--- title: Marcello Gandini · HICONIUM description: "Designer of the Miura, the Countach, the Khamsin and the Diablo. The man who drew the wedge — and the five files in the HICONIUM register that document it." canonical_url: https://hiconium.dev/people/marcello-gandini image: https://hiconium.dev/og/people/marcello-gandini.png --- > HICONIUM · Index: https://hiconium.dev/llms.txt · Every page: append `.md` or send `Accept: text/markdown`. > Path: [Home](https://hiconium.dev/) › [People](https://hiconium.dev/people) › Marcello Gandini > On this page: [One line, from the Miura to the Diablo](#one-line-from-the-miura-to-the-diablo) · [Five files, one silhouette](#five-files-one-silhouette) · [Lamborghini Miura](#lamborghini-miura) · [Countach LP500](#countach-lp500) · [Maserati Khamsin](#maserati-khamsin) · [Lamborghini Diablo](#lamborghini-diablo) · [Countach LPI 800-4](#countach-lpi-800-4) · [Lamborghini Miura](#lamborghini-miura) · [Countach LP500](#countach-lp500) · [Maserati Khamsin](#maserati-khamsin) · [Lamborghini Diablo](#lamborghini-diablo) · [Countach LPI 800-4](#countach-lpi-800-4) · [The wedge, the doors, the cut](#the-wedge-the-doors-the-cut) · [The wedge](#the-wedge) · [Scissor doors](#scissor-doors) · [The diagonal cut](#the-diagonal-cut) # Marcello Gandini · HICONIUM ![Marcello Gandini standing beside a Lamborghini Countach LP400 under a single spotlight](https://hiconium.dev/_derived/images/people/marcello-gandini/hero.jpg.w1920.q75.webp) AI-generated People · Designer · 1938–2024 Marcello il maestro della linea | Label | Value | | --- | --- | | Born | Turin, 1938 | | Died | 2024 | | House | Carrozzeria Bertone, 1965–1979 | | In the register | Five files | The single mind Head of design at Bertone at twenty-seven, Gandini invented the visual language of the modern supercar twice in five years. The Miura made the mid-engined car sensuous; the Countach made it architectural. No other designer has replaced his own revolution so completely. His tools stayed analogue — pencil, tape, full-scale elevations — and his verdicts stayed geometric: the diagonal cut over the rear wheel, the periscope roof, doors that rose because the sill was the structure. Four decades of production cars carry his strokes; the register below holds the five files where they are documented. ## One line, from the Miura to the Diablo The register ## Five files, one silhouette [![Lamborghini Miura staged in a darkened scene](https://hiconium.dev/_derived/images/cars/lamborghini-miura/hero-wide-2560.jpg.w1920.q75.webp) 1966 ### Lamborghini Miura Designer · Bertone Twenty-seven years old, weeks into the job at Bertone, Gandini drew the production body around Lamborghini’s transverse mid-engine package. The Miura made the mid-engined road car beautiful before anyone agreed it was possible. Open the file](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/lamborghini/miura) [![Lamborghini Countach staged in a darkened scene](https://hiconium.dev/_derived/images/cars/lamborghini-countach/hero-wide-2560.jpg.w1920.q75.webp) 1971 ### Countach LP500 Designer · Bertone The LP500 concept abandoned every curve the Miura had perfected. One unbroken line from nose to tail, doors that rose instead of opened — the wedge, stated once and never retracted. Open the file](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/lamborghini/countach) [![Maserati Khamsin staged in a darkened scene](https://hiconium.dev/_derived/images/cars/maserati-khamsin/hero-wide-2560.jpg.w1920.q75.webp) 1973 ### Maserati Khamsin Body designer · Bertone For Maserati he drew a quieter wedge — asymmetric bonnet vents, a transparent rear panel that let the tail float. Proof the language worked below the shout. Open the file](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/maserati/khamsin) [![Lamborghini Diablo staged in a darkened scene](https://hiconium.dev/_derived/images/cars/lamborghini-diablo/hero-wide-2560.jpg.w1920.q75.webp) 1990 ### Lamborghini Diablo Exterior designer The P132 wedge and the diagonal cut over the rear wheel — his signature stroke — survived Chrysler’s production revisions. The last Lamborghini silhouette he owned. Open the file](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/lamborghini/diablo) [![Lamborghini Countach LPI 800-4 staged in a darkened scene](https://hiconium.dev/_derived/images/cars/lamborghini-countach-lpi-800-4/hero-wide-2560.jpg.w1920.q75.webp) 2021 ### Countach LPI 800-4 Epilogue Fifty years after the LP500, Lamborghini restated the wedge in his honour. Gandini watched from a distance — the line, he insisted, had already been drawn. Open the file](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/lamborghini/countach-lpi-800-4) [![Lamborghini Miura staged in a darkened scene](https://hiconium.dev/_derived/images/cars/lamborghini-miura/hero-wide-2560.jpg.w1920.q75.webp) 1966 ### Lamborghini Miura Designer · Bertone Twenty-seven years old, weeks into the job at Bertone, Gandini drew the production body around Lamborghini’s transverse mid-engine package. The Miura made the mid-engined road car beautiful before anyone agreed it was possible. Open the file](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/lamborghini/miura) [![Lamborghini Countach staged in a darkened scene](https://hiconium.dev/_derived/images/cars/lamborghini-countach/hero-wide-2560.jpg.w1920.q75.webp) 1971 ### Countach LP500 Designer · Bertone The LP500 concept abandoned every curve the Miura had perfected. One unbroken line from nose to tail, doors that rose instead of opened — the wedge, stated once and never retracted. Open the file](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/lamborghini/countach) [![Maserati Khamsin staged in a darkened scene](https://hiconium.dev/_derived/images/cars/maserati-khamsin/hero-wide-2560.jpg.w1920.q75.webp) 1973 ### Maserati Khamsin Body designer · Bertone For Maserati he drew a quieter wedge — asymmetric bonnet vents, a transparent rear panel that let the tail float. Proof the language worked below the shout. Open the file](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/maserati/khamsin) [![Lamborghini Diablo staged in a darkened scene](https://hiconium.dev/_derived/images/cars/lamborghini-diablo/hero-wide-2560.jpg.w1920.q75.webp) 1990 ### Lamborghini Diablo Exterior designer The P132 wedge and the diagonal cut over the rear wheel — his signature stroke — survived Chrysler’s production revisions. The last Lamborghini silhouette he owned. Open the file](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/lamborghini/diablo) [![Lamborghini Countach LPI 800-4 staged in a darkened scene](https://hiconium.dev/_derived/images/cars/lamborghini-countach-lpi-800-4/hero-wide-2560.jpg.w1920.q75.webp) 2021 ### Countach LPI 800-4 Epilogue Fifty years after the LP500, Lamborghini restated the wedge in his honour. Gandini watched from a distance — the line, he insisted, had already been drawn. Open the file](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/lamborghini/countach-lpi-800-4) Signature strokes ## The wedge, the doors, the cut ### The wedge One unbroken line from nose to tail. Stated on the LP500 in 1971; the supercar has been redrawing it since. ### Scissor doors The sill was the structure, so the doors went up instead of out. Every Lamborghini flagship since owes him the gesture. ### The diagonal cut The rear wheel arch cropped on a slant — his initial, signed over the rear wheel from the Carabo to the Diablo. ### The periscopio roof A channel cut into the Countach roof for a rearward periscope. The idea was dropped; the LP400 kept the name. ### Asymmetric vents The Khamsin’s bonnet breathed where the engine needed it, not where symmetry asked. He never apologised for it. The archive ## Prints from the drawer Press photographs, works drawings and two editorial reconstructions — choose a print and it pushes the others aside. The LP500 prototype, 1971. Bertone press photograph. Beyond the register ## From the Montreal to the EB110 ### '67–'70 #### Alfa Romeo Montreal Drawn for Expo 67; the louvred eyelids survived to production untouched. #### Lamborghini Marzal Glass gullwing doors and a hexagonal interior — one show car, one Monaco lap, immortality. #### Lamborghini Espada The language stretched over four full seats without losing the line. #### Lancia Stratos Zero Eighty-four centimetres tall, entered through the windscreen. The wedge at its logical end. ### '70–'73 #### Lamborghini Urraco The junior supercar — 2+2, transverse V8, the wedge made attainable. #### Fiat X1/9 A mid-engined targa at Fiat money. The wedge for everyone. #### BMW 5 Series (E12) The quiet commission — a saloon whose proportions BMW kept for thirty years. #### Lancia Stratos HF The Zero domesticated just enough to win three world rally championships. ### '82–'91 #### Citroën BX Angular, light, resolutely un-Italian for a French car. Over two million built. #### Bugatti EB110 The early drafts were his; the scissor doors stayed when the rest was redrawn. The house ![Bertone — dal 1912](https://hiconium.dev/_derived/images/houses/bertone/bertone-mark.png.w640.q75.webp) Nuccio Bertone hired Gandini in 1965 to replace Giorgetto Giugiaro — one future legend swapped for another. As head of design he gave the house its sharpest fourteen years: Miura, Marzal, Espada, Countach, Khamsin, Stratos. The drawings carried the Bertone signature; the stroke was his. Head of design, 1965–1979 In his words “True innovation is the fruit of a single mind.” Marcello Gandini · Domus, 2019