The Ferrari Pinin was a one-off

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle or show vehicle) is a car made to showcase new styling or new technology. Concept cars are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or may not ...

created by Italian-design studio

Pininfarina Pininfarina S.p.A. (; ; short for Pininfarina Società per Azioni) is an Italian automotive design, car design firm and coachbuilder, with headquarters in Cambiano, Turin, Italy. The company was founded by Battista "Pinin" Farina in 1930. On 14 ...

, to celebrate the design studio's 50th anniversary. Discussed by

Enzo Ferrari Enzo Anselmo Giuseppe Maria Ferrari (; ; 18 February 1898 – 14 August 1988) was an Italian racing driver and entrepreneur, the founder of Scuderia Ferrari in Grand Prix motor racing, and subsequently of the Ferrari automobile marque. Under h ...

as being turned into a production model, the proposal was dropped and the car remains a singular concept model, the first four-door Ferrari ever built.

Background

Battista "Pinin" Farina Battista Pininfarina (born Battista Farina, nicknamed "Pinin"; 2 November 1893 – 3 April 1966) was an Italian automobile designer and the founder of the Carrozzeria Pininfarina coachbuilding company, a name associated with many well known ...

had founded his design house in 1930, and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

began working with Enzo Ferrari on designing bodies for his road cars, to allow Ferrari to create funds to continue his motor car racing.

Design

The drive for the project came from

Sergio Pininfarina Sergio Pininfarina (born Sergio Farina; 8 September 1926
. – 3 July 2012) was an Italian

, who had dreamed of designing an Italian competitor for luxury 4 door saloons like the

Jaguar XJ The Jaguar XJ is a series of mid-size/full-size luxury cars produced by British automobile manufacturer Jaguar Cars (becoming Jaguar Land Rover in 2013) from 1968 to 2019. It was produced across four basic platform generations (debuting in 1968 ...

, the

Maserati Quattroporte The Maserati Quattroporte () is a four-door full-size luxury sedan produced by Italian automobile manufacturer Maserati. The name translated from Italian means " four doors". The production of the sixth generation ended in late 2023, with the ...

(designed by rival

Giugiaro Giorgetto Giugiaro (; born 7 August 1938) is an Italian automotive designer. He has worked on supercars and popular everyday vehicles. He was named Car Designer of the Century in 1999 and inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2002. He w ...

), and the Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9. The project was also personally approved by Enzo Ferrari and the general manager of Ferrari at the time, Eugenio Alzati. According to Alzati, since Ferrari was a subsidiary of

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...

at the time, Mr. Ferrari was obligated to use a

Fiat 131 The Fiat 131 is a mid-size family car manufactured and marketed by Fiat from 1974 to 1984 after its debut at the Turin Motor Show#1974, 1974 Turin Motor Show. Available as a two-door and four-door Saloon (car), saloon and 5-door station wagon, ...

as his personal chauffeured transport. Mr. Ferrari found the 131 inadequate and therefore positively viewed a possible production Ferrari luxury sedan.

Leonardo Fioravanti Leonardo Fioravanti may refer to: * Leonardo Fioravanti (doctor) (1518–1588), Italian doctor * Leonardo Fioravanti (engineer) Leonardo Fioravanti (born 31 January 1938) is an Italian automobile designer and CEO of Fioravanti (automotive), Fio ...

led the design team, who had been responsible for most Pininfarina Ferrari designs since the 1960s, while detailed work was completed Diego Ottina. Fioravanti proposed a sporting sedan design, powered by a forward-located Ferrari flat-12 engine. New headlights from

Lucas Industries Lucas Industries plc, now known as Lucas Automotive, is one of the world’s oldest continuously trading automotive brands, tracing its origins to 1875 and the first patent issued to its founder, Joseph Lucas. Based originally in Birmingham, t ...

allowed the front to be lowered, creating a thin egg-crate style grill. The design also included body-coloured rear lights by Carello, From the side, the A and B pillars were disguised by using smoked glass, and exaggerating the C pillar, creating a coupe-style side view. The interior used tobacco-coloured Connolly leather, and a dashboard designed by Borletti,

Production

The prototype was created at Pininfarina's studio, on a donor Ferrari 400GT chassis. The car included a mock-up flat 12, mated to the shell of a five-speed manual gearbox. The car was unveiled by

Sergio Pininfarina Sergio Pininfarina (born Sergio Farina; 8 September 1926
. – 3 July 2012) was an Italian

at the 1980 Turin Auto Show. During 1980–81, the car toured multiple motorshows, including the 1980

Los Angeles Auto Show The Los Angeles Auto Show, also known as the LA Auto Show, is an auto show held annually at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is open to the public for ten days, filling of exhibit space. Since 2006 ...

and the Carrozzeria Italiana exhibition in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...

, California. Enzo Ferrari was so impressed that he discussed turning the design into a production vehicle. Despite Mr. Ferrari's initial enthusiasm, he ultimately did not approve the project at Ferrari's annual board meeting in 1980. Eugenio Alzati speculated that lack of support from Fiat's then-president Vittorio Ghidella doomed the production Pinin. Alzati believed than Ghidella saw the Pinin as a distraction from larger-scale projects that would help financially stabilize Fiat. Leonardo Fioravanti speculated that Ferrari's resistance to producing the car was due to the production quality of any resultant vehicle. "Faults" were accepted in sporting cars, but with the Pinin Ferrari would have been competing against the quality of experienced luxury sedan manufacturers including

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

and even

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

Collector ownership

In the mid-1980s the Pinin was sold to

Jacques Swaters Jacques Swaters (; 30 October 1926 – 10 December 2010) was a racing driver from Belgium and former team owner of Ecurie Belgique, Ecurie Francorchamps, and Ecurie Nationale Belge. Racing career Swaters made his debut in the 24 Hours of S ...

, a Belgian racing driver turned businessman and car collector who formerly ran

Ecurie Francorchamps Ecurie may refer to: * Écurie, a commune in the Pas-de-Calais département in France * Several car racing teams (compare '' scuderias'') : ** Ecurie Belge ** Ecurie Bleue ** Ecurie Bonnier ** Ecurie Ecosse, a former motor racing team from Scot ...

, a prominent privateer Ferrari endurance and sportscar racing team, as well as a dealership, Garage Francorchamps. The Pinin was put on static display for many years in the basement of Garage Francorchamps' showroom. After being displayed at the 2005

Essen Motor Show The Essen Motor Show is an auto show held annually in the city of Essen, Germany. It has been described as "the showcase event of the year for the tuning community" and as the German version of the annual SEMA auto show in Las Vegas Las Ve ...

to celebrate Pininfarina's 75th anniversary, the car was sold in 2008 by

RM Auctions RM Sotheby's is a collector car auction company headquartered in Blenheim, Ontario, Canada, with offices across the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. The company specializes in the sale of classic, vintage, sports, and exotic cars, and ...

on behalf of Swaters for €176,000. The new owner sent the Pinin to former Ferrari chief engineer

Mauro Forghieri Mauro Forghieri (13 January 1935 – 2 November 2022) was an Italian mechanical engineer, best known for his work as a Formula One racing car designer with Scuderia Ferrari during the 1960s and 1970s. He is credited with introducing the first de ...

's firm Oral Engineering with the brief to make it a running vehicle. The Oral Engineering team made multiple modifications to the Pinin, installing a Tipo F102 B flat 12 engine from a

Ferrari 512 BB The Ferrari Berlinetta Boxer (BB) is a series of sports cars produced by Ferrari in Italy between 1973 and 1984. The BB was designed by Leonardo Fioravanti (engineer), Leonardo Fioravanti at Pininfarina. The first BB model, the 365 GT4 BB, replace ...

as well as other components either taken from other Ferrari models or custom-made. In order to fit the engine, the chassis was modified and strengthened. The original engine mounts were moved up and forward. A gearbox and differential from a 400 GT were installed. A bespoke fuel tank and wiring loom were also commissioned. Although the car had front and rear double wishbone independent suspension from a 400 GT installed from the beginning, suspension modifications were required to make it road-usable, including adjustment of ground clearance and replacement of non-functional springs. The conversion process took approximately 1.5 years. The car first ran in March 2010, some 30 years after its first appearance. It was put up for sale later that year, but failed to make a reserve of €1 million. The car was put up for sale again by RM Auctions at their London sale on 26 October 2010, with a guide price of £480,000 – £550,000. The car was on display at the

Museo Ferrari Museo Ferrari (previously known as Galleria Ferrari) is a Ferrari company museum dedicated to the Ferrari sports car marque. The museum is not purely for cars; there are also trophies, photographs and other historical objects relating to the Ital ...

in 2012, as part of a show of Pininfarina's ten greatest designs. In July 2015, the Pinin was listed for sale on Hemmings.com with an asking price of US$795,000. The car is currently owned by Ferrari collector Prof. Dr. Anthony Nobles in California. The car was displayed at The Quail Motorsports Gathering in August 2018. Nobles originally bid on the Pinin when it was sold at the Factory auction where he was outbid. He spent the next several years tracking down the car and acquired it in Maranello in 2017. The car is now in the Nobles Family Automotive Museum and makes the occasional drive down Pacific Coast Highway to Cars and Coffee.

References

*Ferrari's Four-Door Fantasy. In: Thoroughbred & Classic Cars. Jg. 36, September 2008, ISSN 0143-7267, S. 48 ff {{Ferrari

Pinin Pinin is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''PNN'' gene. Interactions Pinin has been shown to interact with Keratin 8, Keratin 18, Keratin 19, CTBP1, RNPS1, PRPF4B, SFRS4 Splicing factor, arginine/serine-rich 4 is a protein that ...

Sports sedans Pininfarina Cars introduced in 1980

Background

Design

Production

Collector ownership

See also

References