MARCELLO GANDINI AND HIS MONTREAL

Marcello Gandini during his last appearance in public, receiving the Laure Honoris Causa for his lifetime activity in the automotive field from the Polytechnic University of Turin. Photo by Piotr Degler.

I was perhaps among the first to know it, when the news hadn't even reached the newspapers yet. A mutual friend, the designer Andreas Zapatinas, shared with me the news very few minutes after his sudden disappearance. Hanging up the phone, I immediately thought of the 36th Montreal International Meeting last September, which we dedicated precisely to his creation: the Alfa Romeo Montreal, an explosive eight-cylinder with a noble motoring progeny.

For the occasion we had also created a bilingual (Italian-English) limited edition monograph in which we tried to pay the right tribute to the car but also to the genius of the person which had conceived it: Marcello Gandini. We had gathered the support of over seventy colorful examples, who had invaded the streets of Lombardy between the centers of Milan, Arese and Franciacorta. The participants (coming from all over Europe, even from the United States!) had thus the opportunity to live a unique experience which began with a film-themed evening focused on the film “The Marseille Contract”, starring a Porsche 911 and, obviously, a Montreal. A food and wine itinerary in Franciacorta was followed by a visit and dinner in the rooms of the Alfa Blue Team collection where - in addition to the cars produced by the House of the Biscione - there are also large part of Alfa's industrial history: trucks, buses, marine and industrial engines.

The following day, however, it was the turn of the backstage dedicated to the Alfa Romeo Museum in Arese, culminating with a couple of laps on the test track and lots of photographs to immortalize a moment much awaited by everyone. Finally, the gala evening, with the passing of the baton to the Czech Republic which this year he will have the task of organizing the 37th edition of the event.

This memory would seem out of place, at a time when we mourn the passing of one of the most enlightened designers in history. But I don't think it is, given the joyful and exuberant vision of his work. He left in silence, Gandini. And maybe he couldn't have done it any differently, given the calmness of his features, never outside the lines, escaping the spotlight, at the same time severe, austere and elegant. Succeeding Giorgetto Giugiaro as chief designer of Nuccio Bertone's atelier, he had was able to design the sportiest cars of the Sixties and Seventies so, just two months ago, he had received an honorary degree in mechanical engineering from the Polytechnic of Turin for the worldwide fame of his work as the author of important engineering solutions capable of combining mechanics, technology and style, not only in the automotive field. On this occasion, his highly applauded lectio magistralis was enhanced by the presence of fifteen vintage cars, all born from the genius of his pencil: the Montreal, Innocenti Mini, Ferrari Dino GT4, Fiat X1/9, Lancia Stratos, Lamborghini Diablo, Miura S and Espada, Maserati Quattroporte IV and Shamal, just to name a few. All, in their own way, representative of his innovative spirit, even more evident in the futuristic concept cars they anticipated – and quite a lot – the lines of the cars. Although tired and on crutches, he had reached the Piedmontese capital from nearby Rivoli, where he lived and never stopped making his contribution to the automotive research. In fact, there are many patents filed – even recently – in his name, as well as collaborations as designers independent in the world of industrial and furniture design. But above all and above all, always them: the car manufacturers (Bugatti, Citroen, Renault, Subaru, Nissan and Toyota). Gandini was a highly sought after genius. At 85 years old, he had never stopped working and was in fact finishing a design for a training platform for the museum in Doha, Qatar. But beyond what this last work of his could have become, it will remain there forever they are some of the most beautiful cars of the last fifty years, as visionary as the beautiful concept based on 33 Stradale, the Carabo, from 1968 (now kept inside the Alfa Romeo Museum in Arese), extreme and super sports cars like the Lamborghini Countach or more popular ones like the Mini 90/120, marketed for almost twenty years.

“Marcello Gandini – said the rector Guido Saracco on the occasion of the ceremony on the 12th last January – is an innovator. He was able to combine the highest aesthetic taste with solutions cutting-edge engineering and technology, helping to improve the entire process industrial design.”

We, nostalgic and passionate custodians of the history of the car, will instead miss his flashes, but above all his kindness and his acute vision of this fantastic world that runs so fast that almost make us forget its origins, the ones that perhaps we should all protect more, as roots of the Italian industrial industry...

Photo gallery from the 36th Alfa Romeo Montreal owners meeting at Museo Storico Alfa Romeo in 2023 courtesy of Niccoló Frondibue.