AUTUMN  1996

Cinisello Balsamo from the autumn of 1996 for over a year the Stola s.p.a. is involved by Ferrari for the design of the 456M in the GT and GTA versions. The style is from Pininfarina.

In the autumn of 1996, Ferrari entrusted STOLA s.p.a. with engineering the restyling of the 456 GT new versions, the 456M GT and 456M GTA, designed as always by Pininfarina and known as F116M.
There were significant changes to the bonnet, with the elimination of the air intakes as well as the addition of a system for the adjustment on the three axes of the complex retractable headlights.
The bumpers, in addition to being restyled, had to be adapted into three market versions for Europe, USA and Canada. Design work on door seals were also carried out in collaboration with the Japanese supplier Sumitomo, with the goal being to improve acoustic comfort.
On the interior, the automatic gear lever, the tunnel, console, air vents and the ashtray were all redesigned. These interventions had to take into account new homologation rules for passenger safety that had just come into force.
To facilitate the work, Ferrari entrusted Stola with a production 456 GT by delivering it to the Cinisello Balsamo headquarters in via Paisiello 110.
This was by no means a complete project, but it was a sign of the confidence that Ferrari had in Stola in entrusting them to work on their 12-cylinder model.
The Project Manager for Stola was Piero De Micheli with the work being carried out at the Cinisello Balsamo headquarters, managed by Gottardo Bustreo with Carlo Biassoni, as always, following the management part of the design as well as taking care of the contractual aspects.
Roberto Arpini and Giuseppe Castiglioni were the design team leaders for exteriors and interiors, assisted by external finishes specialist, Paolo Zerbini,.
Engineer Paola Busato from the Rivoli office was responsible for the bill of materials and, on this occasion, took responsibility for liaison between the Stola and Ferrari teams, with frequent trips to Maranello.

Modena 1997 at the Il Fantino restaurant.
From the left we recognize Vincenzo Pirola (Stola), Roberto Arpini (Stola), Paola Busato (Stola), Toni Fabio (Ferrari), Stefano Sangermano (Ferrari), Ivan Pavarelli (Ferrari).

The Ferrari team with whom they interfaced for over a year were Maurizio Rossi, Cesaretti, Mauro Del Monte, Ivan Pavarelli, Stefano Sangermano, Vincenzo Matullo, Ugolini, Franco Macaro and Toni Fabio under the careful direction of engineer Amedeo Felisa.
This project was completed to the total satisfaction on the Ferrari Technical Management. It was subsequently made clear to Stola that in the future they would want to repeat the experience with complete projects for their 12 cylinder cars.
From this perspective, Gianfranco Morlacchi, formerly a software specialist at the time of the founding of Autec, worked together with Ferrari's IT department’s Messrs Pascall and Di Lollo, and IBM in Milan to install the VPM (Virtual Product Management) software.
The common need for the future was to introduce a secure system for data exchange, storage and sharing.
IBM made this possible by listening to the teams from Ferrari and Stola IT departments and creating customised software for the task.

Cinisello Balsamo 1996-1997. La Stola s.p.a. for Ferrari he designed the internal restayling of the 456M GT
and GTA designed by Pininfarina.