The myth of Italian coachbuilders: Scaglietti

Although a slightly built man, Enzo Ferrari was an imposing presence, which is why Sergio Scaglietti affectionately nicknamed him: “l’Umun” (“big man”). Yet his success never went to his head, and he always remained very conscious of his humble background as a coachbuilder and panel beater. Aware of just how far the great man had come, Scaglietti was always rather in awe of him whenever they met.

“Ferrari liked to have us around for lunch every Sunday at his race track home in Fiorano” recalled Franco Gozzi, Enzo’s faithful assistant and spokesperson, “and Sergio was always there. We were offered excellent home cooking, even though the menu was rather tedious and accompanied by the inevitable bottle of Lambrusco! Ferrari would talk, and we would listen…”

Scaglietti has chosen a simple title for his memoirs: “L’ê andéda acsé” (“That’s the way it was”). Indeed, even though he enjoyed huge success with his eponymous bodyshop in Modena — he subsequently sold this to Ferrari and it still carries out covering jobs today — he has never lost his simple charm — a charm that belies his genius. This is a man who built some of Ferrari’s most beautiful cars without ever even picking up a pencil to do a sketch. When asked how he managed to create masterpieces like the GTO in this way, he replied: “It was easy. They sent us the finished motorized chassis complete with everything: driver's seat, steering wheel, pedals. We took the iron wire and, stretching it from the front towards the back, we created the body shape. The shape created itself really. We then prepared the “filone” (in other words, the longitudinal wires were welded to the transverse ones), and the aluminum body panels were modeled with a hammer onto that frame. This is how the Ferrari 250 California, the Tour de France, the racing Testa Rossa, and the 250 SWB all came into being.