5 March 2025

There are a number of famous car designers that resonate with automotive afficionados; those that have left their mark with a variety of significant vehicles. Cars penned by the likes of Harley Earl, Giorgetto Giugiaro, Paul Bracq, Alec Issigonis, and Marcello Gandini (to name but a few) have become as famous as some of the vehicles they have styled. But rarely does Dante Giacosa make it into that unofficial Car Designer Top Trumps. We reckon unfairly so.

Dante’s early career

Giacosa was born in Rome in 1905, but clearly he took a few years to get into his stride designing cars. Having achieved a degree in mechanical engineering from Turin Polytechnic, Giacosa got a position at Fiat in 1926, laying the foundations of success for both the man and the company.

Based in the fantastic new Lingotto factory in Turin, Giacosa learned engine design initially, getting a handle on the craft from older names such as Tranquillo Zerbi. By 1932, Dante had moved into the aero-engine department, showing a natural talent for draughtsmanship, as well as the dark art of balanced engine design.

Cinquemila to Cinquecento

The key turning point for both Giacosa and Fiat was instigated by the company’s co-founder Giovanni Agnelli. He wanted Fiat to design and make a cheap family car, fitting a family of four into a body which was around 3.0 meters long, and powered by a 500cc four-cylinder engine was no mean feat, but Giacosa’s design hit the mark.

Originally titled the 500, it became known to all as the Topolino, and was produced from 1936-55. Planned to sell for 5,000 lira, it actually cost close to twice that when it launched, but fell gradually over the years, before the Nuova 500 arrived.

War halts proceedings

Given his background, it is perhaps unsurprising that Giacosa went back to working on aero engines during the Second World War, but after hostilities ceased, in his home country, Dante became involved in the Cisitalia project. Conceived by then Juventus FC president Piero Dusio, the idea was for a small racing car to be designed and built to help get motor racing back up and running in a low-cost manner after the war.

Giacosa was allowed to design the racing machine, adapting a Fiat 1,100cc engine and numerous Topolino parts and a lightweight tubular chassis to create a single-seater racer that was not only cheap to run, but also fast, and great to look at. They were raced by pre-war heroes such as Piero Taruffi, Achille Varzi, and Giuseppe Farina.

 

Rebuilding Fiat

After a little fun with being given free rein for the Cisitalia, Giacosa was then tasked with overhauling Fiat’s product line-up. And quite the job was done. First came the 600, with clever packaging and a very Italian identity. Continuing on from that came the Nuovo 500, a model truly deserving of the term ‘iconic’, and became a legendary car in the same way as the Mini and VW Beetle mobilised entire countries. They sold in their millions, and went on to establish Fiat as a leader in affordable family cars.

Like Issigonis, Giacosa came about at the perfect moment for Fiat – and the automotive world in general. These are the last generation of cars that were able to be designed essentially by a single person – and the fact that many of these models, like the Land Rover, Mini, Citroen 2CV… lasted for decades in production may suggest that this was a good approach to take! Giacosa’s leadership, combining his varied talents and experience, ensured that Fiat was perfectly placed for the booming automotive market.

Throw in less utilitarian models such as the stunning Fiat 8V coupe, and Dante was no utilitarian one-trick pony. His influence on Italian models from the 1930s through to the 1970s – and therefore all car design in that time – cannot be overstated. He presided over all Fiat car projects until 1970, and died a bona fide car design legend in 1996.