The Countach and its predecessor, the Lamborghini Miura, are widely regarded as the first modern supercars, creating the template for a vehicle category that still marks the pinnacle in automotive performance and design.
Gandini designed both of those cars and, if he had done nothing else, he would still be remembered as the 'God' of auto design.
But in addition to his work for Lamborghini, Gandini produced cars for automakers including BMW, Fiat and Ferrari.
He designed rally racing cars, economy hatchbacks (such as the first Volkswagen Polo and the Renault Supercinq, a follow up the Renault 5), concept cars and at least one helicopter.
He died Wednesday at the age of 85 in Turin, Italy, the city where he was born and where — throughout his career at the Gruppo Bertone design studio and, later, his own firm — he worked much of his auto design magic.
Creating the supercar:
Gandini’s radical, sharp-edged Countach was designed as a replacement for the Lamborghini Miura, a car with curved edges and rows of black “eyelashes” around its circular headlights.
While the Miura was considered one of the most beautiful cars ever made, it was not radical — rather, it was the perfection of sports car design up to that time.
The Countach, unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in 1971 (Prototype above), meanwhile, was angular and sharp-edged like shattered crystal.
“Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but nothing better has been done since,” Gandini said of the Countach during a 2019 interview at Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile, Italy’s National Automobile Museum in Turin.
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