Emanuele Ferry23

As an italian rennlister, I feel the duty of posting on this automotive forum a tribute to Gianni Agnelli.
With his cars he literally "put Italy on wheels" and he contributed to keep alive and strong the most famous sportscars in the world, such as Ferraris and Maseratis.

John Boggiano

I used to own and love, a Fiat X1/9. I always liked the story of Agnelli terrorising the Turin streets racing around in his X1/9, between meetings. He was a good and keen driver, not just interested in the figures - the cars had to be a hoot to drive.

krish

Agnelli was an Icon. As a child I had read stories of him tearing around in that Fiat and a couple of Ferraris. He lived under the threat of being a potential target for terrorists (where have we heard that one before..) and yet kept it all together. A legend in his own right...

Kris

Anatol

Gianni Agnelli certainly was a gentleman with legendary style and he will be missed by everybody in love with Italy.

Anatol

Jeff Curtis

I too, used to own a Fiat X1/9...while it was a pain in the A** to keep running, it sure was one fun car.

I remember the "Bertone" emblem on the side panel, didn't this indicate the designer of the model??

My friend had another Fiat, it was a two seater convertable, had a "Pinine Ferina" (excuse my spelling, going from memory) emblem and he told me that's who designed the model...same for the "Bertone" emblem...I dunno?

I'm not up on Fiat history whatsoever, was Gianni the owner/CEO of the company?? ...sorry if that's a dumb question.

Riccardo

Emmanuele, as the other Italian 964 owner thank you for creating this post. Agnelli was indeed a very important figure in Italy and Europe in general. Its a shame that his heirs are useless and that Fiat will probably stop existing.

Jeff, wow, you knowledge of Italian cars sure is limited!
- yes, Bertone was the designer and, in later years, a body manufacturer as well
- correct spelling is Pinin Farina
- your friend probably had a Fiat 124 cabrio
- Agnelli was the owner of Fiat, he was at the board of his company for 30 years; he was also a well known Playboy and aristocrat, having wed a princess, though his personal life was quite tragic, his son comitting suicide and his successor in office dying at age 30ish of cancer

Fiat will now probably become part of GM.

Jeff Curtis

Yup, it's limited alright...over in the U.S. Fiat's have all but become extinct. I have gone years without seeing one, except for the occasional visit to a "bone yard", there, you might see an X1/9 shell, etc.

I enjoyed my X1/9, and the names I was quoting from complete memory...or lack thereof!

I wasn't too far off on the Pinin Farina spelling...after all, you knew what I was talking about!

...and yes, I believe it was a 124 Cabriolet, in a nice powder (light) blue metallic, in PERFECT condition, a far cry when compared to my X1/9. <img border="0" alt="[hiha]" title="" src="graemlins/roflmao.gif" />

Roygarth

If I remember corrctly, the last few years up to 1984 of 124 Spider production we're built by and badged Pininifarina.

In 1990 I bought 15 of them in the US, where Fiat stood for 'Fix It Again Tony', for practically nothing, and sold them for quite a lot in London -$2 to £1 helped! Great looking, nice handling car but 10 out of 10 for unreliablity.

My 1970 Cincequento was one of the best cars I ever owned!

BR
Piers