Is it true that modernism bled into car building?
Yes, the cars and buildings of this era were meant to work together.
Probably one of the best examples of this is the Detomaso Mangusta:
If you want lots of details about Italian automakers of the 1960s, there are many books about Bertone, Pininfarina, Italdesign etc.
But American cars were also at the forefront in the 1960s, wherein architectural style and car design were going in lockstep toward a mid-60s angular ideal. Consider the 1965 Ford Thunderbird:
The '65 Ford definitely seems to have some Italian influence, that is to say, strict modernist. The vent at the base of the rear window is really stunning. I just saw one of these on the road this weekend.
Wild statement cars from Bertone kind of explored the logical terminus of the pure modernism. The Stratos Zero:
The bizarro world of Bertone (Marcello Gandini) created the above Lancia Stratos Zero (1970) and some other pretty fantasto-ridiculous pointy Italian things. Such as the "Lamborghini" Marzal (1967)!!
The dash motif insider this car (hexagonal "honeycomb" grids) is an element you may recognize from buildings of the period. Here's a Marcel Breuer example from the Saint John's Abbey in Collegeville, MN
The mid-1960s had it going on!
The Giorgetto Giugiaro-designed Lotus Esprit prototype (1972) was supposedly a "folded paper" design. Obviously, the original here was probably a little more classy than the later Lotus Esprits that were built in the 1980s-90s.
From the same Paris 1972 car show, Italdesign's other show car, the Maserati Boomerang, also needs a look:
Let's also give some due credit to the Americans:
(Above) about 1964 Buick Riviera.
(Below) 1960 Ford F-100.
(Below) Even the wipers on a Chevelle had a nice tanky metal over-builtness that was part of American -- relative to Italian -- 1960s modern design.
Yes, the cars and buildings of this era were meant to work together.
Probably one of the best examples of this is the Detomaso Mangusta:
But American cars were also at the forefront in the 1960s, wherein architectural style and car design were going in lockstep toward a mid-60s angular ideal. Consider the 1965 Ford Thunderbird:
The '65 Ford definitely seems to have some Italian influence, that is to say, strict modernist. The vent at the base of the rear window is really stunning. I just saw one of these on the road this weekend.
Wild statement cars from Bertone kind of explored the logical terminus of the pure modernism. The Stratos Zero:
The bizarro world of Bertone (Marcello Gandini) created the above Lancia Stratos Zero (1970) and some other pretty fantasto-ridiculous pointy Italian things. Such as the "Lamborghini" Marzal (1967)!!
The dash motif insider this car (hexagonal "honeycomb" grids) is an element you may recognize from buildings of the period. Here's a Marcel Breuer example from the Saint John's Abbey in Collegeville, MN
From the same Paris 1972 car show, Italdesign's other show car, the Maserati Boomerang, also needs a look:
Let's also give some due credit to the Americans:
(Below) 1960 Ford F-100.
(Below) Even the wipers on a Chevelle had a nice tanky metal over-builtness that was part of American -- relative to Italian -- 1960s modern design.
1950s Italian.
No comments:
Post a Comment