JANUARY 1999

In January 1999, the Mitsubishi European Design Centre, directed by Akinori Nakanishi, asked STOLA S.p.a. to create two exterior model proposals plus one interior in Hard Material for the future Colt series.
This first project for the important Japanese carmaker was the result of several previous meetings at their headquarters in Trebur ,Germany.
Meetings took place to explain the technical advantages of the hard models, in particular in see-through format. Our contacts were Akinori Nakanishi and Gert Hildebrand.
Over the following years many other models and show cars would be buit for Mitsubishi.
On these occasions we will meet Osamu Tsuchiya, Hans J Storck, Satoru Tsujimoto, Abe Hiroyuki, Abe Taketoshi, Morel Thomas, Richard Plavetch, Yamada Shuji, Omer Halihodzic and we will meet again Peter Arcadipane and Olivier Boulay.

 
Rivoli January 1999: In Stola s.p.a. two style models of the Mitsubishi Colt in 3 and 5-door versions are made. Work done directly for the Japanese style center whose global director is Olivier Boulay.

Rivoli January 1999: In Stola s.p.a. the style model of the interior of the Mitsubishi Colt is realized. Work done directly for the Japanese style center whose global director is Olivier Boulay.

GENNAIO 1999

Turin January 1999 Marcello Gandini's style proposals for a new Case tractor.

Marcello GandiniAlso in January 1999, the Engineer Claude Nahum, close to the Turkish Koc family, was in negotiations for the acquisition of the American manufacturere,Case.
Stola was asked for a complete project with a styling models for a new tractor.
The style was commissioned by Marcello Gandini, at the same time the macro engineering feasibility began.
Negotiations were intense, but in May of the same year it emerged that it would New Holland that would buy Case and the project was stopped.
The tractor was memorable in STOLA s.p.a. in particular for the longest conference call made between Turin and Geneva by Tiziano Novo and Claude Nahum started at 10 in the morning and ending at 4 am the next day.

FEBRUARY 1999

In February 1999 Roberto Stola shared with his management team the convenience of having a small and independent engineering company to support the technical offices of Stola s.p.a.
The need was largely due to the high design workload for Brazil, and also with a view to future commitments for complete projects, by then almost secured, with Maserati and Alfa Romeo.
Roberto Stola knew Matteo Colasanto well, he was the owner of Tecnocars in Corso Unione Sovietica, Turin, which had a workforce of around 15 designers.
Together they reached an agreement allowing Stola s.p.a. to become the owner of Tecnocars with Colasanto continuing with it’s management.
Tecnocars proved to be an excellent idea, and thanks to the integration of the Technical Director of Stola, Gottardo Bustreo and all his Project Managers, would go on to prove to be very profitable in terms of efficiency given the small and slender structure of the company.
Some Stola designers would also go on to work as Team Leaders within Tecnocars, as in the 2002 BMPV Idea Brazil project, with Stefano Marchisio and Carlo Carena.
Gianfranco Morlacchi was tasked with integrating the Tecnocars systems into the infrastructure of the Stola network, allowing connections to the relevant customers as well as to align and train staff with the design and quality methodologies used in Stola.
Tecnocars went on to be part of the sale to Global Industriale on July 26, 2004 being 100% owned by Stola s.p.a.

MARCH 1999

In March 1999, STOLA S.p.a. representative for Japan, Mitsushi Yabe, produced a hard see-through style model for the second series of the Subaru Forester.
For the occasion, with a view to 100% understanding the needs of a new customer, the head of the style model department Stefano Ardagna met with the designers at their Style Centre in Ota City, Japan.
Among the people met in Rivoli and Ota City, Hiroyuki Baba and Rhor Emmanuel are remembered.

Rivoli 1999. La Stola s.p.a. realizes a see trough style model in hard material of the
Subaru Forester second series.

AUTUMN 1999

The Turin Motor Show by then was becoming an annual fixture, a moment of encounter and cordiality with all the customers in the concept, master, cubing engineering and pre-production prototypes sectors.
For the April 2000 appointment, the Stolas rely on Marcello Gandini for the construction of an open door model in the autumn of 1999; his name will be Stola S.81.
An important theme, reviewing the Lancia Stratos, thirty years after the presentation by the same hand at the 1970 Turin Motor Show.
Gandini is immediately clear, not a restyling or a nostalgia style, but a contemporary interpretation of the Lancia Strato's HF shown at the Turin Motor Show in the Bertone stand in 1971 (the one with two windscreen wipers, and painted fluorescent orange) and with even a hint of " wedge-shaped side line, not to forget the first “Tipo Zero” presented in 1970 on the same stand.
Seeing it when the work is finished, it will be possible to identify at least four "His" technical and conceptual innovations that will set the tone for decades later, and which concern all the front and rear lights, the transparent instrument screen between the windshield and the steering wheel, and the absolutely minimalist instrument panel with out buttons.

2000 Almese: Marcello Gandini in his studio with the 1/4 scale S81 model and the original drawing.

Marcello Gandini and Pierfranco Gavina.Marcello Gandini had carte blanche, in four months the team of modellers created a formidable and yet feasible model.
Truly a very advanced opening door style model, for Stola S.p.A. given that the style is Gandini's, we will want to show our customers and hopefully new ones a real example at the Salon.
The front and rear LED lights are functional as are the electric door openings, the interiors and in particular the seats are comfortable, and the front wheels are steerable through the steering wheel, but most of all a steel box frame where all the body parts in epowood resin are applied on it with extreme precision.
In short, a summary between a style model, a show car and a master model; a manifesto on four wheels to illustrate the company's technical capabilities.

Rivoli May 2000: before the final painting of the fluorescent model, a photo with Alfredo Stola's Strato's Stradale. You can see that the Lancia brand appears perfectly inserted in its space on the bumper of the model

The top management of Fiat Auto had been informed months before that for the next Turin Motor Show we would be creating a Show Car designed by Marcello Gandini with the Lancia brand, but without providing any other information on what type of car.
Once the gray background painting activity was completed, Roberto Stola invited engineer Paolo Cantarella, CEO of Fiat Auto, to view the model in Rivoli.
The model is presented with Alfredo Stola's road Strato's nearby, he likes it, but "asks" not to use the Lancia brand but the one with the Stola rhombus, as proposing a Lancia Strato's in the year 2000 could have created confusion among their clients.
For the Stolas and the Gandinis it was a very difficult moment, less than six weeks before the start of the Show when the whole project was based on the celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the Strato's Zero.
It was therefore decided between us not to use the Stola brand, but instead the one with the initials MG or Marcello Gandini to make the link with the famous name Strato's clearer.
The bumper and part of the bonnet were then immediately modified to eliminate the shield-shaped compartment of the Lancia brand, to insert the rectangular MG one, and obviously to build the new metal brand.
Gandini, having absolute freedom, given the new situation, changed the design of the wheels at the last minute and so they were milled with a very particular design, composed of three rings which intersecting geometrically in the center naturally create a triangle very close to the shape of the Lancia shield.
With wisdom in this space, Gandini will have a perfect unbranded Lancia shield modeled….
It was his gentle way of not giving up and demonstrating his art.

Rivoli mid-May 2000: in Stola S.p.A. it is Maurizio Dimaria of Team Vercarmodel who paints the S81 in the complicated fluorescent orange.

Turin June 2000, the S81 opening door model at the Stola s.p.a. stand

Cernobbio 2009. The Stola S81 owned by the collector Corrado Lopresto photographed in the park of the Hotel Villa d'Este.

In parallel with the work of the S 81 and given the great esteem of Stola for Marcello Gandini, once again he was asked for his own vision for a hypothetical new Iveco truck.
In July 2000, the drawings presented by Roberto and Alfredo Stola to Fiat to engineer Paolo Cantarella in his Lingotto office.

Turin 27 June 2000. the drawings of Marcello Gandini in his vision of a new Iveco engine.