Aldo Brovarone - COACHBUILD.com (2024)

The names Pininfarina, Bertone or Zagato are still known today by people who are otherwise less interested in cars. Not least because of the logos, attached to the traditional place on the mudguard between the front wheel and the door. The signets signal that there is something special here, even if it is only a standard Alfa-Romeo or a mundane Opel Astra Cabriolet by Bertone and the Ford Focus Coupé-Cabriolet by Pininfarina.

The big names have survived to this day. Only insiders know who made these names big, the artists behind the designs.
These artists deserve to be put in the spotlight and one of them is Aldo Brovarone, about whom there are only 6 entries here at coachbuild.com

For years, almost no one knew his name. His designs were published under the label "Pininfarina", and Battista and Sergio Farina were in the spotlight. For many years, only insiders knew that Aldo Brovarone, Tom Tjaarda, Leonardo Fioravanti, Paolo Martin and other designers were behind the Pininfarina designs.

Aldo Brovarone was born on 24 June 1926 in Vigliano Biellese, Piedmont, and showed exceptional artistic talent from an early age.
After two years as a prisoner of war, Brovarone wanted to leave Europe and relatives in Argentina got him a job as a technical draughtsman at a refrigerator manufacturer in Buenos Aires.
In 1949, Aldo met Piero Dusio, who had become rich as a uniform supplier to the Italian dictatorship under Benito Mussolini. Dusio, founder of the company Cisitalia, left for Argentina under pressure from creditors – after the failure of the elaborate Tipo-360 Grand Prix project developed by Porsche, he was in financial difficulties – to found the new Argentinian car brand "AutoAR". The foundation of the company fitted perfectly into the industrialisation programme of head of state Juan Peron. Meanwhile, the production of Cisitalia sports cars in Italy continued under the management of his son Carlo Dusio.
Brovarone's job interview with Dusio ended with the words: "Design a sales brochure for the new car and also design the new model at the same time...!"
The AutoAR project did not really get off the ground. In 1952, after 3000 models had been produced, production was stopped and Dusio returned to Italy with Brovarone in tow.

After his return, his career as a designer continued in rapid succession. At Cisitalia, he was responsible for the design of the model 33 DF Volo Radente, a first proof of his skills.
Carlo Dusio, Piero Dusio's son, made contact with the Turin market leader Pinin Farina for Brovarone in 1953. He found his life's work there and stayed until his retirement in 1988, during which time he decisively shaped Italian design with many design icons.
His first work at Pininfarina was the Maserati A6GCS.

Brovarone explained during an interview: "At Pininfarina, it was an ironclad principle that external contacts were maintained exclusively and only through the company owners" - although neither Battista nor Sergio Farina ever drew a car themselves. "However, one must acknowledge without envy that both had a good feel for the market and were also able to formulate a very precise profile of requirements for each individual order, which was then implemented by us designers. The Pininfarina designers worked out their designs, they were not integrated into the further processes. The connections to the manufacturers ran exclusively through Battista and later through Sergio Pininfarina. Internally, there was always competition among the designers, which meant that the standard of the designs could always be kept high. The pressure to do a good job was great; of course, you always wanted to be ahead of the others.

In between the design icons, Brovarone also moved in the lowlands of the "bread-and-butter cars". For Peugeot, he helped bring the 504 into the world.
Another famous model also came from his pen: the Lancia Gamma Coupé. He won the Pininfarina-internal design competition with the arguments: "Lancia is not something sporty, but something elegant!"

Today it is almost unimaginable what the design actors of that time achieved. Everything was drawn by hand, there was no CAD to support the work, everyone had to have an incredible spatial imagination.

That Brovarone was not only an excellent designer but also a great artist is proven by the postcards he made after his retirement.

Brovarone retires in 1988, but continues to draw and create fantastic maps with aircraft and vintage car illustrations.
He passed away in Turin on 12 October 2020 at the age of 94.

Extract from the list of vehicles designed by Brovarone
1949 AutoAR
1953 Cisitalia 33 DF Volo Radente and 505 DF for Ghia
1953 Maserati A6GCS Berlinetta Speciale
1955 Ferrari 375 America (Agnelli)
1956 Lancia Aurelia B52 PF 200 Coupé Prototype/Show Car
1956 Alfa Romeo 6C 3000 CM Superflow Prototype/Show Car
1960 Ferrari Superfast II (400 Superamerica)
1961 Ferrari 400 Superamerica Series II
1964 Ferrari 500 Superfast
1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia 1600 Sport Tubolare Prototype/Show Car
1965 Dino Berlinetta Speciale Prototype/Show Car
1966 Ferrari 365P Berlinetta Speciale Prototype/Show Car
1967 Dino 206 GT
1968 Peugeot 504
1968 Ferrari 365 GT 2+2
1969 Dino 246 GT
1975 Peugeot 604
1977 Lancia Gamma Coupé
1987 Ferrari F40

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