Duet in design: The Fifties

How Pininfarina and Zagato revolutionised the shape of the automobile.

Pininfarina and Zagato are the undisputed design stars in the history of the Italian automobile. Numerous icons of today's Classic Cars show their signature and this history continues: Today, simulators from the design kitchen of Pininfarina and Zagato are the key to the virtual world of Classic Cars on Roarington. In a new series, we take a look back at the heyday of Italian car design and show two icons each from Pininfarina and Zagato, arranged by decade. In our second instalment of this series, we are in the 1950s and show the 1955 Lancia Florida 2 Door Coupe by Pininfarina and the 1956 Ferrari 250 GTZ by Zagato.

Lancia Florida 2 Door Coupe: A global revolution

The years of the “Boom Economico” saw Italy as a veritable hotbed of ideas and innovation. For Pininfarina this decade was one of the most fruitful ever. Among the many creations, one car stands out for its impact on the culture and design of all the cars created in the following decades: the Lancia Florida 2 Door Coupe. Undoubtedly Pininfarina's most famous and influential creation on a Lancia Aurelia chassis, this car from its debut caused a sensation with its innovative styling: a global revolution with an influence you can still see today and established Pininfarina as a leading design studio. It is now 50 years old, so its significance may not be fully appreciated today. Yet few design concepts offer such a clear-cut example of a truly new form. With the Florida, Farina abandoned "monolithic" shapes and ushered in a new design principle: body development by symmetrical juxtaposition of curved panels. While older cars were sculpted, as if carved from a block of clay, the Florida was exactly the opposite. It was built like a house of cards, each card pre-formed according to a certain aesthetic concept. The starting point was not a solid object but merely a surface. The Florida was remarkably clean for its time. The major theme was form, with a near-total absence of decoration. Horizontal emphasis was provided by the belt-line, which picked up from the front fenders and stretched into the high rear fenders, blending with the backwards sweep of the C-post. The grille was not new, being merely a variation of the flattened oval that Farina was using on so many Ferraris. The headlamps were housed inside the grille frame, with smaller auxiliary lamps recessed into the front fender tips. In proportions, the Lancia Florida was perfect for its time. The profile was long and sleek, and the rear deck length was sufficient for full visual balance with the hood, thereby giving extra emphasis to the car’s static 50/50 unladen weight distribution.

1955 Lancia Florida 2 Door Coupe by Pininfarina

Ferrari 250 GTZ: Double Bubble Berlinetta

Zagato's definitive establishment as a specialist coachbuilder of high performance cars came with the creation of the Gran Turismo sports car category in Milan in 1949. Zagato’s GT cars, built to be elegant but above all fast and agile in racing, were seen more and more often at Concours d’Elegance shows, contributing to the definition of the so-called principle of "necessary beauty", the result of codifying rigorously scientific principles in an aesthetic key. One of the best examples of this idea is the Ferrari 250 GTZ, Zagato’s second pilot project for Ferrari, winner at the most important GT races as well as in the major Concours d’Elegance of the time. This vehicle demonstrates the company’s ability to incorporate beauty in a design — the exquisite rear fender shoulder and the lovely Z-shaped rear roof pillar — without compromising the vehicle’s speed. Zagato designers penned this “double bubble” Berlinetta in 1956 with a roofline that featured raised sections over the seats, an idea Zagato used more than once in its race-car designs to give drivers a little more head room. Like most of the cars created by Zagato, this one was commissioned by a gentleman driver, and it represents a supreme union of prestige and performance, elegance and sportiness. A winning combination, able to combine the world’s most powerful, celebrated engineering, with the most refined, appealing sporty styling, both the product of Italian workmanship. The concept of sporty elegance, a functional design that does not follow the latest fashions but strives to achieve pure performance, and an extremely light aluminium body, are Zagato’s strengths. Today, it is considered one of the most beautiful Ferraris at Concours events like Pebble Beach or Cavallino Classic and is much sought after by collectors of elegant sports cars.

1956 Ferrari 250 GTZ by Zagato