For most classic car owners - and among them collectors - the car they actually own can usually be traced back to a childhood or youth memory. Look at me for instance; I find it extremely difficult to buy anything but Alfa Romeo cars. Others try to get hold of the top cars in vogue right now - what is hip? They want to be seen in the icons - some of them eternal icons. You know; any Ferrari - the older the better. A Lamborghini - preferably a Miura or a Countach.
Keld is different; when I first met him, he drove his black Lancia Flaminia Pininfarina GT to a meeting at the Custom House. I applauded his choice of such a splendid marque (he agreed). He invited me to drive the car - an offer I couldn’t resist. And I applauded the phenomenal technology of the Lancia Vu Sei and the transaxle with de Dion rear (he agreed). But when I mentioned Pininfarina he suddenly changed gear - so to speak. And I learned that he knew so much about HOW the original italian designers thought. How they were competitors while still also owing genuine respects for each other. He also told me that he had bought an Anderloni GT Lungo.
I have always cherished the italian lines and shapes - it is one of the main reasons why I drive Alfa Romeo. But I focus on the mechanical solutions; nobody did better mechanical solutions than Alfa Romeo. Lancia always did exciting technical design, but their engineering solutions were never as solid choices as Alfa’s were. Take the Fulvia; pioneering a sporty front wheel drive and a well thought-out narrow V4 in a compact and agile chassis. But in my opinion - the ends don’t meet. Not until Ercole Spada, then house designer at Zagato, penned the Fulvia Sport. Like the one Keld has here. A beautiful silver sports car; a real purposeful stretch of the nimble Fulvia Coupé. And Keld can talk for hours - he repeatedly interrupts my filming because he wants to show this or that detail. I borrowed the big WAFT book on SPADA from Keld; it’s the one with the aluminium cover. A wonderful story about a very interesting and different man. Ercole Spada was a very modest self-taught designer - making crazy cars with crazy Elio Zagato and actually ending up at BMW designing their most beautiful 5-series line.
I must admit that Keld’s Lancia fling has awakened a doubt in my mind - my next car will hopefully be a Flaminia Berlina. But again more for my engineering lusting than for the Pininfarina design. Keld’s black GT shares the dashboard and many interior details with the otherwise chunkier Berlina. And that is actually one of the premium qualities of the Coupé, but again his passion for the vehicle is the stories - the heritage of modern car design founded with these revolutionary late-1950s lines from Torino. Even de Gaulle hailed the Pininfarina house for it’s contribution to French and particularly Peugeot design.
It’s impossible to have a passion for italian designers without owning a Fiat. Keld has a few and his longtime favorite is the tiny 850 Spider - by Giugiaro while at Bertone. It has so many delicious details - some original and some copied from even earlier cars. That’s how it works. It is what they call heritage.
I mentioned that the basement is run between friends. And one of them is Dorthe who has evolved this phenomenal Fiat 600 Multipla. She is also well known throughout the Danish classic car community - and her car has a certain - let’s say feminine touch. And she always wins at Concours de Charme events.
But we were talking about Giorgetto Giugiaro. The lighthouse of italian car design; Bertone, Ghia, Italdesign - appointed car designer of the century. Don’t ask Keld who designed the Miura - and then suggest Marcello Gandini. No matter what the consensus is - Giugiaro is the king. And among the collection is this handsome Subaru SVX (or Subaru Vehicle X) with a 3.3 Liter six-cylinder boxer engine and with lines that evidently mimics the original sketches from the hand of the master. Almost like a cartoon and definitely conveying the pencil strokes of Giugiaro.
Which brings us the master stroke: The original Fiat Panda. In a way it is the Citroën Deux Chevaux interpreted into stylish - into italian by Giorgetto Giugiaro. It is so simple but much more robust than the 2CV, better thought out in many details, and so simple it waters your eyes. Details keep coming up - and while Keld points them out for me, I get it! This is what he means: The 2CV is lovely and you can’t help falling for the french simplicity. But it IS focused on functionality! This car is ALSO focused on functionality - but is has that extra touch that only italian design can have - it is complete - it tells a story besides the story about functionality. La bellezza necessaria - the necessary beauty.
Oh that’s and old Alfa Romeo slogan - well, never mind. I get it!