Sergio Sartorelli
# Sergio Sartorelli

Sergio Sartorelli (Alessandria, 7 May 1928 – Torino, 28 November 2009) was a noted Italian automotive designer and engineer.

During his career at Carrozzeria Ghia, OSI, and finally Fiat, Sartorelli became widely known for his work on the Fiat 2300 S Coupé, Karmann Ghia Type 34, and the Fiat 126.

He was the honorary president of the Italian Volkswagen Karmann Ghia Club.

## Background

As a young teen, Sartorelli had a passion for cars, trucks, trains, and even military vehicles. To mentally escape the depth of World War II, he spent his time filling school notebooks with sketches and building scale wooden models of cars.

After the war he earned a degree in mechanical engineering at the Polytechnic University of Turin in 1954, followed by 18 months of Military Service in as a cartographer. During his military service, he continued to sketch for Carrozzeria Boano.

After his military service, he was turned down by Boano and Pininfarina, but in 1956 was hired by Ing. Giovanni Savonuzzi at Ghia.

## Career

Sergio Sartorelli's career at Ghia rose quickly when in 1957, engineer Savonuzzi left Ghia for Chrysler, Sartorelli became Head of the Style Prototypes. After the sudden death of Luigi Segre, owner and chief stylist of Carrozzeria Ghia, Sartorelli left Ghia.

Officine Stampaggi Industriali (OSI) was set up as a parallel and complementary company to Ghia and it was part owned by Luigi Segre. With the death of Segre the partnership disappeared and OSI was left with no styling department. After two years of a freelance relationship with Michelotti, OSI set up its own styling department called Centro Stile e Esperienze OSI, and appointed Sergio Sartorelli as its director. This arrangement lasted from 1965 until December 1967 when OSI reorganized.

In 1968 what was left of Centro Stile e Esperienze OSI, became the Future Studies department at Centro Stile Fiat with Sergio Sartorelli as its head, it was entrusted with the study of design, automotive development, and modeling of prototypes for Fiat.

By 1984 with the car market in crisis, Fiat let Sergio Sartorelli go, and he retired from his design career.

## Design work

Sergio Sartorelli's design work included:

| Year | Model | Firm | Notes |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1957 | Volkswagen 1200 Beetle | Ghia | prototype for Beetle replacement |
| 1957 | Fiat 1100/103 Coupe, Cabriolet, Giardinetta | Ghia | 1957 Turin Motor Show |
| 1957 | Ghia Crown Imperial limousine | Ghia | 1957-1963 collaboration with Chrysler Corp. design team |
| 1959 | Karmann-Ghia Coupe Type 14 | Ghia | styling update |
| 1959 | Ghia Selene I | Ghia | designed with Tom Tjaarda |
| 1960 | Fiat 2300 S Coupé | Ghia | production model debut at 1961 Geneva Motor Show |
| 1960 | Karmann-Ghia Coupe 1500 Type 34 | Ghia | 1961 debut, Frankfurt motor show |
| 1961 | Maserati 5000 GT Ghia | Ghia | one-off for Ferdinando Innocenti |
| 1962 | Alfa Romeo 2600 Spider | Ghia | one-off prototype |
| 1963 | Fiat G230S | Ghia | prototype introduced at Turin Motor Show |
| 1965 | OSI-Ford 20 M TS Coupé and Spider | OSI | Produced from 1966 to 1968, only one Spider was made. |
| 1972 | Fiat 126 | Fiat | replacement for Fiat 500 introduced at Turin Motor Show |
| 1978 | Fiat Ritmo | Fiat | introduced at 1978 Turin Motor Show to replace Fiat 128 |

* Fiat 2300 S Coupe
* 1966 Type 34 Karmann Ghia
* Ghia-Fiat G230S
* Fiat 500 Ghia Jolly
* OSI-Ford 20 M TS
* Fiat 126
* Fiat Ritmo
