Steve Colquhoun March 30, 2012
Automotive design history has provided a rich vein of inspiration for latter-day designers who aim to improve upon - or at least emulate - the power and beauty of celebrated models.
Mercedes-Benz's SLS AMG, a bold 21st-century remake of the 1950s-era ''gullwing'' 300SL, only added to the mystique of the much-loved original, while BMW's recent one-off tribute to its M1 supercar was also considered a worthy homage.
The danger lies in failing to do justice to the original. And taking on the 1947 Cisitalia - described by Henry Ford II as the most beautiful Italian car he had ever seen - was always going to be a challenge.
A multinational team of 11 students studying transport design at the Turin-based European Institute of Design presented their interpretation - the Cisitalia 202E - at the recent Geneva motor show.
Working under the guidance of the lead designer at Pininfarina, Luca Borgogno, and the Maserati designer Luigi Giampaolo, the students attempted to put a modern spin on the classic original.
The interesting result probably falls short of its inspiration's outright beauty, with its unfashionably bulging flanks and a startling diagonal slash amidships, all framed by a pair of eye-catching circular elements at either end that reference the 1947 model's chrome grille.
The young design students have also added doors that open upward in scissor fashion, a pair of cameras mounted on narrow blades replacing wing mirrors, and a futuristic cockpit layout.
The original Cisitalia balanced a 1.1-litre four-cylinder engine making just 40kW against a kerb weight of 780 kilograms. The homage is endowed with a naturally aspirated V8 engine generating 330kW.
The school director, Cesar Mendoza, endorses his students' interpretation, saying, ''To encourage our students to overstep their limits, they must have the possibility of developing exciting, ambitious projects.''