (here) and the article "Henri Thomas – von 1932 bis 1960 Designchef von Peugeot" (here).

The latter mentions Thomas' background before joining Peugeot:

"Bevor er zu Peugeot kam, gehörte Thomas zu einem kleinen Kreis von Designern, die für Binder, Million-Guiet, Kellner und einigen andere bekannte Carossieres Karosserien entwarfen, mit denen dann Fahrgestelle von Bugatti-, Delage-, Delahaye-, Rolls-Royce- und Hispano-Suiza eingekleidet wurden.  Ihm wird u.a. das Design der Karosserie des vierten Bugatti Royale (Chassis 41100) von 1929 zugeschrieben, der leider bei einem Unfall zerstört wurde, den Ettore Bugatti 1931 verursachte, als er zwischen Paris und Straßburg am Steuer einschlief."

Thomas' first complete designs for Peugeot were what the French called the "Fuseau Sochaux" (fuseau = "spindle" and Sochaux is where Peugeot was headquartered).  These were the streamlined 202, 302 and 402 models -- the latter being the first to enter production in 1935 for the 1936 model year.  Wikipedia links to the respective models are Peugeot 202, Peugeot 302 and Peugeot 402.

The latter (as of April 2025) notes:

"There were three different standard wheelbases of 2,880 mm (113 in) (short), 3,150 mm (124 in) (“normal”) and 3,300 mm (130 in) (long).  When the 402 was launched in 1935 there were just two chassis lengths, but for 1937 the manufacturer added a third “short” chassis, inherited from the short-lived Peugeot 302.  The short chassis was used from 1937 for the Peugeot 402 Légère ('light-bodied')."

Gallery

Henri Thomas (at left).

1938 Peugeot 402 conduite intérieure - Toyota Automobile Museum photo
The 402 was the basic Peugeot model 1936-1940.

1938 Peugeot 302 berline - car-for-sale photo
The 302 had a short production run 1936-1937.

1938 Peugeot 202 berline - Swiss Auction Company photo
202s first appeared for model year 1938, production continuing for a few years following World war 2.

1938 Peugeot 402 Légère berline - photo via classicargarage.fr
This model had the regular 402 chassis, but the body abaft of the firewall was that of the 202.  The frontal zone is regular 402.

Count Mario Revelli di Beaumont: Independent Stylist

When researching this post dealing with the 1937 Alfa Romeo 6C 2300B Berlinetta by Pinin Farina, I discovered that the car's stylist was a member of Italy's nobility -- Conte Mario Revelli di Beaumont, and not Pinin Farina himself.  In that post I noted:

"According to the carrozzieri-italiani.com web site, the stylist was Conte Mario Revelli di Beaumont, an independent designer who produced designs for a variety of coachbuilding firms.  Background on Ravelli in English is here.  His Italian language Wikipedia entry is here, and his entry in French is here, noting that in the second half of the 1930s he worked with Pinin Farina and Bertone."

He was highly competent, working for major Italian coachbuilding firms (though apparently not Touring) as a freelance designer.  I haven't found why he seemingly never was exclusively employed by a single Italian firm.  (Though postwar, he spent some time at General Motors.)  Perhaps, due to his ancestry and status, he already had sufficient outside sources of income to offset inactive periods between design gigs.

As for me, I'm a bit embarrassed that I wasn't aware of him, though I must have passed over his name when researching various designs.  Because now, researching him, I find all sorts of mentions of him on the internet.  C'est la vie, I suppose.

By the way, another useful reference on Mario Revelli (1907-1985) is "Mario Revelli: The Most Prolific Car Designer You’ve Never Heard Of" here.

Below are some 1934-1950 designs with which Revelli is associated.

Gallery

1934 Lancia Augusta Coupe Aerodinamica by Stabilimenti Farina - photo via Lopresto Collection

1938 Fiat 1500 Berlinetta Aerodinamica by Ghia
Headlight assembles seem similar to those on the "Sharknose" 1938 Graham.  The grille design also has an American feeling.

1941 Fiat 1500C Coupe by Bertone, completed c.1945 - photo via Museo Nicolis

1936 Lancia Astura III Tipo Bocca Cabriolet by Pinin Farina- RM Sotheby's photo
One of Revelli's most outstanding designs.

1942 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS by Bertone - photo via Montesquieu-Volvestre
Variant of the Fiat 1500 above, but completed earlier.

1950 Simca Huit-Sport Cabriolet by Stabilimenti Farina - photo via carrozzieri-italiani.com
Revelli had no trouble adjusting to postwar styling trends.

1937 Alfa Romeo 6C 2300B Pescara Berlinetta by Pinin Farina - unidentified auction photo
Subject car of the post mentioned above.

1938 Fiat 1500 Berlina - RM Sotheby's photo
Unlike some of the cars pictured here, the Fiat 1500, launched in 1935, was produced in large numbers.   Note the aerodynamic features that were nearly contemporaneous with those of the ill-fated (in terms of sales ) 1934-37 Chrysler Airflow.  Revelli had a strong interest in Aerodynamics.

Did Pinin Farina Actually Design the Classic Cisitalia 202 Berlinetta?

On 20 October 2014 I posted "Design Classic: Cisitalia 202."  I gave Battasta "Pinin" Farina full-credit for the design,  mentioning among other things:

"Besides its good proportions and carefully stated details, Farina did make one bold move: he dropped the hood to near fender-level, a featured picked up by many later designs.  Here too there was precedent in certain prewar racing cars.  So while Farina was not innovative on the Cisitalia, it was his outstanding design ability that allowed him to pull the various features into one place in an extremely tasteful manner."

Eleven years later, I've come across Internet sources that contradict what I wrote regarding the origin of the design.  Unfortunately, there is not complete agreement regarding timing of the completion of first examples of various designs, so what I present here must be regarded as more sketchy than I prefer.  That said, the general picture I paint here seems basically correct.

The origin of the 202's design was by Giovanni Savonuzzi, 1911-1988 (Wikipedia entry here, and more background on his car designs is here).  He was a graduate mechanical engineer who worked in aviation pre- World War 2.  He joined Cisitalia in August of 1945, working on racing car designs.  His Cisitalia 202 CMM (Coupè Mille Miglia) was shaped using a wind tunnel at Torino Politechnio.  Strong elements of that design are found on the Cisitalia 202 Berlinetta.

Potential chronology problems occur because work on the CMM and Berlinetta happened in 1946 and the first part of 1947, a brief period in the context of developing car designs.  Internet sources tend to be vague regarding timing.  That noted, I am pretty sure that the form of the CMM was developed first, then the design of the Berlinetta emerged, though there clearly was considerable timing overlap -- the idea of a road car Cisitalia being considered and then worked on while Savonuzzi was refining the CMM.  The 1947 Mille Miglia race took place 21-22 June.  The Barchetta was first shown at Turin's auto show 28 June, then at the Paris Salon de l'Automobile that opened 23 October.  So both designs appeared in public at nearly the same time.

More information and conjecture is in the image captions below, while some background on the Cisitalia firm is here.

Gallery

Cisitalia 202 CMM by Vignale - Gooding Auctions
One of the racing coupes.  Some styling features appeared on 202 Barchettas in altered from.

However, rear-end carryover was nonexistent aside from the wheel covers.

Cisitalia 202 CMM by Vignale - photo by Hughes Vanhoolandt
Note the low hood and high fenders.  These features and the oval grill opening are found, productionized, on the Barchetta.

Savonuzzi three-view of 202 - via valocetoday.com, "Savonuzzi Part 1"
Pinin Farina changed the fender design, adding a distinct rear fender.  He changed the rear profile to a subtle S-curve and reduced the size of the backlight window.  The grille frame became more oval.  The door and its window were reshaped.  Savonuzzi credited Farina with these changes, and Farina took total claim for the design.  That's what design firm owners such as he and Raymond Loewy do, partly for marketing purposes.

1947 Cisitalia Berlinetta - photos probably via Pininfarina
This is either the original Barchetta Pinin Farina built, or an early one.

Compare this profile to that of Savonuzzi's drawing above.

The backlight windows shape differs slightly from that shown in the next group of images.

1950 Cisitalia 202 B Berlinetta by Stabilimentia Farina at Revs Institute - 2017 photos by Donald Pittenger
The "B" indicates a later production version where a noticeable difference is the one-piece windshield.  Pinin Farina built many 202 Berlinettas, but Stabilimenti Farina and Vignale also made some.  That in part was because these cars were hand-made, not productionized by the carrozzieri, as might have been the case in later years.  The designs were essentially consistent across these carrozzieri.

Air vents on front fenders are found on some Berlinettas, not on others.

No trunk lid.  Spare tire access is via the panel behind the license plate frame (note the cutlines).

Cisitalia Berlinettas featured right-hand drive, like other upscale Italian and French brands in those days.

Citroën DS 19 Walkaround

The article "The Citroën DS 19: Why It's the Ultimate Classic Car" in the Wall Street Journal's 1 May 2015 issue, has the subhead "The Citroën DS is technically unsurpassed, completely inimitable, has a great back story and is the most beautiful car of all time, writes Dan Neil."  Dan Neil was the Journal's automobile columnist.

Me?  I remember when I first read about the DS 19, probably in Road&Track, my go-to car magazine in those days, I thought the design was weird.  Okay, I was young then.  Inexperienced.  But nowadays?   I still do not like the DS 19 design.

The Wikipedia entry on the DS is here.  In 2013 I posted "Flaminio Bertoni of Citroën: Not a Bertone," link here.  Bertoni was in charge of Citroën styling when the DS was designed.  His Wikipedia entry in English is here, while the more comprehanesive French version is here.

In that post I wrote:

"The DS is harder for me to pin down.   I can appreciate it intellectually, but was never fond of the styling.   The defects are related to what stylists call the "greenhouse," the windows-and-roof area.  To me, it always seemed too spindly, insubstantial -- that due to the thin door posts.   At a more general level, this wispy upper area contrasted too greatly with the rather thick, heavy lower body, thereby destroying unity of the whole.  The brake lights at the rear of the roof also struck me as being too contrived a solution to a fairly minor potential problem."

Putting brake lights high is a potential safety factor.  For many years here in the States car regulations require a supplemental brake light mounted high.  But are they actually brake lights as I thought when writing that earlier post?  An image below shows the lenses as amber color -- so more likely, they're turn-indicator lights.  Regardless of function, it's just that their design on the DS looks tacked-on, not integral, as you'll see below.

As for that wispy, insubstantial greenhouse mentioned in the quotation above, indeed the structure seems to be sketchy.  There's an image below dealing with that.

Gallery images of a 1958 Citroën DS 19 are via Bring a Trailer Auctions.

Gallery

The contrast between the greenhouse and lower body is evident here.  The latter is proportionally low, especially for the 1950s.  Side sculpting amounts to a crease: no chrome aside from the trim on the rocker panel, and that was absent from many early DS 19s.  The front fenders are high, probably due to headlight height regulations.  They quickly fade away on the front doors.

I don't have a source for this phantom view.  Note that the roof support pillars are topped by a metal ring.  The roof itself, according to a DS 19 brochure: "reinforced plastic roof confers strength and rigidity."  I do not know if DS 19s were rollover-tested before regular production was launched.  But I suspect that they would not meet current safety standards.

Bertoni's preliminary sketches indicate that he was interested in creating a somewhat airfoil-like profile.  Subject, of course, to engineering and packaging considerations.  I suppose the front fenders have a peak located above the front axle line, but it's a pretty subtle peak.  A little more curve would be nice.

Like the Citroën Traction-avants, the roofline and beltlines fall off towards the rear -- a French thing for many years.  Also perhaps an airfoil suggestion.

The lower rear end detailing is cluttered, unlike most of the rest of the car.

Note how the roof-mounted turn-indicator light seems tacked-on, not integral.  The conical housing is the main problem here.

The beltline blends into the rear fender profile.  That large C-pillar is necessary for the transition to the curved backlight window.  Though a six-window scheme also could have worked. 

Frontal design, unlike the rear, is simple.

The most commented-on item when DS 19s first appeared was the one-spoke steering wheel.