Lone Stars: the Seventies

Automotive design milestones are often one-offs. __Lorenzo Ramaciotti__ guides us through a remarkable story.

Throughout the history of the automobile, there have been numerous lone stars which, when you take a look at them today, continue to shine with their own light. None of them were created to become production cars, but rather to send out a message that was uninhibited by industrial and marketing constraints, signed by designers and the manufacturers themselves. Here comes the next part of our series on Lone Stars, based on intensive conversations with renowned Italian designer Lorenzo Ramaciotti: the 1970ies.

The unexpected oil crisis resulting from the Gulf War at the beginning of the 1970s, brought the futuristic adventure to a sudden and cruel halt. In the second half of the decade, design returned, but with a focus on more realistic projects that paid greater attention to safety. From the hand of Giorgetto Giugiaro, the Audi Asso di Picche (“ace of spades”) and the Lancia Megagamma, a functional concept for a brand devoted to elegance, are both interesting exam ples. However, it’s well worth remem bering the final flames of the “spaceship cars” from the early years of the 1970s, those that came before the Gulf War, to be clear: the unforgettable Stratos Zero, Modulo and Boomerang.