Legendary Car Designer Marcello Gandini Dies At The Age Of 85

He was at the cradle of, among others, the Lamborghini Countach, the Citroën BX, and the Renault 5 ‘Supercinq’: the Italian design legend Marcello Gandini. He died on Wednesday, at the age of 85.

In the past, if you had a poster of a car on the wall, it could easily have been a design by Marcello Gandini. Gandini made a name for himself as the designer of various Italian spectacles, such as Lamborghini’s Miura and Countach. Lancia Stratos also came from him, and he is seen as the founder of the butterfly doors, such as ‘his’ Countach had. Other notable Italians for which Gandini is responsible are the Alfa Romeo Montreal, the second Maserati Ghibli, and the Fiat X1/9.

However, Gandini’s design influence goes much further because he also put less spectacular but very important models on paper. Under his creative leadership, for example, the Citroën BX, which was extravagantly designed for its time, he managed to successfully follow up on the extremely popular original R5. Gandini was partly responsible for the first generation of the BMW 5-series, and he even put a real truck on paper: the striking Renault Magnum.

You already heard it: Gandini was at home in all markets. He died on Wednesday in Rivoli, near where he was born 85 years ago, in Turin. Although Gandini was elderly, his death was unexpected, according to Italian media. In January, he received an honorary doctorate in mechanical engineering from the Polytechnic University of Turin.

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