PININFARINA NATO CON L'AUTOMOBILE

Pininfarina, born in Turin on 2 November 1893, began his activity as a young man in his brother Giovanni's workshop. At 17 he bodied the Fiat Zero, gaining the esteem of Giovanni Agnelli. He went to Detroit in 1920 where Henry Ford offered him a position of responsibility, which he declined and returned to Italy.

He took part in some national car races, setting a record in an Aosta G.S. Bernardo that remained unbeaten for 11 years. Furthermore, he started his partnership with Vincenzo Lancia for whom he bodied many types of cars including the aerodynamic Aprilia.

One of Pininfarina's creative highlights was the Cisitalia released in 1947, which was later displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York as a 'self-propelled sculpture'. In 1951, Nash Kelvinator of Detroit entrusted him with the design and execution of some of its models: it was the first time that an American car manufacturer turned to a European coachbuilder.

Pininfarina collaborated with almost all Italian marques as well as with major foreign manufacturers. It was written, among other things, that three quarters of the 20 million cars built each year worldwide are influenced by his style. A man of wide openness, he founded schools and promoted many cultural and philanthropic projects. He died on 3 April 1966 in Lausanne.

In this book he leaves a singular testimony of himself and his time: in many chapters the great names of the automobile parade, from Ford to General Motors executives, from Giovanni Agnelli and Vincenzo Lancia to Nicola Romeo and Enzo Ferrari; from Porsche, Nordhoff, Bugatti to Renault, Citroën, Peugeot, Harriman and Alec Issigonis.

The same can be said of racing champions Nazzaro, Bordino, Nuvolari, Ascari, Trossi, his nephew Nino Farina, down to the axes of the latest generation. But the autobiography is not limited to Pininfarina's operational and competitive spheres.

The author cultivates communication with others, being a way for him to reach out to the feeling of society, and so the book is a gallery of various characters: Giolitti, Gualino, Badoglio, Marconi, Puccini, Toscanini, the architect Wright, King Baldovino, Leopold of Belgium, A.M. Dogliotti, famous women and many others.

This is the first edition of Pininfarina nato con l'automobile, published in 1968.