The legend of Pininfarina - Lucire
The association between Italy’s most famous marque and one of its top design houses began in the 1950s when Sergio Farina, the son of the founder, Battista Farina, was put in charge of the Ferrari account. The young Sergio won over the client, it is said in part through his likeable nature, and in part because of his design integrity. Battista Farina, nicknamed Pinin, arguably established the Italian car design industry, using technology to automate the process where possible. full-width bodywork, haunches over the rear wheels, and a fastback design, it helped establish Farina’s postwar reputation as well as that of Italian automotive design in general. Yet, the story goes, the senior Farina was not that keen on travelling 130 km to tout for business, and it was up to Sergio, who had recently joined the family firm, to make the call. In the 1940s, he had started his own firm after working for Alfa Romeo before the war, and to finance his racing car programme, turned to selling production road cars. But in 1951, at Sergio Farina’s initiation, Ferrari met Farina et fils at a restaurant in Tortona, between Ferrari’s base in Modena and Farina’s in Torino. Recalled Sergio, ‘I remember that we met in a restaurant and had lunch and immediately the two great men had a great sympathy and feeling for each other. Source: lucire.com
