 | This articlerelies largely or entirely on asingle source. Relevant discussion may be found on thetalk page. Please helpimprove this article byintroducing citations to additional sources. Find sources: "Giovanni Savonuzzi" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(November 2016) |
Giovanni Savonuzzi (28 January 1911 – 18 February 1988) was an Italian automobile designer who was born and died inFerrara.
Savonuzzi received a degree inmechanical engineering fromPolitecnico di Torino in 1939 and worked forFiat Aviazione and taught inaeronautics at thepolitecnico. DuringWorld War II he served inAlbania. In August 1945[1] he succeededDante Giacosa as technical director of theCisitalia carmaker, first completing Giacosa'sCisitalia D46 cigarshaped racing car. Before he left for in 1948 due to a disagreement, he had sketched out the Spider Nuvolari and the 202 CMM Aerodinamica Savonuzzi (to be built byPinin Farina).[2]
He designed the SVA Midget racer while withSocietà Valdostana Automobili (SVA) 1948–49, lectured atpolitecnico and had somefreelance work, including forCisitalia in 1951 under Carlo Dusio. He oversaw the production of the Ford-Cisitalia 808 project in 1952.[3]
As the technical director forCarrozzeria Ghia underLuigi Segre from 1953 to 1957, Savonuzzi developed the "Supersonic" series inspired by gasturbines (as a result of his access towind tunnels at thepolitecnico). First one-off car was anAlfa Romeo 1900 tuned byVirgilio Conrero for theMille Miglia race. He then applied this toFiat 8V (14 chassises),DeSoto Adventurer II,Jaguar XK120 (three chassises) andAston Martin DB2/4.[4]
Even more futuristic and bold styling saw the 1955 Ghia "Gilda" (named afterRita Hayworth),[1] and a less radicalFerrari 410 Gilda Superamerica.
From 1957 to 1969 Savonuzzi worked under research director George J. Huebner (1910–96) for the turbine department ofChrysler inDetroit, being chief engineer for automotive research from 1962.[5] The resultingChrysler Turbine Car 1962–64 were not designed by Savonuzzi, but bodied byCarrozzeria Ghia. He also studied crash-proof cars.[6] Following some time as Director of R&D underGianni Agnelli atFiat, he devoted himself to teaching at thepolitecnico until retirement in 1977.[7]
Established 2007 – A marque ofStellantis | ||||||||||||
| Related companies |
|  | ||||||||||
| Current models |
| |||||||||||
| Historic models (List) |
| |||||||||||
| Concept models | ||||||||||||
| Racing cars | ||||||||||||
| Modified Racing cars | ||||||||||||
| Abarth cars | ||||||||||||
| Armored vehicles | ||||||||||||
| People | ||||||||||||
