Giovanni Michelotti

Who was Giovanni Michelotti?

Giovanni Michelotti was one of the most prolific designers of sports cars in the 20th century. His notable contributions were for Ferrari, Lancia, Maserati and Triumph marques. He was also associated with truck designs for Leyland Motors, and with designs for British Leyland after the merger of Leyland and BMC.

Born in Turin, Italy, Michelotti worked for a number of coachbuilders, notably Stabilimenti Farina, Vignale and Allemano, before opening his own design studio in 1959. He was among the automobile designers who worked for many manufacturers as an independent designer mostly.

Towards the end of his life, asked whether he had ever designed anything other than cars, Michelotti acknowledged that virtually all of his design work had involved cars, but he admitted to having designed a coffee making machine shortly after the war.