And another update on this blog:
https://erwin400.blogspot.com/2024/12/prototipo-prototype-prova-concept-car.html
I had a further email exchange with the guy who created this Ferrari concept cars e-book.
And I was informed the following:
"The large 4-seater Ferrari 456 coupe is usually spoken of as
the most beautiful model of the company in the last few years. By the way, the
456, which is no longer in production, still unconditionally leads in
comparison ratings with the successor of the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti and
especially the FF and GTC4 Lusso, etc.
Large 4-seater Grand Turismo coupes from a certain point in time began to play
one of the most important roles in the Ferrari production program. Therefore,
immediately with the release of the final version of the Ferrari 412 GT, which
was already quite outdated over many years of production (the car was
discontinued in 1989 after 16 years of continuous production), the search for
an alternative successor began.
The first sketches in the Pininfarina studio started back in 1985 - the F116
project. It was then that the development of the first design of the large
Ferrari began. It is worth noting that by the beginning of the 90s the car was
almost completely formed both technically and stylistically and practically
ready for production. Pre-production mules of the car were even tested on the
roads.
Being the successor of the Ferrari 412 GT, the new project continued to carry
the seemingly completely forgotten philosophy with a classic layout with the
engine in the front. But! The Frankfurt Motor Show in 1989 confused all the
cards with the further development of the first version of the design of the
large coupe. It was then that the BMW 850 debuted in the E31 body. And it was
this striking similarity between the BMW 850 and the F116 project that prompted
the then president of Ferrari Luca di Montezemolo to decide to restart the
design development, thereby postponing the debut of the new car for several
years. Not wanting to produce a car that looked like another brand, much less
an Italian one like BMW, Montezemolo commissioned Pininfarina, under the
then-retired Aldo Brovarone, to restart development of the F116 Fantasma
project on the rather straightforward grounds that it was “too similar to the BMW
850i.” It’s worth noting that rumors of Pininfarina’s potential involvement in
the BMW E31 had been circulating for years, suggesting a collaboration that may
have been more secretive than widely acknowledged. It was, and still is, common
industry practice for automakers to bring in outside design houses to submit
proposals early in the development of cars, in search of fresh ideas. In these
cases, the design houses can provide valuable insight without necessarily
taking responsibility for the final product. The speculative nature of these
rumors suggests that BMW may have solicited design proposals from Pininfarina,
perhaps compensating the design house for their advice and work, while
retaining the autonomy to implement the project as they saw fit. It is worth
noting that concrete evidence of Pininfarina's involvement in the design of the
BMW E31 remains part of the intriguing rumors in the automotive industry. And
yet, the similarities between the projects are very large, and rumors do not
come out of nowhere.
The restart of development resumed in October 1989, and after an internal
design competition at Pininfarina.
The design project was led by future Pininfarina chief designer Lorenzo
Ramaciotti together with Pietro Camardella - it was his first sketches of the
first version, as well as the second, that the management of both companies
really liked."
https://www.carrozzieri-italiani.com/listing/ferrari-f116/
Remarkably Pininfarina was again involved with a concept car for the BMW 8 series in 2013:
https://www.motortrend.com/news/bmw-pininfarina-gran-lusso-coupe-concept/
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