Giovanni Michelotti

Triumph Herald

Giovanni Michelotti (1921–1980) was one of the most prolific designers of sports cars in the 20th century. His notable contributions were for Triumph and BMW marques. He was also associated with British Leyland for its Bus and Truck designs during its heydays.

Born in Turin, Italy, Michelotti worked for a number of design houses, notably Vignale, before opening his own design studio in Italy. He was also one among the Automobile designers who would work for across manufacturers, as an independent designer rather that executing the same from established Studios.

Standard Triumph

Triumph Spitfire 4 (Mark I)

From the late 1950s he was responsible for all new models produced by Standard Triumph, starting with a facelift of the Standard Vanguard and going on to design models for Triumph such as the Herald, Spitfire, GT6, TR4, 2000, 1300, Stag, and Dolomite. He also created a number of prototypes which did not go into production, such as the Fury. The only Triumphs after 1960 that were not his work were the TR6 and the TR7, plus the Honda-based Acclaim.

Triumph GT6

Triumph Stag dutch licence registration 14-DE-86 pic1

British Leyland

After Triumph became a part of British Leyland, Michelotti undertook a facelift of the BMC 1100 – which became the Spanish-built Austin Victoria and the South African-built Austin Apache – and designed the Leyland National and the Leyland P76.

Scammell

Scammell Routeman 8x4 tipper with Michelotti-designed GRP cab

In the 1960s, Michelotti designed a glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) cab for certain lorries made by Scammell, who had become part of Leyland in 1955. The cab was used for the Routeman, Handyman and Trunker models.^[1]

BMW

Giovanni Michelotti's BMW association started in late 50's for BMW 700 and later the successful BMW New Class series of designs of which the most notable BMW 2002. His sport sedan designs later became the BMW design language, that was continued and refined by Ercole Spada well into late 80's.

BMW - 062 - BMW

DAF/Volvo

Michelotti also worked with the Dutch firm DAF, starting in 1963 with redesigning the ageing Daffodil 31 model into the Daffodil 32. The DAF 44 (1966) was a completely new design from his hand and he also helped form its derivatives, which culminated in the Volvo 66 (1975).

Other manufacturers

For other companies he designed the

• Lancia Aprilia Coupè (1949)
• Maserati A6GCS/53 (1955)
• Maserati A6GC/54 Coupè
• Maserati 3500 GT Coupè and GT Spider
• Maserati 5000 GT Coupè
• Alpine A106 (1955)
• BMW 700 (1959)
• Hino Contessa Sprint 900 (1962)
• Hino Contessa 1500 (1965)
• BMW 02 Series (1966)
• Prince Skyline Sport (1960)
• Armstrong Siddeley (a one off car based on the Sapphire 234 chassis for a Spanish client).
• Reliant Scimitar SS1 (1984) which was his last design to reach production, four years after his death.

References

1. ^ "The History of Scammell Lorries Limited". The Scammell Register. http://scammellregister.co.uk/history-of-scammell.html. Retrieved 2008-10-06. 

External links

• Giovanni Michelotti
• Some Michelotti design studies
• Michelotti studio website
• BMW Designers Giovanni Michelotti on the page with an overview of automotive designers working for BMW.

Persondata
Name	Michelotti, Giovanni
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1921
Place of birth
Date of death	1980
Place of death