Bertone Nuccio

The Bertone Nuccio: From the time of its creation in 2012, the Nuccio, built by Turin-based coachbuilder Carrozzeria Bertone to mark its 100 years, was assured a place in automotive history. This car, starting with its name, is a perfectly fitting tribute to the history of its creators. Nuccio is, in fact, the name of the man who, after taking the helm of the already solid family business founded by his father Giovanni in 1912, succeeded in turning it, from the 1950s onwards, into one of the world’s most important designers and producers of cars in small series. The most notable successes of Carrozzeria Bertone include the Giulietta Sprint and the GT-105 series (fruit of its collaboration with Alfa Romeo), the Miura and the Countach (designed for Lamborghini), and the Stratos Zero. This latter model, created in 1970 as a derivation of the Lancia Fulvia, led to the subsequent creation of the Lancia Stratos, a cult road car that was also unbeatable in rallies. It was indeed the angular and wedge-shaped Stratos Zero, with its distinctive large flat windshield this, when open, also serves as a “door” that provided the inspiration for the Nuccio. Designed by Michael “Mike” Robinson, who became design director at Bertone in 2009, the Nuccio stands out for its shell-shaped roof and flat windshield. Robinson was the perfect man to create it, given that his life and career have been shaped by the Stratos Zero. It was 1974 when Robinson, then just 16 years old and a student of architecture near Washington, first saw a poster of the Lancia Stratos Zero, and he immediately fell in love with it. The choices that were subsequently to lead him to become one of the world’s most important car designers can all be traced back to this first encounter. “It was not only the most beautiful car I had ever seen,” Robinson explains, “but also the most innovative. With its height of just 83 cm, the Stratos Prototipo Zero did away with all the taboos surrounding what was considered to constitute modern automobile design in America at that time.” The Nuccio, which is based on the Ferrari F430,  gives this surge of innovation a modern twist, and also includes a patented feature, namely the brake light repeater inserted in the LED strip that formspart of the headlamps at the front of the car. It is a system designed to help pedestrians at a crossing to see, immediately, whether or not an approaching car is braking. Although the Nuccio is a one-off, it has a “clone”. At the 2012 Geneva Auto Show (8th-18th March), Bertone di not present the finished car, but a style maquette, lacking the mechanics, but complete with every other detail. Building of the Nuccio “proper”, based on the chassis and mechanics of a 2005 Ferrari 430 F1, was completed in time for it to be shown at the next auto salon, in Bejing, which opened on the following 24th April. The Nuccio and its maquette, at first glance identical, differ only in the lighting system: the completed car is equipped with conventional headlights in addition to the LED strip present on the maquette. By express request of Ferrari, a long-time user of Pininfarina bodywork, Bertone had to cover up all the prancing horse logos present on the mechanical parts used, and even today the word Ferrari written on the engine valve covers and exhaust terminal is covered with aluminum sheets. After being exhibited in China, the Nuccio was presented to the American market at the Concorso Italiano in Monterey (CA), where it was assigned two awards for its contribution to automotive design. After returning to Europe and appearing a few more times at special events, at the end of 2012 the Nuccio was parked, alongside its style maquette, inside the Stile Bertone facilities in Caprie (Turin).