Giovanni Bertone did a one-off body on a Ferrari 250 GT SWB (short wheelbase) for the 1961 Geneva Auto Show. The "insider" cue he was following was the "shark nose" that would appear on the Ferrari Grand Prix cars that year. The rest of the car fell into place around that. (Well..."fell into place" if you're Bertone or Pininfarina or Scaglietti...) It had a small, airy, greenhouse unlike any Ferrari GT that came before, or after.
The same year, Billy Mitchell came up with a "bubble top" roofline for Chevy and Pontiac, unlike anything seen before out of GM Design:
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| 1962 Chevy Bel Air "bubble top" 409. She's real fine. |
These rooflines went away after a couple of years. For one thing, the large, curved, rear glass was expensive. For another, air-conditioning was challenged by all that glass. But this greenhouse (aptly named in this case) has always appealed to me: excellent rearward vision and a feel as close as you can come to a convertible or a sunroof without having one. They just look right.
Was Billy Mitchell was copying Bertone, or the other way around, or was it just the zeitgeist? Mitchell did most of the sharpest-looking GM cars made. He took the whole GM line away from the wretched excess of the Harley Earl cars of the late 1950's toward a minimalist, taut, look. His reputation could stand on the Stingray Corvette alone. But he also did the "Wide Track" Pontiacs of the early 1960's, the first generation Camaro, and the mid-sized GM lines that became muscle cars. Not a bad body of work.
Footnote: Bertone never sold more bodies like the Geneva Show car. It may be because the car on the stand was dark blue--not the best color to emphasize its lines. It was sold into California, where it remains today, resprayed first in light metallic green (better) and now silver (superb!). In 1961 I thought the car was too "cute." It wasn't as macho as the 250 GT SWB or the GTO. But it wears well. It's a lot more stylish than most of Ferrari's efforts from the '70's until very recently.
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