Page 15 - Sample pages "Bugatti, The Italian Decade" by Gautam Sen

modified markedly, and it was better, but still not striking enough. This “charade” carried on until later that year, when, on 11 December 1989, Borel and Stanzani dropped by at Bertone to see the latest iteration. Borel noted, “Not too bad.”
In 1990, on 9 January, Borel and Stanzani were back at Caprie to see the latest evolution of the Bertone mock-up. They returned on the 22nd with Artioli, who saw it for the first time, and again on the 29th. Somehow, no one was convinced that the proposals from Stile Bertone were satisfactory.
On undated pages in his diary, Stanzani made a series of observations as to how the discussions were going with the various design studios and designers. With the heading “The situation with the coachbuilders,” Stanzani started with Bertone, stating that they had been discarded as their proposal lacked “dynamicity,” with a styling seen as “weak.”
Regarding Italdesign, “after six meetings” Stanzani had concluded that they would not take responsibility for manufacturing the bodies or for series production. They expected a royalty of Lire 2 million per car. Italdesign suggested that the German coachbuilder Karmann would be the most appropriate facility for manufacture of the bodies. When it came to I.De.A Institute, it was clear that they would not be able to produce the bodies, but they could design the car and provide a prototype at a cost of Lire 2.2 billion (€ 1.16 million). Pininfarina was on the next page where Stanzani noted the rather long time – eleven months – that the coachbuilder would take to develop the prototype. Also, to get the cars into series production, Pininfarina informed Stanzani that they needed two and half years to do so. What was feasible with Pininfarina was the use of their wind tunnel, as well as help with technical drawings and the painting of the bodies.
After three meetings with Auto Italia, it was clear that they could produce the body parts and the bodies but could not help with the design or prototyping. “We need to get the styling done,” concluded Stanzani. The next page of the diary listed noted that the styling should be done by either Marcello Gandini or Tom Tjaarda. The prototype would be made by a shop like the one at Casellette (which may have been a reference to
TOP: Amongst the design proposals was one from Bertone. (Archivio centrale dello Stato/Stile Bertone)
MIDDLE: Bertone’s chief designer Marc Deschamps’ proposal was impressive but not good enough to convince Stanzani and Co. (Archivio centrale dello Stato/Stile Bertone)
ABOVE: After Giampaolo Benedini announced to Nuccio Bertone that his design was not going to be accepted, Bertone turned the design into a Lotus concept mock-up. (Archivio centrale dello Stato/Stile Bertone)
ChAPTEr III ⡇SCULPTING ThE vISION
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