Pio Manzù: Brilliance and Tragedy

Pio Manzù's approach to car #design was to develop genuinely original vehicle types, endowed with functions and performance that closely responded to their actual purpose. That's quite evident in the prototypes built by Autonova, the design consultancy that Pio Manzù, Fritz Busch, and Michael Conrad founded in 1964. The Autonova GT project, financed by the German automaker NSU and displayed at the '64 Frankfurt motor show, was a compact Gran Turismo built on the platform and mechanicals of the Prinz TT. Manzù and Conrad devised a strikingly modern wedge shape with very clean sides and a truncated rear end whose rear window doubled as a hatchback. A most unusual feature of the Autonova GT was the arrangement of the headlights, which protruded from the body to help the driver locate the car's edges while driving. At the opposite end of the automotive spectrum, the 1965 Autonova Fam was designed as a kind of a universal automobile, meeting the different needs involved in transporting people and things cleverly and efficiently. To make the most of its compact 3.5 meters of length, the hood and trunk disappeared into a single, trapezoidal volume predating the minivans of the 1980s. The cabin accommodated up to five passengers, but all the seats were independent and could be folded over to make room for cargo. The originality and coherence of the Autonova prototypes caught the eye of Dante Giacosa, the engineering legend in charge of Fiat's product development at the time. So much so, in fact, that he hired Pio Manzù as a consultant for Fiat's styling center from 1967. #Fiat127 #DanteGiacosa Pio Manzù's greatest legacy must be the Fiat 127: arguably the first modern European supermini, it became a runaway hit that led European new cars' sales chart for several years and stayed in production well into the 1990s in Latin America. The exclusive merchandise you can buy to support my channel: https://teespring.com/stores/roadster-life My automotive books: Six Appeal - The Story Of The Alfa 6 https://www.amazon.com/dp/1793931046 Alfa Romeo Giulietta - The Story 1977 - 1985 ENGLISH: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1983393746 ITALIAN: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B098GVJ7RK Alfa Romeo Arna - The Full Story 1980 - 1987 https://www.amazon.com/dp/1656632500

Added 3 Jun 2026