In the 1970s, Italian coachbuilders were on the rise: Bertone, Pininfarina, Vignale, Ghia, Touring – no one was idle. Moreover, the studios were often approached not only by individual customers with deep pockets, but also by large automobile companies. Firstly, it is cheaper than having your own staff of designers. Secondly, independent studios can provide a fresh, uncluttered perspective on a brand’s concept.
Michelotti It was the second reason that prompted Lancia to approach the Michelotti studio with a request to aesthetically improve the Beta Berlina (pictured), a car that today would be called a four-door coupe. The public’s reaction to the fastback turned out to be rather cold, so Lancia asked Giovanni Michelotti and his subordinates to creatively play with its design without changing the very essence of the car. Actually, the terms of reference were as follows: “to create something fundamentally new in the field of four-door cars.”
Lancia The result of the studio’s work was presented at the Turin Motor Show in 1974. And not everyone will be able to recognize yesterday’s Beta Berlina in the Lancia Mizar concept – the car has been completely transformed. However, the resulting concept car emphasized the same values as the regular Beta Berlina – maximum passenger comfort and safety. Although at first glance it may seem that this is simply a provocation on Michelotti’s part.
Michelotti In terms of technology, the car has not changed – it is a regular Beta 1800 with an inline four-cylinder engine producing 110 horsepower and a five-speed manual transmission. But the body became completely different, turning from a prosaic fastback into a daring hatchback. Although the studio already began to use composite materials in the 70s, the body of the Mizar concept is made entirely of metal. Moreover, many decisions were calculated in such a way that the car could be reborn into a production model with minimal changes.
Michelotti Take, for example, the most striking detail of the exterior: the doors—two pairs of “gull wings.” Each of the doors received gas struts, which made the lifting process easier. And a massive aluminum safety bar was integrated into each of the “wings”, which prevented injury to passengers in the event of a side collision with a pole or tree.
Michelotti Since the load on the roof had increased significantly, it was also reinforced with a longitudinal metal beam – both in order to withstand the heavy doors, and in order to prevent the roof from collapsing in the event of a rollover. The unusual shape of the doors made it possible to increase the area of the side glazing, so that from the side the car looks almost like an aquarium.
Michelotti Huge side windows gave a benefit in visibility, but caused another problem – they could not be lowered. To compensate for this shortcoming, Michelotti’s subordinates installed the most powerful air conditioner on the Mizar that was then offered on the market. History did not preserve the name of the donor who donated his air conditioner to the concept, but the press release talked about a device from the premium segment. Most likely, we were talking about the Jaguar XJ12.
Michelotti In general, the interior of the Mizar was surprisingly well thought out for a single prototype: full four seats, pliable material for the dashboard, a set of working instruments from Veglia, double locks on each door… The only mistake was the complete absence of seat belts. The studio considered the option of installing Range Rover seats with built-in seat belts, but, for unknown reasons, it never came to fruition.
Michelotti As for the body design, Mizar, even after 45 years, does not look like an anachronism – there is a now fashionable strip of lights across the entire width of the body, a radiator grille installed at a negative angle, and lifting headlights, which were popular until the end of the twentieth century. If the concept was a little lower, it could look even more youthful. But, we repeat, the technical content of the car did not change one iota – even the springs and shock absorbers were standard.
Michelotti At the Turin Motor Show, the Mizar debuted in silver with a lilac tint, although it was originally planned that the car would be painted in a deep blue color. In general, Michelotti’s sketch is quite different from what came out in the end, but this does not make Mizar any less impressive. Lancia representatives liked the car and some of Michelotti’s ideas were embodied in future Lancia models.
Michelotti The concept car disappeared after the show, but recently showed up in Japan at the Nostalgic 2days event. Together with him, the stand was shared by Matra Laser, another creation of the Michelotti studio. It is unlikely that the owner of the cars (and, apparently, they have one in common) uses concepts for daily driving, but it is nice to see that truly interesting prototypes are not forgotten. At least by some people.
Dino Dalle Carbonare/speedhunters.com
Does an Italian car have to be beautiful? This stereotype took root in the middle of the last century. Therefore, when Lancia introduced the Beta model in 1972, automotive journalists and loyal customers of the brand began to ask the same question: what is it? And why does “it” bear Lancia emblems? The situation was partially reversed a year later when the daring Beta Coupe debuted, but the Beta Berlina remained the ugly duckling of Lancia’s lineup. The famous coachbuilder Giovanni Michelotti attempted to change this oversight – and this is what happened.