T H E
M E N
B E H I N D
T H E
C A R
Andreas Zapatinas
Zapatinas, a greek who was born in 1957 in the heart of Athens (Serifou
street, Patisia), showed his love for cars from a young age. He studied
Engineering in the USA in the '80, but soon changed his course and went
to the Art Center College in Pasadena, California, one of the most
important design schools of the USA. He also became a teacher at the
Swiss branch of this school.
At the time of graduation in 1988, he was already working with the
Pininfarina studios. At a later stage, we was employed at Fiat's design
center (Centro Stile).
He was with the creative team which designed most of the modern Fiats.
Not only did he design parts of the Coupé and Bravo/Brava, but
the reardoor of the Alfa Romeo 145 aswell.
The barchetta is considered his mental child as he made the initial
sketches of the car.
Zapatinas had been working with BMW from 1994 until 1998. He now works for
Alfa Romeo, and lives in Turin.
Click here for an interview he gave to a Greek car magazine.
Check out the Italian meeting, where he also attended!
Peter Davis
Peter Barrett Davis, born in 1958 in the USA has been working for Fiat from
1990 to the end of 1998, doing the interior of the barchetta and being the
head of the Centro Stile. His best known project however is the Fiat Multipla.
Before joining Fiat, Peter worked for Opel (GM Europe) on the interior of
the Corsa and Vectra. Since July 1999 he's working in Detroit, again at General Motors.
His greatest love: the Alfa Romeo Bertone 1750 2.0. "Actually, I'm an alfisto."
"Fiat always make major leaps: as soon you've made a great step, everybody
else makes that same step within a few years. That's the usual evolution in
the car-industry. If you want to distinguish yourself, you have to reach
higher than the rest."
"The Coupé Fiat has a better design, but is very avant-garde. The
barchetta has many aspects of the past. The rear is beautiful, not to mention
the great interior."
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