Really special feature on Midwest-Bayless in Hagerty!

The German's have been using Italians for packaging and styling for a very, very long time. Now retired instructor at the Pasadena Art Institute told me he would bring in his Fiats to use as packaging efficiency examples, then assign his students to understand why the Italians did this so well and create examples of packaging. Little details like gutter_less roofs on cars are a Giugiaro idea-invention as one example of how some design ideas are so effective and versatile they become wide spread in many designs to this day.

VW Scirocco is a Giugiaro_Ital Design creation.
https://www.italdesign.it/project/scirocco/

VW Karmann Ghia also has Italian roots.. I'll leave this one for those interested to dig up it's history.

VW beetle was "pinched" from the Tatra 97... Aka "Hitler's Idea for mass motoring" and part of the The KdF-Wagen bait for German's to buy-into the NAZI Ideology-Doctrine (Strength Through Joy rough translate Kraft durch Freude) via car coupons redeemable for a VW Beetle).

Mercedes in Como, Italy:
http://www.carbodydesign.com/archive/2008/01/29-mercedes-benz-advanced-design-studio-como/

As for Bosch. Their fuel injection origins are USA.. Bendix fuel injection used on some GM cars like the 327 Corvette of 1957.

Common rail Diesel from Prof. Rinaldo Rinolfi aka the Father of Common Rail Diesel and Fiat Multi-Air. Both are Fiat intellectual property items. When Fiat was under the thumb of GM, part of the intellectual property of variable valve train technology was sold to Bosch with the funds being used to develop Multi-Air as GM would not give Fiat a dime to develop Multi-AIr.

Flat shim on top of the valve bucket design (small but very significant detail) used on the Lampredi SOHC (exxe engine and more) and DOHC engine was licensed to VW and Volvo. Same shim adjustment method was used by Ferrari for some years. There was a previous Xweb discussion about this:
https://xwebforums.com/forum/index.php?threads/lampredi-style-valve-adjustment.7850/#post-51459

The German's have a long history of taking Italian and other Auto inventions then mass producing then marketing them as their own. No admiration for German moto stuff as they are not the only ones who do moto's well.

For a real eye opener on how the Italian's influenced moto design, have gander at the Lancia Lambda.


Bernice





I'm not surprised to see Giorgetto Giugiaro's name, though I was not aware of any connection to Bertone. I've always had a fondness for the styling of the VW Karmann Ghia, and the VW Scirocco. I do understand that most Karmann Ghia's are from another Italian artist, but I did want to point out that you can compare the early Beetle with the Karmann Ghia, and the early Golf/Rabbit with the Scirocco and basically have a style contest between German and Italian artists -- which is to say, no-contest at all. I still appreciate German craftsmanship in other areas of the automotive sciences. It pleases me greatly that both of my X1/9's have many Bosch items under their beautiful skins. It also pleases me that the electric drivetrain inside my 500e is almost entirely a Bosch creation.
 
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Thank you, dear friend, for sharing more of the backstory.

Hans, appreciate add'l memories.
I'd forgotten about detailing your X.
Enjoyed detail work & had long admired a clean survivor X,
so found joy in correcting a few minor issues.
Even tho' I was neither seller or buyer...just a nutty X-head!

Facilitating the sale was also rewarding,
especially finding an appreciative new steward.

Forgot about staging it in garage for the "big reveal".
Just like on Overhauling TV show! Ha!

Glad to hear you experienced the iconic MeloYeloX.
IceBlueX was my year-round daily driver for years,
so it stands out in memories more that Melo...which
was just a Sunday cruiser for couple summers.

Thx again for adding to fond memories.
 
Just as an FYI, or if anyone is interested...the Yellow X1/9 is in fact my old "YellowJacket" car, sold back to Matt almost two years ago. The Projects I am working on mentioned in the article is an 850 Spider. Nice to see the car doing so well! And overall a very nice article.
 
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