From the Cisitalia of 1947 to the 2uettottanta
concept of 2010, through
the Flaminia Presidenziale. These are some of the
milestones of Pininfarina design now on show in the
refurbished Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile di Torino, which
has just reopened.
Among the 200 cars on display in the reborn
museum
dedicated to the history of cars with four wheels the Cisitalia 202 could not be missing. So the "moving
sculpture", as defined by Arthur Drexler, can be admired
again by the public, after an accurate restoration
completed in 2009 at the Pininfarina plant in Cambiano
(Turin). The car is still on display at MoMA in New
York, where the Cisitalia was described as "one of the
eight most beautiful cars of our time". Built on a
tubular chassis and built in small series (approximately
170 units, including convertibles) with aluminium body
welded to a skeleton of steel, its formal approach
marked a turning point of automotive style and
consecrated the founder Pinin Farina overseas. The same
set-designer François Confino, author of the new layout
of the Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile di Torino, recently said: "The most
beautiful car in the Museum? The Cisitalia. If I had to
steal one, I'd steal that."
Among the cars that have marked the history of
Pininfarina design, the museum houses the Flaminia
Presidenziale, one of the four units made for the
President of the Italian Republic and still used today
in the big national parades. This car was designed and
built by Pinin Farina in 1960 at the request of the
President of the Italian Republic Giovanni Gronchi. The
car on show in the Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile di
Torino made its official debut in 1961,
during the visit of Queen Elizabeth.
The Pininfarina design of today is represented by the
latest concept car, the 2uettottanta, with whom
Pininfarina has celebrated in 2010 its 80 years of
activity, paying, at the same time, tribute to Alfa
Romeo, which in 2010 celebrated 100 years of life.
2uettottanta has just won at the Geneva Motor Show the
Car Design of the Year Award for the best car design of
2010 in the concept car category. Also in Geneva, the
Pininfarina design team was honored by the Czech
magazine Autodesign&Styling with the AutoDesign Award.
"We are grateful to the Museum for giving space to our
creations of the past and present," Chairman Paolo
Pininfarina says, "giving due recognition to the
Pininfarina design, which has crossed the ages while
maintaining a level of excellence. The new structure, so
carefully prepared in order to create a fascinating,
dynamic and interactive journey through the cars and the
events that have marked the history of the automobile,
is an important sign of vitality for Turin, the
undisputed capital of the car, and we believe it will
become a new pole of attraction of the city's cultural
life."
In a special area designed primarily for students who
aspire to pursue a career in automotive design, museum
visitors can listen to interviews with Paolo Pininfarina
and other famous car designers and learn about their
training and professional aspects, their sources of
inspiration, the origin of their vocation to design,
their most celebrated projects and even those which were
not so popular on the market as hoped, the cars which
they would have liked to create and the projects they
were more keen on, their masters and their disciples,
and especially a message for the future and the issues
that the designers of tomorrow will face.
