Giorgetto Giugiaro worked with everything from Ferrari to Lamborghini but also more mundane brands like Volkswagen. Responsible for the direction of automotive design for multiple decades, Giugiaro ushered in angular computer-aided designs but also a return to smooth curves in the new millennium. As a result, the founder of Italdesign has a massive legacy.

Working at Fiat in the 1950s and Bertone and Ghia in the 1960s before founding Italdesign, Giugiaro much like Frank Stephenson had his fingers in nearly every automotive pie for numerous decades. Working on iconic designs like the Aston Martin DB4 down to daily runarounds like the original Seat Ibiza, there are very few people on the roads whose car hasn't seen influence from Giugiaro's pen.

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Giorgetto Giugiaro's Most Beautiful Car Is The Ferrari 250 GT

Ferrari 250 GT - Front 3/4
Ferrari

Responsible for so many iconic and beautiful cars choosing which of Giorgetto Giugiaro's models are most beautiful seems like an impossible task. Yet one car stands out from all of them. Yes, those wedge cars are historically important to design today. The Maseratis seem amazing.

But all sports cars fall behind one brand, Ferrari. While for many the word Ferrari brings to mind the entry-level mid-engined V8s. These were not what Enzo envisioned for his brand. Front-engined V12 grand tourers were the pinnacle of road cars for the racer-turned-car manufacturer.

Ferrari 250 GT - rear 3/4
Ferrari

While working at Bertone, at the tender age of 21 Giugiaro worked on the design for the 250 GT Berlinetta SWB. One of the most legendary Ferraris ever. According to Classic, an aggregator of used car prices, this classic car costs on average $8.2 million.

Perfectly classically proportioned, with an iconic front grille and no bad angle. Nothing can beat the 250 GT in Giugiaro's back catalog.

The Original Maserati Ghibli Comes In As A Close Second

Maserati Ghibli - Rear 3/4
Maserati

As the founder of Italdesign, Giorgetto Giugiaro designed some of the world's most influential and most beautiful vehicles of all time. Working with everything from Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, and Lamborghini, to Volkswagen and even Isuzu and Iveco. A master of beauty and utility Giugiaro was the go-to designer for many automotive manufacturers from the 1960s onwards. The designer's only true rivals were the fellow Italian competitor Pininfarina.

Two of Giugiaro's most prominent designs and arguably most beautiful come from the well-loved if a little failing Maserati. The Merak and original Ghibli both were from Giugiaro's mind. While Maserati might not have first built a mid-engined supercar. This title belongs to Lamborghini with the Miura. The Merak balances this new design with some more classical curves and a striking rear design. The Merak also has two rear seats, while not that practical, the Merak has a little more going for it.

The Ghibli was a different story. The name returned for a third time in 2013, not as a small coupe but as a sedan. The original car was sold from 1967 to 1973. A classical grand tourer with a long hood and a short trunk. Between the hood sat a 4.7 or 4.9 liter V8, paired with a 5-speed manual from ZF. In other words, motoring perfection. However, the Ghibli always sat in the shadow of the V12-powered Ferrari grand tourers, after all this first Ghibli sold at the same time as the Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona.

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Italdesign Showed That Practical Was Beautiful

Red BMW M1 on the road
BMW

Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder. While many will look at an Aston Martin or classic Mercedes with its sumptuous curves and say that it is classically beautiful. For many different reasons, individuals will find rather peculiar cars beautiful. Perhaps there was an odd-looking car that was in their town, and now they have a little nostalgia for that style of car.

Key examples of this would be the wedge-like designs that came from Giugiaro and Italdesign in the 1980s and 1990s. Prime examples of this are the ill-fated DMC Delorean, the Lotus Esprit, Maserati Bora, and BMW M1. All of these cars share a similar aesthetic and are all icons in their own way. Different from a 300SL but still beautiful. Giugiaro did continue to design cars that shared this aesthetic for Lamborghini with the 1982 Marco Polo concept. A Lamborghini sedan concept car.

These angular-looking cars while maybe not as jaw-dropping as the beautiful Maseratis that the Italians built, mark a moment. The beginning of computer-aided design and a focus on aerodynamics. Regarding the Marco Polo, Italdesign says, "The formal statement is different from Lamborghini's classical one, and concentrates only on the aerodynamic result"

Most importantly Giugiaro had a strong working relationship with some more mundane brands. The utility vehicle makers Iveco and Isuzu, but also Volkswagen. When the time came for Volkswagen to replace the Beetle they came to Italdesign for the Mark 1 Golf. Not exactly beautiful like those Maseratis or even the wedge supercars. There's a humble beauty in the ambition of the car. Affordable, reliable transportation for the masses. Just think of all those memories, journeys, and life moments when a Volkswagen Golf was there. There's a quaint beauty in that.