September 2016 GIOVANNI MICHELOTTI Mark Parsons Giovanni Michelotti was born on October 6, 1921 in Turin, Italy. His father was a machine shop manager at Italia’s engine factory in Turin and the influence on a young Giovanni for mechanics started there. Giovanni left school at the age of fifteen and started an apprenticeship at the Stabilimenti Farina in Cambiano near Turin, a design house founded by Battista “Pinin” Farina, later becoming the famous Pininfarina. Two years into his apprenticeship his first design was for the Lancia Astura in 1938, which never went into production. After the war his design for the 1947 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 went into production and then designs for various Talbot’s gave him the credentials to start up his own studio, named “Studio Technico e Carrozzeria G. Michelotti” in 1949 in Turin. He worked freelance for Bertone, Ghia, Allemano and Vignale and his first independent design was for the Ferrari 166, the first of many for Ferrari, Maserati, Lancia and Alfa Romeo. His breakthrough came with a design commissioned by Briggs Cunningham for his C3 coupe. He went on to produce designs for BMW, DAF, Volvo, Hino, Daihatsu, and even designed the P76 for Leyland Australia. He did all his work by pencil, mostly at full scale, and could produce designs in one day. It was while he was working for Vignale that he did the facelift of the phase 3 Vanguard in 1958, which brought him to the attention of Standard and led him to be responsible for all the new Triumphs from the late 50’s on. He designed the Herald, Spitfire and GT6, TR4/4A/5, 2000/2500/2.5 sedans, 1300/1500 sedans and later the Stag and Dolomite, as well as other Triumphs that didn’t make it into production. The only Triumphs after 1960 that were not his work were the TR6 and TR7. He also designed the rare Triumph Italia which was produced by Vignale with only 329 built on the TR3 chassis. He is credited with over 1200 designs for cars, trucks and buses and even designed a coffee machine after the war. The quality of his work resulted in him being inducted into the European Automotive Hall of Fame in 2009. His life came to an end on 23 rd January, 1980 at just 59 years old after a short battle with cancer. Carrozzeria Michelotti carried on with his son, Edgardo at the helm until 1993 when it finally closed its doors. 3.