Leading Turin design house Pininfarina is presenting six of its most famous and ground breaking prototypes on 'home soil' during this week's 4th edition of the Turin Auto Show Parco Valentino.
In the display space inside the Parco Valentino that’s specially reserved for prototypes, visitors to the show can see the Lancia Florida II and Sigma Grand Prix alongside two Ferrari-based cars, the Mythos and Sergio, while another iconic Pininfarina design, a prototype Jaguar XJS in spider format, paraded along the streets of the city during the opening evening’s Supercar Night Parade, last Wednesday, piloted by Pininfarina's Chairman, Paolo Pininfarina. Finally, at Turin's Caselle airport, arriving passengers can see the futuristic Sintesi concept car on show.
The Turin Auto Show's "Prototypes Exhibition" has been created with the intention of turning the spotlight on the creativity of Italian and foreign 'coachbuilders' and design studios in a visual summary of just what car the design world has produced over the last 60 years.
Pininfarina is represented here by four models and it starts, timeline-wise, with the famous Lancia Florida II, a milestone in design with stylistic elements that for many years influenced world production. The personal car of the Founder Battista Pinin Farina, who presented it at the 1957 Turin Motor Show, it’s still exhibited in the Pininfarina Collection in Cambiano.
Meanwhile, the Sigma Grand Prix of 1969 reinterpreted and renewed the concept of Formula 1 single-seaters by introducing important safety features aimed at drastically reducing the intrinsic risk component in this sport. The result of work by an international team of experts, the stylish prototype incorporated solutions that were futuristic at the time and later many features came into use, such as the safety tanks and the onboard fire protection system.
The Mythos and Sergio represent a historical collaboration that for over 70 years, has linked Pininfarina and Ferrari. Presented at the Tokyo Motor Show in 1989, the Mythos is a 2-seater barchetta based on the mechanics of the Testarossa and was the winner of the important “Car Design Award” in 1990. On the otherhand the Sergio, unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in 2013 to celebrate Life Senator Sergio Pininfarina, is a two-seater barchetta, this time built on the platform and mechanicals of the Ferrari 458 Spider. Born as a concept car, it became a reality in 2015, when 6 units were produced and sold.
The “Supercar Night Parade” last Wednesday evening featured over 300 supercars from private individuals from all over Italy and was led out by representatives of the automotive brands involved in the show. For Pininfarina, its Chairman Paolo Pininfarina drove a model never seen on the road before, the Jaguar XJS, a prototype of a 2-seater spider based on the XJ coupé platform that Pininfarina exhibited for the first time at the Birmingham Motor Show in 1978. With its soft and aerodynamic shapes, without corners, the Jaguar XJS is being displayed in the courtyard of the Valentino Castle.
Finally, until 12 June, passengers arriving at Turin-Caselle airport are being welcomed by the Sintesi. A sporty “Granturismo” 4-door and 4-seater, it already anticipated in 2008 the themes of autonomous driving and cars interconnected with the surrounding environment. Its sharp and aerodynamic silhouette, which scooped up the "red dot award", encloses the mechanical parts – a mix of fuel cell drive train and batteries - and creates a comfortable and safe shell around the passengers’ needs.
Photos: 4th Salone dell'Auto di Torino - Parco Valentino
