Noted Ferrari coachbuilder Sergio Scaglietti passed away November 20, 2011 at 91 years of age.
Scaglietti gained Enzo Ferrari’s trust and respect both through his bodywork and design skills and for providing a retreat for Dino Ferrari as a youth. Scaglietti is credited with the “headrest” bump present on most racing Ferraris of the 1950s and 1960s, a design at first despised by Enzo but championed by Dino. The Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, with its pontoon fenders, is one of the most famous Scaglietti designs.
Ferrari Chairman Luca di Montezemolo commented, “Today is a sad day for Ferrari. We lost a friend, a travel companion, a man who had his name forever connected to the Prancing Horse. Sergio Scaglietti leaves behind the legacy of an artist who with his talent created some of the most beautiful cars of our history. Who had the luck to know him like I did will also remember him as a straightforward and honest man, completely dedicated to his work. We will miss him.”
In the mid-1950s, Scaglietti became the Carrozzeria of choice for Ferrari’s racing efforts. Many sports racing prototypes were designed and manufactured at their facility. All those exclusively designed by Scaglietti carried the Scaglietti & C. badge while cars built to outside designs did not. Sergio Scaglietti was a real and natural talent who made cars with his hands and with his eyes, as he liked to say.
Soon the Carrozzeria Scaglietti started to collaborate with the Scuderia Ferrari and a great friendship was born between Enzo and Sergio.
“He was one of my father’s best friends,” said Piero Ferrari. “He was next to me with Marco Piccinini also the day my father died and stayed with me the whole night until the funeral. I loved him and he was a very important part of my life. My life will be emptier without Sergio.”
The Carrozzeria Scaglietti has been an integral part of Ferrari for many years. To underline his unique relationship with the coachbuilder from Modena, Chairman Montezemolo dedicated him the 612, the 2+2 seater Berlinetta. In addition, a special version of the 456, the 456M GT Scaglietti, bears his name.
Original Scaglietti designs include:
1958 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa
1955 Ferrari 410 Sport
1955 Ferrari 500 Mondial Series II
1954 Ferrari 250 Monza
1956 Ferrari 290 MM
1956 Ferrari 860 Monza
1954 Ferrari 375 MM Coupe
1958 Chevrolet Corvette Scaglietti Coupe
Bodies executed to a third-party design:
1957 Ferrari 250 California Spider
1962 Ferrari 250 GTO
1955 Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France
[Source: Ferrari SpA; Wikipedia]
Hate to hear the news on Signore Scaglietti. The Testa Rossa is the most amazing design of all time. Godspeed!
None of the design requirements for racing cars includes the imperative that the car be beautiful. It turns out to be a rare combination of talents to be an artist whose purposeful artworks must also win races. There will never be another age of racing design that produces anything like the power and beauty and purpose of the Scaglietti Ferraris. Today’s prices for cars like the 250 GTO and the Testa Rosa show just how fleeting and irreplaceable that combination was in the history of racing.
He design racing and street cars in a time when “Form followed Function”,,
But,, His cars were god awful gorgeous..
The later era of aerodynamic design produced cars of more efficient shape,, But never as beautiful as the front engine sports racers of the 50s’ and 60s’..
God bless him..
Scaglietti’s 250 Testa Rossa was a signature car of the mystique that formed the legend of this marque. His design and concept gave visual beauty to the aural ecstasy of the V 12’s song. I was there at Sebring, to witness the awe of Testa Rossas wailing down the long warehouse straight, yellow fogs glowing, red drums almost on fire! 12 hours of these banshees screaming like wretched, creatures from hell. A car that actually looked and sounded like a ethereal form of ‘Diablo’.