ITALIAN CAR NEWS
6 auto italia
GANDINI’S GARMISCH REBORN
A
long-disappeared Marcello
Gandini concept car has been
recreated by BMW. The BMW
Garmisch, designed by Gandini
for Bertone in 1970, vanished
after its debut at the Geneva Motor Show.
It’s been recreated using a tiny selection of
period photos and some memories.
Marcello Gandini recalls: “The original idea
came from Nuccio Bertone himself, who
wanted to consolidate our existing
relationship with BMW by designing a
surprise show car for the Geneva Motor
Show. We wanted to create a modern mid-sized coupe that was faithful to BMW’s
design language, but that was also more
dynamic and even a bit provocative.”
Gandini assisted with memories such as
the exterior colour (light champagne
metallic). The 2019 Garmisch has been
coachbuilt in Turin, just like the original car
almost 50 years ago.
The most distinctive design feature is the
boldly angular variation of BMW’s kidney-
shaped radiator grille, flanked by glass-
covered headlights. Other unusual details
include louvres on the C-pillars and
honeycomb mesh over the rear window.Inside, there’s a unique vertical radio on the
centre console.
Presented at the recent Concorso
d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, its design was
hailed by Adrian van Hooydonk of BMW
Group Design: “Marcello Gandini to me is
one of the grandmasters of car design and
his cars always have been an important
source of inspiration for my work. Building
the BMW Garmisch gave us the opportunity
to pay tribute to Mr Gandini, recall one of
his lesser-known cars and highlight
Bertone’s stylistic influence on the
evolution of BMW design.”PININFARINA TRIUMPHS AT VILLA D’ESTE
Pininfarina’s futuristic Ferrari 512 S Modulo of 1970 has been
voted ‘Most Exciting Design’ at the recent Villa d’Este
Concours d’Elegance. Initilly born as a pure object of
research, it was presented at Villa d'Este as a running car
following three years of restoration.The public vote prize was awarded to Farina’s 1938 Lancia
Astura Cabriolet IV, while the ‘Swinging Sixties’ category went to
a 1961Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder SWB Pinin Farina. Another
Pininfarina Ferrari, a 1966 275 GTB Competition Berlinetta,
received two awards: ‘Best Sound and ‘Most Iconic Car’.