Posed on a layby with a model at its wheel, Bertone’s Corvair Testudo flaunted its unique contours. The headlamps folded forward when required.
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Corvair Testudo Concept: The Turtle That Rocked Geneva

In his early twenties Giorgetto Giugiaro joined forces with Nuccio Bertone to create a stunning sports car derived from GM’s Corvair

Avatar photoKarl Ludvigsen

Since taking over responsibility in 1958 for shaping the cars and trucks of General Motors, William “Bill” Mitchell followed a practice of his predecessor Harley Earl. He made a point of making a tour of the autumn auto shows at Paris and sometimes London and Turin as well. Bill could scope the latest design trends and check in with his design studios in Frankfurt and Luton. When he returned the Styling Staff halls were plastered with sharp photos of any and all of the latest ideas.

This spectacular image with Nuccio Bertone on the left and Giorgetto Giugiaro on the right, brandishing a designer’s sweep, stes the stage for the coming Testudo.

Mitchell could and did go further. Keen to expand the Corvair’s formats and markets, he sent both Pininfarina and Bertone a Corvair chassis, with contracts to build sporty European-style variants. Recipients had the liberty to do as they liked with the cars, exploiting their internals and fitting exciting new exteriors and interiors that drew the admiration and interest of motor-show attendees as well as the motoring journalists whose reports were widely distributed and respected.

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Karl Ludvigsen
Karl E. Ludvigsen is a journalist, author, and historian of the automotive industry and motorsports. Karl Ludvigsen is the author of the definitive history of Porsche. His Porsche history, Excellence was Expected, is considered to be a model of the researching and writing of the history of an auto company. Ludvigsen is an honorary member of the Vintage Sports Car Club of America and the Corvair Society of America. He is also a member of the council of the Historic Automobile Group.
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