Sergio Sartorelli (
Alessandria, 7 May 1928 –
Torino
Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...
, 28 November 2009) was a noted Italian automotive designer and engineer.
During his career at
Carrozzeria Ghia,
OSI, and finally
Fiat, Sartorelli became widely known for his work on the
Fiat 2300 S Coupé,
Karmann Ghia Type 34, and the
Fiat 126
The Fiat 126 (Type 126) is a four-passenger, rear-engine, city car manufactured and marketed by Fiat over a twenty-eight year production run from 1972 until 2000, over a single generation. Introduced by Fiat in October 1972 at the Turin Auto Show ...
.
He was the honorary president of the Italian
Volkswagen Karmann Ghia
The Volkswagen Karmann Ghia is a sports car marketed in 2+2 coupe (1955–1974) and 2+2 convertible (1957–1974) body styles by Volkswagen. Internally designated the Type 14, the Karmann Ghia combined the chassis and mechanicals of the Type 1 (B ...
Club.
Background
As a young teen, Sartorelli had a passion for cars, trucks, trains, and even military vehicles. To mentally escape the depth of World War II, he spent his time filling school notebooks with sketches and building scale wooden models of cars.
After the war he earned a degree in mechanical engineering at the
Polytechnic University of Turin
The Polytechnic University of Turin ( it, Politecnico di Torino) is the oldest Italian public technical university. The university offers several courses in the fields of Engineering, Architecture, Urban Planning and Industrial Design, and is con ...
in 1954, followed by 18 months of Military Service in as a cartographer. During his military service, he continued to sketch for
Carrozzeria Boano.
After his military service, he was turned down by Boano and Pininfarina, but in 1956 was hired by Ing. Giovanni Savonuzzi at Ghia.
Career
Sergio Sartorelli's career at
Ghia
Carrozzeria Ghia SpA (established 1916 in Turin) is an Italian automobile design and coachbuilder, coachbuilding firm, established by Giacinto Ghia and Gariglio as "Carrozzeria Ghia & Gariglio". The headquarters are located at Corso Guglielmo Mar ...
rose quickly when in 1957, engineer
Savonuzzi left Ghia for
Chrysler, Sartorelli became Head of the Style Prototypes. After the sudden death of
Luigi Segre
Luigi "Gigi" Segre (8 November 1919 – 28 February 1963) was an Italian automotive designer noted for his business and engineering acumen during his stewardship and ownership of Carrozzeria Ghia (1953–63), one of an Italy's premier automobile d ...
, owner and chief stylist of Carrozzeria Ghia, Sartorelli left Ghia.
Officine Stampaggi Industriali OSI, acronym for ''Officine Stampaggi Industriali'' (literally "Industrial Stampings Workshops") was a coachbuilding company founded in 1960 in Turin by former Ghia president Luigi Segre (1919–63) and Arrigo Olivetti (1889–1977) from the Fergat ...
(OSI) was set up as a parallel and complementary company to Ghia and it was part owned by Luigi Segre. With the death of Segre the partnership disappeared and OSI was left with no styling department. After two years of a freelance relationship with
Michelotti, OSI set up its own styling department called Centro Stile e Esperienze OSI, and appointed Sergio Sartorelli as its director. This arrangement lasted from 1965 until December 1967 when OSI reorganized.
In 1968 what was left of Centro Stile e Esperienze OSI, became the Future Studies department at Centro Stile Fiat with Sergio Sartorelli as its head, it was entrusted with the study of design, automotive development, and modeling of prototypes for
Fiat.
By 1984 with the car market in crisis, Fiat let Sergio Sartorelli go, and he retired from his design career.
Design work
Sergio Sartorelli's design work included:
Fiat 2300-S-Coupé.JPG, Fiat 2300 S Coupe
1966 Type 34 Karmann Ghia rear.jpg, 1966 Type 34 Karmann Ghia
Ghia-Fiat G230S.JPG, Ghia-Fiat G230S
Fiat 500 Ghia Jolly.jpg, Fiat 500 Ghia Jolly
MHV Ford-OSI 01.jpg, OSI-Ford 20 M TS
White left hand drive Fiat 126 produced in 1973 6.jpg, Fiat 126
Fiat Ritmo 75CL (8998214735).jpg, Fiat Ritmo
References
External links
Sergio Sartorelli''Karmann Ghia Italy Club''
*
ttp://www.karmannghia.it/Karmann%20Komment%20May%202009.pdf Sergio Sartorelli''Karmann Komment - The official Magazine of the Karmann Ghia Owners Club GB''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sartorelli, Sergio
Italian automobile designers
1928 births
2009 deaths