Il Designer Dimenticato
The secretive nature of a car designer’s job makes it very difficult to give credit whereit’sdue, to the point that actual authors of celebrated design icons often remain unknown, even among enthusiasts.
This sad, age-old state of affairs is particularly unfair in the case of Federico Formenti, quite possibly the greatest car designer you’ve never heard of. While the mention of the name“Carrozzeria Touring” is likely to send most car enthusiast’s minds fantasizing about graceful, elegant mid-20th Century cars, it’s far less likely said enthusiast will know that those timeless beauties were mostly designed by one man.
The Carrozzeria Touring was established in Milan by Felice Bianchi Anderloni in 1926 and rose to prominence in 1936 thanks to its patented“Superleggera” (“superlight”) body construction technique, which became so successful that the moniker later became integral part of the Company’s name, which became known as“Touring Superleggera.”
After WW2, the helm of Touring Superleggera was taken over by the founder’s son, Carlo Felice Bianchi Anderloni: a cultivated gentleman driver and certainly a man of fine taste, but a designer he most definitely wasn’t.
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Touring’s designer, Federico Formenti, was as talented as he was shy and reserved: he found perfectly normal for Anderloni, being Touring’s owner and his boss, to often take personal credit of the designs when talking to customers. Those designs were the ones Touring’s name is famous for to this day: the Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 “Villa d’Este”, the Maserati 3500 GT, the Aston Martin DB4… The list could go on, and on indeed it did. Until it didn’t.
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By the early 1960s Touring had invested heavily in new, larger premises at Nova Milanese to provide bodies for Lancia (Flaminia GT Coupè and Cabriolet), Alfa Romeo (2000/2600 Spider), and the Sunbeam Venezia for the Rootes Group. Those good times sadly weren’t to last though: the Venezia bombed on the market, Alfa Romeo ceased production of the 2600 Spider without a replacement and new work certainly couldn’t come from a failing Lancia.
Touring filed for bankruptcy in 1966, but Formenti and his former employer Bianchi Anderloni didn’t remain unemployed for long, as their long-time customer Alfa Romeo promptly included both in its ranks: Bianchi Anderloni was put at the head of the body design department, whose area of competence included the “Centro Stile”, directed by Giuseppe Scarnati since its inception in 1956. As far as period documents and first hand accounts reveal though, Mr. Bianchi Anderloni hardly had any actual influence on the output of the Centro Stile, as Scarnati fiercely defended “his” field until his retirement, around 1975.
Federico Formenti, meanwhile, put his two decades of Touring experience to good use in the then still developing Alfa Romeo“Centro Stile”: Mario Favilla, a former Alfa Romeo designer I’ve had the pleasure to meet recently, remembers Formenti as a man of extraordinary skill, almost a “one-man design studio”, that with humility helped younger designers to “mature” and provided advice and solutions to the experts.
To learn more about Federico Formenti, I’d suggest you read this excellentbook by Mario Favilla: one more reason to pick up those Italian classes you always promised yourself. In the book Mr. Favilla recalls an episode from 1970: the Alfetta was signed off for production, but a quirk of internal bureaucracy meant that the 1:10 scale scale “four views” drawing, necessary for the model’s type approval paperwork, wasn’t made until the day before its deadline.
When Giuseppe Scarnati found out, he desperately asked Formenti if he could make that drawing overnight, which was almost like asking for a miracle, as such a task would normally take one week: Formenti agreed and, the following morning, the Centro Stile staff found the requested drawing on his table, together with the butts of all the cigarettes he smoked while drawing (it was a very different time indeed!). The type approval procedure for what was to be the 1972 Alfetta saloon could be made on time.
In car design, fact and fiction often are difficult to tell apart: most people want to grab credit for successful designs, whether deservedly or not, while other more modest individuals don’t and end up being forgotten. But it’s never too late to tell the story straight and give credit where it’s due, whenever that’s possible.
Author: Matteo Licata
I've been obsessed with cars for as long as I can remember, and I started drawing them the very moment I could hold a pencil in my hand.Being born in 1980s Turin, it wasn't long before I realized there were people actually drawing cars for a living: I remember I had a Giugiaro Design school diary, sometime in the late 80s, and every month there was a glossy picture of some of his concept cars: Aspid, Asgard, Capsula, Machimoto...From then on, my path was set: I was going to be a "car designer", come hell or high water, and have now been living the dream for about ten years.As an AlfaRomeo historian, I'm an expert of the post-war years of the Marque, about which I've so far published two books, with more to come.Find out more at roadster-life.comView all posts by Matteo Licata
An unsung hero..
I always wondered who penned those elegant machines, now I know thanks to this article.
I have been working as a designer for almost thirty years, my « anniversary » will be in October..
My first manager was one Piero Stroppa. Piero was a self-effacing professional. Indeed, it was a number of years into my career, late one night readying my interior for the Renault Sport Spider concept for its Geneva show reveal that Piero let it slip that some years before he had been in a similar situation. The difference was that his adjustments were being made inside a moving truck crossing the Alps from Turin! The car? The Lancia Stratos. Piero was the « other designer » at Carozzeria Bertone, and he worked with both Maestri, Giugiaro and Gandini. It was Piero who confirmed to me that Gandini was Mr Miura. My apologies to those who do religion, to me this guy suddenly became Jesus. Only God could have designed the Miura.
Fast forward a quarter century. Piero visited Renault design. I hung on his every word as he recounted tales from when Italian design walked on water. I remembered, with tears in my eyes, why I had chosen my path.
My own unsung hero.
I’d be interested in learning more about your work on the Sport Spider, Rob. Did you work with Anthony Grade? And did you have a hand in the Laguna concept’s interior too, by any chance? I always thought either roadsters’ cabins were remotely similar, in terms of concept.
The Jensen Museum’s website contains a fascinating story of how Jensen’s then owners were at loggerheads with management over the car which ultimately became the Interceptor, favouring a rather ungainly looking device called the P66. Despite the obvious superiority of Formenti’s shape, they held fast to their stubborn ideal, but mercifully were over-ruled.
It does appear that Vignale, who productionised Carrozzeria Touring’s design in 1966, carried forward elements of their own Nova proposal from 1965 (particularly the nose treatment) to the finished design, but it’s clear that the core of the shape is Formenti’s work. It has (through other sources) been attributed to Anderloni in the past, so it’s nice to see the true author being acknowledged.
thanks so much, Matteo, for these illuminations.
thank you to Rob too, for your warm response.
Incredibly poignant article, as I even on this company had no idea about the works of Mr Formenti. I’m always very glad when I learn something new, it buggers me I had no idea about his existence even though I’ve always liked the designs of Touring. It is a shame he is such an unknown, he deserves a better recognition. Thanks for the article, it was a very interesting and fascinating read!
A terrific article, thank you for it.
Hi, I am Marco Formenti, the son of Federico. Thanks for your article and for appreciating my father’s job.
Marco, thanks for stopping by. You are most welcome – your father was a man of immense talent and I for one am pleased to be able to see a man of such skill being honoured. It’s a shame that he is not more widely known. I am sure the author will be pleased to know you appreciate his article.
Gentile signore Marco, sono David, della Spagna. Ho una grande ammirazione verso l’opera di suo padre. Ho avuto anche l’ocasione di parlare e sentire al reguardo a qualcuni vecchi suoi colleghi. Collaboro per un mensile Spagnolo, scrivo articolo di ricerche storiche da anni ed vorrei tantissimo scrivire al reguardo di suo padre. Mi piacerebbe moltissimo contattarla, se a lei piacesse l’idea. Grazie mille, ed in atessa delle sue parole, spero positive, la saluta cordialmente, d.
Hi Marco,
I write for an Aston Martin magazine, Vantage, and I would love to find out more about your father. I would be very grateful if you would contact me via email atpetertomalin@me.com
Many thanks, Peter
Hi Marco,
I write for the German issue of classic car magazine Octane. Our next issue will include a one-page story on your father’s work which we will take over from our British colleagues.
I would like to verify information concerning your father’s birth date. We have differing information, some sources say he was born in 1924, others 1925. I hope you don’t mind me asking but would you be so kind as to share his exact date of birth with me and, if possible, also his date of death.
Your cooperation and kindness are much appreciated.
Kindest regards,
Christel
Vorrei maggiori informazioni circa Federico FORMENTI.
Sto effettuando una ricerca sui pionieri del settore Macchine per Materie Plastiche e mi sono imbattuto nella POLVARA Lombarda MACCHINE SpA. La moglie del titolare era Piera FORMENTI (*MI 29/04/1909) e tra i soci di minoranza vi era Federico FORMENTI (*MI 2/02/1925), socio al 2%.
Mi domando se si tratta dello stessoFederico FORMENTI designer della TOURING.