FEW PEOPLE can claim to have marked the style of a decade in the way of Marcello Gandini. The ‘wedge shape’ trend of the 1970s was a Marcello Gandini trademark, typified by his Lamborghini Countach. Born in Turin to a musician father who hoped his son would share that interest, at five years old Gandini was captivated by a Meccano set he received as a present. As an adult, his talent was so apparent that, even without specific design schooling, he was hired by Bertone in 1965, when only 27 years old, to manage the style of one of the most important carrozzerie of the period.
Among Gandini’s first tasks was to create the shape for a new sports car, of which the extraordinary rolling chassis had been shown at the Turin motor show of October 1965. This was the new V12 transverse-mid-engined Lamborghini that would storm the market mere months later when, the following March, the Miura was introduced at the 1966 Geneva show. The car led to the coining of the phrase ‘supercar’, instantly putting the names of Lamborghini, Bertone and Gandini on the map, and it is still considered one of the most beautiful cars ever manufactured.