Sergio Sartorelli (7 May 1928 in

Alessandria Alessandria (; ) is a city and commune in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. It is also the largest municipality of the region. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, ...

– 28 November 2009 in

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

) was a noted Italian automotive designer and engineer. During his career at

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 ...

, OSI, and finally

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 ...

, Sartorelli became widely known for his work on the Fiat 2300 S Coupé, Karmann Ghia Type 34, and the

Fiat 126 The Fiat 126 (Type 126) is a four-passenger, Rear-engine design, rear-engine, city car manufactured and marketed by Fiat over a twenty-eight year production run from 1972 until 2000, over a single generation. Introduced by Fiat in October 1972 at ...

. He was the honorary president of the Italian Volkswagen Karmann Ghia Club.

Background

As a young teen, Sartorelli had a passion for cars, trucks, trains, and even military vehicles. To mentally escape the depth of World War II, he spent his time filling school notebooks with sketches and building scale wooden models of cars. After the war he earned a degree in mechanical engineering at the

Polytechnic University of Turin The Polytechnic University of Turin (, abbreviated as PoliTO) is the oldest Italian Public university, public Institute of technology, technical university. The university offers several courses in the fields of Engineering, Architecture, Urban ...

in 1954, followed by 18 months of Military Service in as a cartographer. During his military service, he continued to sketch for Carrozzeria Boano. After his military service, he was turned down by Boano and Pininfarina, but in 1956 was hired by Ing. Giovanni Savonuzzi at Ghia.

Career

Sergio Sartorelli's career at

Ghia Carrozzeria Ghia SpA (established 1916 in Turin) is an Italian automobile design and coachbuilding firm, established by Giacinto Ghia and Gariglio as "Carrozzeria Ghia & Gariglio". The headquarters are located at Corso Guglielmo Marconi, 4, Tu ...

rose quickly when in 1957, engineer Savonuzzi left Ghia for

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 ...

, Sartorelli became Head of the Style Prototypes. After the sudden death of

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 ...

, owner and chief stylist of Carrozzeria Ghia, Sartorelli left Ghia.

Officine Stampaggi Industriali OSI, acronym for ''Officine Stampaggi Industriali'' (literally "Industrial Stampings Workshops") was a coachbuilding company founded in 1960 in Turin by former Carrozzeria Ghia, Ghia president Luigi Segre (1919–63) and Arrigo Olivetti (1889–1977 ...

(OSI) was set up as a parallel and complementary company to Ghia and it was part owned by Luigi Segre. With the death of Segre the partnership disappeared and OSI was left with no styling department. After two years of a freelance relationship with Michelotti, OSI set up its own styling department called Centro Stile e Esperienze OSI, and appointed Sergio Sartorelli as its director. This arrangement lasted from 1965 until December 1967 when OSI reorganized. In 1968 what was left of Centro Stile e Esperienze OSI, became the Future Studies department at Centro Stile Fiat with Sergio Sartorelli as its head, it was entrusted with the study of design, automotive development, and modeling of prototypes for

. By 1984 with the car market in crisis, Fiat let Sergio Sartorelli go, and he retired from his design career.

Design work

Sergio Sartorelli's design work included: Fiat 2300-S-Coupé.JPG, Fiat 2300 S Coupe 1966 Type 34 Karmann Ghia rear.jpg, 1966 Type 34 Karmann Ghia Ghia-Fiat G230S.JPG, Ghia-Fiat G230S Fiat 500 Ghia Jolly.jpg, Fiat 500 Ghia Jolly MHV Ford-OSI 01.jpg, OSI-Ford 20 M TS White left hand drive Fiat 126 produced in 1973 6.jpg, Fiat 126 Fiat Ritmo 75CL (8998214735).jpg, Fiat Ritmo

References

External links

Sergio Sartorelli
''Karmann Ghia Italy Club''

* ttp://www.karmannghia.it/Karmann%20Komment%20May%202009.pdf Sergio Sartorelli''Karmann Komment - The official Magazine of the Karmann Ghia Owners Club GB'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Sartorelli, Sergio Italian automobile designers 1928 births 2009 deaths