Franco Scaglione

Franco Scaglione (born September 26, 1916 in Florence , † June 19, 1993 in Suvereto ) was an Italian aircraft engineer and automobile designer.

Life

Scaglione was the older son of the military doctor Vittorio Scaglione and Giovanna Fabbri , active in the Italian Red Cross, and came from an old Florentine noble family, descendants of the Counts Martirano San Nicola e Mottafilocastro . Scaglione's father died when Franco was six years old. After attending the humanistic grammar school , he enrolled to study aerospace engineering in Bologna , but first had to do his military service, most recently in the rank of sub-lieutenant . His hobbies included literature, tennis, horse riding and rowing. After his military service he continued his studies, but volunteered during the Second World War to serve in the military damage office. Most recently deployed on the Libyan front, he was taken prisoner of war in El Duda in the south of Tobruk on December 24, 1941 and was deported to Yol , India . In 1946 he was released from captivity and returned to Italy on December 26th. When Franco met his mother in Carolei , he learned that his brother Eugenio had died in the war. Franco stayed in Carolei for a year before going to Bologna to look for work.

With the aim of designing cars, he was initially successful in the fashion industry. On September 25, 1948, he married Maria Luisa Benvenuti , who gave birth to their daughter Giovanna on September 10, 1950 . In April 1951, the family moved to Turin , where the most important coachbuilders were based at the time. Here he got to know Battista Pininfarina , who appreciated his designs very much. However, there was no collaboration because Pininfarina refused to put the actual designers' lettering on its vehicles. When he met "Nuccio" Bertone , he founded a company with him that designed a number of extraordinary cars, including the Abarth 1500 Biposto Coupé, which was shown at the 1952 Turin Motor Show , the legendary Alfa Romeo BAT and the Giulietta Sprint and Giulietta SS . Other well-known designs were an Arnolt - Aston Martin DB2 / 4 - Spider model, which was presented at the 1954 Motor Show in New York City , and the design of the Sportiva version of the Alfa Romeo 2000 . The Arnolt-Bristol (1953) and the NSU Sport Prinz also bore his signature . When Scaglione left the company in 1959, Giorgio Giugiaro took over his chair.

He himself initially dealt with the design of the Porsche-Abarth Carrera GTL (1959) based on the Porsche 356 , later with that of the Lamborghini 350 GTV (1963), that of the ATS 2500 GT (1964) of Automobili Turismo e Sport and that of the Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 as well as with different model designs for the Turin company Costruzione Automobili Intermeccanica , for example the models Apollo, Torino, Italia GFX, Italia IMX, Indra and Murena. With the bankruptcy of Intermeccanica in Italy and the economic flight of the then owner and entrepreneur Frank Reisner with the company via the United States to Canada , Scaglione lost all of the private assets he had invested in the production of the Indra model.

Due to the disappointment, he retired from working life, went to Suvereto in 1981 and lived there very secluded. Ten years later he developed lung cancer and died after three years of suffering.

Projects

1951-1952

• Lancia Aurelia B50 Coupé (5 pieces; Carrozzeria Balbo) and two other types

1952

• Fiat 1100 “Utiletta Frasca” (Carrozzeria Ansaloni)
• Abarth 1500 Berlinetta Bertone
• Fiat-Siata 208 CS Spider Competizione Bertone
• Fiat-Siata 208 CS Coupé 2 + 2 Bertone

1953

Alfa Romeo BAT 5 Bertone

• Fiat- Stanguellini 1100/103 TV Berlinetta Bertone
• Fiat 1100/103 TV Savio Sport Berlinetta
• Alfa Romeo Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica BAT 5 Bertone
• Alfa Romeo 1900L Berlina 2-door Bertone
• Arnolt-Aston Martin DB 2/4 Roadster Competizione Bertone (2 copies)
• Arnolt-Aston Martin DB 2/4 Spider Bertone
• Ferrari-Abarth 166 MM / 53 Spider Competizione Bertone
• Arnolt-Bristol

1954

Alfa Romeo BAT 7 Bertone

• Arnolt-Bristol 404X spider Gran Turismo Bertone
• Arnolt-Bristol 404 X coupe Gran Turismo Bertone
• Fiat-Siata 208 CS Coupé
• Alfa Romeo “2000 Sportiva” Berlinetta Competizione (prototype) Bertone
• Alfa Romeo “2000 Sportiva” Spider Competizione (prototype) Bertone
• Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Berlinetta Bertone
• Alfa Romeo Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica BAT 7 Bertone
• Fiat-Stanguellini 1100/103 TV “Cheetah” Spider Bertone

1955

Alfa Romeo BAT 9 Bertone

• Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Spider Prototype 004 Bertone
• Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Spider Prototype 002 Bertone
• Alfa Romeo 1900 cabriolet “Perla” Bertone
• Alfa Romeo Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica BAT 9 Bertone

1956

• Fiat-Abarth 750 Record Bertone
• Fiat Abarth coupe 215 A Bertone
• Fiat Abarth spider 216 A Bertone
• Arnolt-Aston Martin DB2 / 4 Cabriolet Bertone

1957

• Fiat-Stanguellini 1200 Spider “America” Bertone
• Aston Martin DB2 / 4 Coupe Bertone
• Jaguar XK 150 Coupe Bertone
• Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciale Berlinetta Bertone

1958

• Alfa Romeo-Abarth 1000 Berlinetta Competizione Bertone
• NSU Prinz Sport Coupé (around 1700 first vehicles were produced by Bertone)
• NSU Prinz Sport Spider Wankel (design by Scaglione; developed in his absence; prototype 1960 and production from 1963)

1959

• Maserati 3500 GT Coupe Bertone
• Fiat-Osca 1500 Berlinetta Bertone
• Fiat 1200 “Granluce” Berlinetta Bertone
• Alfa Romeo 2000 “Sole” Bertone
• NSU Prinz 4 Berlina prototype
• Termination of the collaboration with Bertone

1960

Porsche-Abarth Carrera GTL

• Porsche-Abarth Carrera GTL Berlinetta, Carrozzeria Rocco motto

1961

• Revision for the Intermeccanica of the “Apollo” Berlinetta 2 + 2

1962

• Maserati Birdcage tipo 64 Scuderia SSS Repubblica di Venezia

1963

ATS 2500 GT

• Prince Motors “Skyline 1900 Sprint” Berlinetta
• Apollo GT
• Apollo cabriolet
• Lamborghini 350 GTV prototype
• Stanguellini-Guzzi “Colibrì” Record
• ATS 2500 GT Berlinetta Allemano

1964

• Intermeccanica “Griffith” Coupé (and probably also a convertible)

1966

• Titania "Veltro ( Italian for hunting or greyhound ) GTT"
• Intermeccanica “Torino” Cabriolet and Coupé

1967

Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale

• Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale
• Intermeccanica “Italia GFX” Cabriolet and Coupé

1969

• Intermeccanica “Murena 429 GT” Station Wagon

1970

• Intermeccanica “Italia IMX” Berlinetta Competizione

1971

Intermeccanica Indra

• Intermeccanica “Indra” convertible

1972

• Intermeccanica “Indra” Coupé

Web links

• Memorial Franco Scaglione Omaggio al genio del design (Italian)