There has never been a shortage of Italian automotive designers who pen the most beautiful, ambitious concepts. The Model Car Hall of Fame has inducted several of them already, be they individuals or prolific design firms. Somehow, Giorgetto Giugiaro has not been inducted… until 2024, as the Automotive Legend of the Year.
Giugiaro began his career as a stylist at the in-house Special Vehicle Design department of Fiat, which sounds like any designer’s dream job. Of course, his designs for Fiat led to even loftier heights.
He would go to Bertone, where at age 21 he designed the 1960 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta SWB Speciale, only one of the most achingly beautiful Ferraris (or any other car, really) ever.
After a couple of quick stops at Ghia, Studi Italiani Realizzazione Prototipi, he would start his own business. Over the next several decades, his studio, Italdesign Giugiaro, would create the DMC DeLorean, De Tomaso Mangusta (Inductee for our 1/18-Scale Model of 2024), Maserati Merak, and Lotus Esprit S1 among many others.
His designs also included more pedestrian transportation as the Iveco 491 CityClass bus and the Volkswagen Golf Mk1 as well. In addition to cars, Giugiaro designed camera bodies for Nikon, the organ of the Cathedral of Lausanne in 2003, and even developed a new pasta shape called “Marille”.
For his flights of fancy that inspired exotic supercars, to his cars for the common man, Giorgetto Giugiaro is the Model Car Hall of Fame’s 2024, as the Automotive Legend of the Year.
The Model Car Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony was held at the International Toy Fair in Nuremberg, Germany, on January 30, 2025. Thanks to everyone at Spielwarenmesse for having us as a part of their event.
