by Dick Ruzzin –
Nuccio Bertone
A car design is rarely done completely by one person. He or she might have artistic control but who they work for, the client and others that will execute the design, will have influence and suggestions when problems arise. There always are problems of function, manufacturing, etc.
Stile Bertone had a contemporary and complete design staff when I worked with them in the mid-nineties. They were very skillful as artists and designers. They crafted full size models in clay as well as plaster which was the medium they used the most. It was amazing to watch them work.
The level of artistic quality that I experienced when I was there was extremely high, as good as anywhere in the design industry around the world. Add that to the fact that Stile Bertone was surrounded by a 2000 year old Italian aesthetic culture that permeated everything in Italy and you can understand why the results were so highly received.
Lamborghini Miura P400 SV
Nuccio Bertone was not formally trained as a designer but he grew up with design and style from the time he was a baby. He loved design and told me that it was the most important thing in his professional life, more than once. We got along well. When I left to return to the United States after my last meeting at Stile Bertone he was ill so I did not see him to say goodby.
A few days later I received a signed letter from him that I treasure. I do so not only because he was a great designer but also because he said something in it about our very successful time working together and how much he enjoyed his association with me and the other Opel designers.
De Tomaso Mangusta Prototype – De Tomaso
I have heard some say that Nuccio Bertone was not a designer but that he knew how to choose design talent. That is true but he not only knew how to choose design talent he knew how to nurture and mentor it to the benefit of many. Believe me when I say that his design influence is what made the many beautiful and elegant vehicles designed at Stile Bertone as successful as they were. That combined with one of the greatest car design talents ever, Georgetto Giugiaro, resulted in many many beautiful Italian cars.
His respect and love for design and the cars that were done under him were shown to me the second time that we met. He showed his collection to me and asked me what I thought. When I answered I saw that he had tears in his dark eyes.
Lamborghini Miura vs De Tomaso Mangusta Design
Recently I have been thinking about the Miura compared to the Mangusta. Each is considered as better than the other by many. I own a Mangusta and have studied it for almost fifty years.
Each car is elegant and sporty. Each is also dramatic dimensionally so you could call them aesthetically equal. However, each car has a prominent life that has evolved as time has gone on. Compared to the Mangusta the Miura is starting to show more age, I can explain why I think this.
Lamborghini Miura Sales Brochure – Lamborghini
The Miura is a great looking car with a wonderful and skillfully executed form language as seen on many Giugiaro design solutions. It is reflective of it’s day. The Miura’s real strength is it’s proportion. The Mangusta design and especially it’s form language, was like nothing else when introduced and it pointed to the future. It was imitated by the entire global auto industry at the time. The Miura look is set in the time that it was created, but the Mangusta’s sheer surfaces and subtle curves enhanced by sharp peaks point to the future.
De Tomaso Mangusta – Howard Putz
It was designed in 1966 but so imitated for years to come that it now looks significantly newer than the Miura due to its purity. Add that to the strong aesthetic influence that it had on generations of car designers and it must be given the nod as the most significant design of the two. It clearly changed the design direction of the global auto industry at the time. As great looking as the Miura is it did not influence car design‘s future. That is very hard to do.
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
THE AUTHOR: Dick Ruzzin, Mangusta 8MA670, has spent much of his life designing cars for General Motors. During his career he worked on over 140 car design projects as creative designer, studio head, and Director of Design for GM Europe, in Germany, and Chevrolet, in the United States. His latest book Designing Dreams is available here.
De Tomaso Mangusta and Lamborghini Miura at RAC Club
Like trying to compare Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigita.