Quattroporte Pinin concept to highlight RM’s London auction

Hemmings reports that one of the headlining cars of RM Auctions’ fifth annual London auction is Ferrari’s 1980 concept car, the quattroporte Pinin. Built for the Turin Motor Show as a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Carrozzeria Pininfarina and named after Pininfarina founder Battista “Pinin” Farina, the Ferrari Pinin was a static show car that has recently been professionally transformed into a fully functioning sports sedan.

This crisply handsome car was designed by Diego Ottina, under the direction of noted Pininfarina stylist Leonardo Fioravanti. Aside from its obvious genre-busting four-door layout, the Pinin was notable for its flush glass, low hood and Lucas-developed triple-lens “multi-parabolic” headlamps. Its styling ties to the pretty and polarizing 400 GT are evident, especially in the C-pillar and trunk, and other aspects of the car’s design forecast future Pininfarina projects, namely the lower front turn signal/fog lamp clusters (think Ferrari Testarossa) taillamps (Cadillac Allanté), the body-side crease and door handle treatment (Alfa Romeo 164) and aluminum alloy wheels (Ferrari F512M).

"Mauro Forghieri, a former Ferrari Technical Director, headed up the project at Oral Engineering. It was noted that the front bulkhead was basically a stretched 400GT, while the engine bay was adapted from the 512BB’s rear sub-frame. A 400GT gearbox was made to fit a newly sourced 512 engine that was placed further forward in the engine bay. Apart from mating the engine to a gearbox, there was still a lot of work in order to make the Pinin a drivable Ferrari. The underlying chassis was strengthened, a fuel tank was fabricated along with a new radiator, an entire wiring loom was manufactured, and finally the Pinin received new suspension and brakes.

In March 2010, the Pinin was driven for the first time down a disused airport runway near Modena, Italy. The fully functional four-door Ferrari had finally come to fruition. After 30 years, the meticulously preserved Pinin is a credit to its namesake and his company. It is accompanied in the sale by a truly impressive and irreplaceable history file."

Full story from Hemmings here:
A Ferrari for the family: One-off Pinin concept to highlight RM’s London auction at Hemmings Blog: Classic and collectible cars and parts

 

wow! amazing car!

 

Dash reminds me of KITT in knightrider

 

Front reminds me of this: