Giovanni Savonuzzi (28 January 1911 – 18 February 1988) was an Italian automobile designer who was born and died in

Ferrara Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main ...

. Savonuzzi received a degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

from

Politecnico di Torino The Polytechnic University of Turin (, abbreviated as PoliTO) is the oldest Italian public technical university. The university offers several courses in the fields of Engineering, Architecture, Urban Planning and Industrial Design, and is consi ...

in 1939 and worked for

Fiat Aviazione Fiat Aviazione was an Italian aircraft manufacturer, at one time part of the Fiat S.p.A., Fiat group, focused mainly on military aviation. After World War I, Fiat consolidated several Italian small aircraft manufacturers, like Fabbrica Aeroplani I ...

and taught in

aeronautics Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design process, design, and manufacturing of air flight-capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. While the term originally referred ...

at the ''politecnico''. During

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 ...

he served in

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

. In August 1945Windstone Woodfeller,
Ghia's Gilda: Siren Song for An Era
' in ''Motortrend'' on January 24, 2013. he succeeded

Dante Giacosa Dante Giacosa (3 January 1905 – 31 March 1996) was an Italian automobile designer and engineer responsible for a range of Italian automobile designs — and for refining the front-wheel drive layout to an industry-standard configuration. He ...

as technical director of the Cisitalia carmaker, first completing Giacosa's Cisitalia 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 by

Pinin Farina 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 ...

). He designed the SVA Midget racer while with '' Società Valdostana Automobili'' (SVA) 1948–49, lectured at ''politecnico'' and had some

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

work, including for Cisitalia in 1951 under Carlo Dusio. He oversaw the production of the Ford-Cisitalia 808 project in 1952. As the technical director for

Carrozzeria Ghia Carrozzeria Ghia SpA (established 1916 in Turin) is an Italian automobile design and coachbuilder, coachbuilding firm, established by Giacinto Ghia and Gariglio as "Carrozzeria Ghia & Gariglio". The headquarters are located at Corso Guglielmo Ma ...

under

Luigi Segre Luigi "Gigi" Segre (8 November 1919 – 28 February 1963) was an Italian automotive designer noted for his business and engineering acumen during his stewardship and ownership of Carrozzeria Ghia (1953–63), one of an Italy's premier automobile ...

from 1953 to 1957, Savonuzzi developed the "Supersonic" series inspired by gas

turbines A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced can be used for generating electrical ...

(as a result of his access to

wind tunnel A wind tunnel is "an apparatus for producing a controlled stream of air for conducting aerodynamic experiments". The experiment is conducted in the test section of the wind tunnel and a complete tunnel configuration includes air ducting to and f ...

s at the ''politecnico''). First one-off car was an Alfa Romeo 1900 tuned by Virgilio Conrero for the

Mille Miglia The Mille Miglia (, ''Thousand Miles'') was an open-road, motorsport Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race established in 1927 by the young Counts :it:Franco Mazzotti, Francesco Mazzotti and Aymo Maggi. It took place in Italy 24 times f ...

race. He then applied this to Fiat 8V (14 chassises), DeSoto Adventurer II, Jaguar XK120 (three chassises) and Aston Martin DB2/4. Even more futuristic and bold styling saw the 1955 Ghia "Gilda" (named after

Rita Hayworth Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer, and Pin-up model, pin-up girl. She achieved fame in the 1940s as one of the top stars of the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of ...

), and a less radical Ferrari 410 Gilda Superamerica. From 1957 to 1969 Savonuzzi worked under research director George J. Huebner (1910–96) for the turbine department of

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, being chief engineer for automotive research from 1962. The resulting

Chrysler Turbine Car The Chrysler Turbine Car is an experimental two-door hardtop coupé, coupe powered by a gas turbine, turbine engine and was manufactured by Chrysler Corporation, Chrysler from 1963 to 1964. Italian design studio Carrozzeria Ghia constructed the ...

1962–64 were not designed by Savonuzzi, but bodied by

. He also studied crash-proof cars. Following some time as Director of R&D under

Gianni Agnelli Giovanni "Gianni" Agnelli (; 12 March 192124 January 2003), nicknamed ("The Lawyer"), was an Italian industrialist and principal shareholder of Fiat S.p.A., Fiat. As the head of Fiat, he controlled 4.4% of Italy's GDP, 3.1% of its industrial ...

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 ...

, he devoted himself to teaching at the ''politecnico'' until retirement in 1977. 1946-Cisitalia-202CMM.jpg , Cisitalia 202 CMM, 1946 1949 Cisitalia 202SMM Nuvolari rear.jpg , Cisitalia 202SMM Nuvolari, 1949 1954_Alfa_Romeo_1900SS_Ghia_Coupe.jpg , Alfa Romeo 1900 SS, 1953 1953 Fiat 8V Ghia Supersonic.JPG , Fiat 8V Supersonic, 1953 Jaguar XK120 Supersonic 1954 red vr TCE.jpg , Jaguar XK120 Supersonic, 1954 1955GhiaGildaStreamlineXCoupe-rear.jpg , Ghia "Gilda" Moto Guzzi Nibbio 2.jpg ,

Moto Guzzi Moto Guzzi () is an Italian motorcycle manufacturer and the oldest European manufacturer in continuous motorcycle production. Established in 1921 in Mandello del Lario, Italy, the company is noted for its historic role in Italy's motorcyclin ...

Nibbio II, 1956

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Savonuzzi, Giovanni Italian automobile designers Cisitalia people Ghia people Chrysler people Fiat people People from Ferrara 1911 births 1988 deaths