Pininfarina - what was their best design?

[DonkeyApple]

YorkshireWhisky said:

Can I just leave these here?



Thanks!

Why not. Owners seem to leave their cars all over the place.

[BarbaricAvatar]

Lots i like already mentioned, some other favourites:

Fiat 124 Spider:


Ferrari P4/5:


Honda Argento Vivo:



And i'm probably alone in saying...
Ferrari Testarossa:

[GPW41]

Another vote for 288GTO

[magooagain]

Another classic.

Edited by magooagain on Friday 4th September 16:57

[TartanPaint]

bencollins said:

TartanPaint said:

Paul O said:

Perfection. Nothing before or since is prettier or better proportioned to my eye.

slightly long front overhang, but very lurvely.

Some say he knows a lot about long front overhangs...

[magooagain]

[magooagain]

[jaisharma]

Great thread
In my view the 288 gto with honourable mentions for the 308/328
But so many to choose from. Someone once wrote "Pininfarina is the master"
In view of the success of Golf mk 1 and the Peugeot 205 /405 etc which was in my view largely due to styling I can't see why more people didn't use them

[Strawman]

jaisharma said:

In view of the success of Golf mk 1 and the Peugeot 205 /405 etc which was in my view largely due to styling I can't see why more people didn't use them

I agree the design house was superb but can't agree on this, the mk1 Golf was designed by Giugiaro rather than Pininfarina and the mk2 Golf which sold in even greater numbers than the mk1 was designed in house. It's the overall package that appealed; performance + handling+ cost+ practicality+ style.

[carinaman]

wst said:

carinaman said:

Pininfarina did the interior of the Fiat Coupe. The external styling was by Chris Bangle before he went to BMW.

Ah, well, that does look like a nice place to be. Shame Bangle went off the rails when he went to Germany.

The Fiat Coupe is a cracking design regardless of who did what bits.

[MitchT]

BarbaricAvatar said:

And i'm probably alone in saying...
Ferrari Testarossa:

No you're not

Quite like this too ...

[ClaphamGT3]

Another one here for the Gamma - but, then, I am biased....

[jaisharma]

Strawman said:

I agree the design house was superb but can't agree on this, the mk1 Golf was designed by Giugiaro rather than Pininfarina and the mk2 Golf which sold in even greater numbers than the mk1 was designed in house. It's the overall package that appealed; performance + handling+ cost+ practicality+ style.

Yep quite right re the golf though I do think that good styling can lift a brand

[Strawman]

jaisharma said:

though I do think that good styling can lift a brand

Agreed, or bad styling sink one.

[soxboy]

Strawman said:

I agree the design house was superb but can't agree on this, the mk1 Golf was designed by Giugiaro rather than Pininfarina and the mk2 Golf which sold in even greater numbers than the mk1 was designed in house. It's the overall package that appealed; performance + handling+ cost+ practicality+ style.

Rather O/T but I understood Giugiaro submitted a design for the mk2 Golf but it was rejected in favour of the on-house design, therefore his proposal went on to become the mk1 Seat Ibiza.

[EskimoArapaho]

Ali_T said:

Don't even have to think about it...

This. By about a million miles.

The pursuit of aero has ruined style. The deep front spoiler in modern supercars ruins their appearance; like a Jimmy Hill chin on a stunning supermodel. Just compare this gorgeous profile to the 355 posted above.

[RichB]

I must be alone in finding most Ferraris since the late 60s quite naff...

[Fury1630]

EskimoArapaho said:

The pursuit of aero has ruined style. The deep front spoiler in modern supercars ruins their appearance; like a Jimmy Hill chin on a stunning supermodel.

Absolutely agree, and yet Daytona has aero bodywork, the pointed front, the cut-off back, the lip at the back of the bonnet to lift the airflow over the wipers, the quarter-lights to keep the side vortices from ruffling the driver's hair (OK, the driver's girlfriend - the driver was never likely to be young enough to have hair).

The D-Type was designed by an aerodynamicist, I think it's the pursuit of downforce that's incompatible with good styling rather that aerodynamics as such.

[dsuk]