The brilliant car designs of Giorgetto Giugiaro

Giorgetto Giugiaro is hailed as perhaps the most influential car designer of all time, a claim he earned after his 1955 student exhibition caught Fiat’s Dante Giacosa’s eye. The article chronicles key Giugiaro designs, starting with the Gordon-Keeble GT (1960) — a British car built in limited runs (about 100 units) with a 5.4-liter Corvette V8 and a glass-fibre body on a steel chassis, with most surviving thanks to a dedicated owners’ club. Other notable projects include the Ferrari 250 GT SWB Bertone (1960) with a shortened 200mm wheelbase to boost agility, and the BMW 3200 CS (1961), which introduced the Hofmeister kink. The Iso Rivolta IR 300 (1961) used a 5,340cc Corvette V8, while the Aston Martin DB4 GT Bertone Jet (1961) showcased a steel-bodied high-speed silhouette. The ASA 1000 GT (1962) experimented with a 1.0-liter engine, and the Simca 1000 Coupé (1962) evolved from a 944cc to a 1,204cc unit by 1967, highlighting Giugiaro’s prolific versatility.