Addio Sergio

As you may have read, Tuesday marked the passing of a giant in the field of automotive design, Sergio Pininfarina, who was 85 years old. While Sergio was not personally responsible for many of the designs that bore his family's now legendary name, it was his tremendous business acumen as much as his artistic sensibilities that saw him not only keep his father's venerable carrozzeria alive after taking its helm in the mid 1960s, but expand it, build upon it, and cement his father's legacy for all time.  In the process, he created Pininfarina's R&D center, built a wind tunnel, and using early digital technology brought his company strongly into the computer age while many of his competitors faded into second tier status or disappeared completely.  I recently took some photos of a 246 Dino, which was one of the first production cars created under Sergio's directon. I thought this a fitting time to share them with you. Click for high resolution.

Midnight Dino

It's midnight, which puts me in the mood for a late night drive. Would love to hop into this evocative night shot!

Many more photos of this car HERE

Dino on my mind

I've been a little obsessed with the Ferrari Dino 308 GT4 the past few days. They're especially lovely in non-red.  I cannot understand why these gorgeous cars aren't more sought after.  It's the only production Ferrari designed by Bertone (Marcello Gandini to be exact), and the first production V8 in a long line of V8s. Putting aside the tiresome snobbery surrounding the whole Dino badge, these are objectively very special little cars, and possibly some of the greatest 2+2 GT cars of the 1970s.