Carrozzeria designs : Pininfarina – other

25 June 2011 Keith Adams 3

Pininfarina

A common theme running through the reasons why various Pininfarina proposals were not adopted by BLMC was the thorny issue of production costs.

Whatever the other merits of their often forward-thinking proposals, the final decision was usually governed by simple economics. Even designs which were finally adopted, such as that for project ADO16, had to be modified specifically to simplify the tooling process. As former development engineer, Ron Nicholls put it: ‘You could never productionise Farina’s stuff without making lots of changes.’

Project EX234

This pretty Pininfarina design, dating from 1964, was for a possible MGB replacement which would have used the Hydrolastic suspension system which had recently been introduced on the BMC 1100s. Pininfarina were to develop this style for their Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider, launched the following year; and when that car was restyled to become the 1750 Spider in 1969, its rear-end styling had a familiar ring about it...
This pretty Pininfarina design, dating from 1964, was for a possible MGB replacement which would have used the Hydrolastic suspension system which had recently been introduced on the BMC 1100s. Pininfarina were to develop this style for their Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider, launched the following year; and when that car was restyled to become the 1750 Spider in 1969, its rear-end styling had a familiar ring about it…

Project ADO28

Pininfarina's proposal for the Marina was considered "too glassy", reportedly leading Harry Webster to comment, "it's like sitting in a bloody goldfish bowl".
Pininfarina’s proposal for the Marina was considered “too glassy”, reportedly leading Harry Webster to comment, “it’s like sitting in a bloody goldfish bowl”.

Project ADO88

This distinctly Citroën-esque proposal was produced for the ADO88 supermini project in late 1975. It was quickly abandoned because the production costs of this car would have been too high.
This distinctly Citroën-esque proposal was produced for the ADO88 supermini project in late 1975. It was quickly abandoned because the production costs of this car would have been too high.
Keith Adams
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3 Comments

  1. Shades of the Pininfarina designed 124 spider and Mario Boano’s wonderful coupe. Look at that big glasshouse and the rear quaterlight and its ventilator. Fact is Fiat as well as Renault survived through Government subsidy- whether that’s a good thing is another matter!

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  2. Would be interesting to see if any other images exist for the 1975 Citroën-esque ADO88 supermini proposal by Pininfarina at other angles, as with the Bertone styled Innocenti Mini can easily see the Pininfarina ADO88 proposal being upscaled to an Allegro sized car.

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  3. Pininfarina did lots of design work for Austin / Morris. The A60 and A40 of the late ’50s were both Farina work, as was the 1100 and hardtop of the MGB GT.

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