More Torino Shenanigans — It’s Not Really Frua’s Design I really, really like the Mistral’s design. And why not? It’s mine. I drew it up in January 1962, almost a year before Pietro Frua presented it in coupe form at the 1962 Torino Salone as his own, to say nothing of it having enormous influence on all his later work. Mine was entered in a contest organized by the Swiss annual Automobile Year, which I heard about only four days before it ended in early 1962. The prize was 1,000 Swiss francs, and Pininfarina would construct the winner. Without time to […]
More Torino Shenanigans — It’s Not Really Frua’s Design
I really, really like the Mistral’s design. And why not? It’s mine. I drew it up in January 1962, almost a year before Pietro Frua presented it in coupe form at the 1962 Torino Salone as his own, to say nothing of it having enormous influence on all his later work. Mine was entered in a contest organized by the Swiss annual Automobile Year, which I heard about only four days before it ended in early 1962. The prize was 1,000 Swiss francs, and Pininfarina would construct the winner.
Without time to request chassis plans, I worked from a Road & Track road-test schematic side view of the only eligible platform, the seriously awkward Maserati 3500GT. For a theme, I had a sketch from an abandoned 1961 Playboy car project. I used green Canson paper I had in my Mexico City studio, made renderings, raced to the airport and managed to get the bundle of anonymously-coded drawings postmarked in time.
Later, a postcard said my entry, one of 122, was accepted. After that, another postcard said I only placed sixth, but my drawings would be in their booth at the Geneva show. So, you can imagine how surprised I was to read in a British weekly that Frua had presented “his” design… in handsome green paint. Frua’s notorious Minox “spy camera” struck again!
FRONT 3/4 VIEW
- This slim full-width bumper draws the eye downward from the high hood over the tall DOHC inline-6 engine.
- Key to the design was putting its distinct, identifiable grille entirely below the bumper. This might well have been the first road car to do so.
- Italian coachbuilders could make an entire car for less than it cost to tool up just one little lamp, which is why you see the same units again and again, even from the best design houses. You took what was available, and Frua selected well here.
- Frua added a bump on the hood of my contest design. Maybe I’d have placed better than sixth if I had done so. Maybe I’d have won had I selected an Austin-Healey chassis rather than that of the 3500GT.
- This sweeping line from just above the bumper all down the side defined the shape. Every square inch of surface above and below turned away from it toward the centerline.
- The windowsill line is ever-so-slightly bent downward on the door, leading upward into the peak of the rear fender profile.
REAR 3/4 VIEW
- The critical sweeping line that defines the design is best seen in this view, and continues all the way to the rear transverse surface.
- These small quarter windows were highly desirable in the days when air conditioning was rare for exotics with high-revving engines. Cracking them open just a little when the top and main windows were up was important for cabin ventilation. They look good, too.
- Once again, designers were at the mercy of either component makers or manufacturers of volume vehicles who would allow smaller companies the use of their lamps, selling them at retail and saying nothing if they were used elsewhere.
- The nearly flat deck lid was cheap to make and the high lift-over didn’t matter much on a car that was never going to be a grocery-getter.
- This very slim and elegant trim piece carries the line implied by the bumpers pointing directly at each other, front-to-rear.
- There’s no getting around it — Borrani wire wheels are a lot more elegant than cast-alloy ones, if also heavier and harder to keep round and straight.
INTERIOR VIEW
I like the interior design almost as much as I do the exterior. That’s a totally unbiased opinion, as I had absolutely nothing to do with it. It came out of Carrozzeria Frua’s shops exactly like this, a perfect example of a generic Italian luxury GT cabin. Comfortable-looking seats, a scatter of dials properly concentrated before the driver, little concern for safety or ergonomics (check that face-smashing grab bar ahead of the passenger), no safety belts, just a typical pretty place to be while voyaging at 125-plus mph. Subtle bright metal trim at the top of the door inner panels and around the gauges are nice touches, and it’s easy to see why a 1964 Mistral won Best of Show at the 1968 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the only post-World War II car to be so honored after Phil Hill’s Pierce-Arrow turned that event’s focus towards pre-war cars (until a ’54 Ferrari 375 MM won in 2014).