Notes of Giuseppe Zanini, Head Stylist for Scagliati, on E. Tailor Commission Car, 1961 (Courtesy of Centro Stile Scagliati Archive)
Here we have a very bold and futuristic design, in a beautiful colour that accentuates the almost thalassic shapes of the car; a very appropriate callback to the history of Venice. Chrome is generally done in tasteful accents overall, with a few exceptions. The front is by far the boldest part of the car, and while it has many interesting concepts, it is perhaps a bit too reliant on oval shapes, which detracts somewhat from the overall appearance, and the indicator placement is a bit odd. The unifying chrome band across the front and down the front quarters of the car is an interesting feature, but inelegant between the headlights.
The flanks of the car are a bit odd, with the strange painted/chrome treatments over the wheel arches, and the somewhat incongruous chrome on the front quarter and door panel. The rear is very clean and modern, with the split bumpers being especially elegant, though the unifying chrome strip along the swage line is perhaps overbearing. The bonnet treatment is excellent overall, and the roofline is very racy, but some of the chrome details are sloppily implemented. Overall, a very good design that boldly looks forward, even if it does occasionally step over the line.
Rotolo di Salsiccia Proposal, by @Kobacrashi
This design is very odd, and makes me wonder what, if any, research the carrozzeria did before they submitted the design to us. Neither the body style nor any of the fixtures used are particularly relevant to Scagliati from any angle of the car. The body in general is old-fashioned and with the rear grilles, implies a rear- or mid-engine design, which simply does not fit with the design brief, even if the engine in fact resides in front. The main headlights are of a type I have never seen before, and I would openly question their legality in any market, and the car’s severe lack of front opening would imply severe cooling issues, though I would have to check with engineering to be sure. The rear does not call back to any previous Scagliati, nor does it look forward to the future either; it is stuck in a state of not knowing what it is and what it stands for. The flanks of the car are largely featureless, and it appears as though the door handles were mounted backward, which will only complicate engineering the striker and release mechanism. And, in a final blow to this proposal, the chosen name of “sausage roll” is baffling to everyone who has seen it. Overall, a very weak design that unfortunately misses on nearly all counts.
Unnamed Proposal, by @Sky-High
This proposal arrived in the offices with neither a proper name nor the correct documentation as to its origin; were it not for an observant intern spotting an identification tag at the last moment, it would have ended up in the dumpster behind the factory without even so much as a look. Once we started to look at it, we found that this proposal draws many parallels to our first-generation car, the Serenissima roadster and Veneto coupe. Unfortunately, that is also the biggest issue with this proposal. While it’s overall styling could best be described as average, it only looks backward in its shape and design language, which is decidedly not what the client nor I wanted. The front appears as though the grille from the current Cannaregio family was grafted onto the first-generation car, and the auxiliary driving lights are mounted in a very unusual position, central and low. The bumper is entirely conventional, and the indicators are oversized and old-fashioned. The flanks of this car are very plain and somewhat poorly executed, screaming “first-generation car” once again, and the vents on the side make the curious decision to take air into the body where it would be better to extract from that location.
Moving on, the rear of this car is pedestrian, and once again seems to hark more to the first-generation car than anything else. The triple-split bumper is very odd indeed, and the badging – both at the front and the rear I should add - seems to be sliding off the car as though it was trying to make an escape? Finally, I should also note that the wheels and tires of this car are enormous, as though they had just come off an aeroplane…does anyone make a tire this large? I’ve never seen a 17-inch wheel before in my life at least. Overall, a this is an uninspired design that is, unfortunately, fifteen years too late to be relevant.
Propeller Special Proposal, by @Mikonp7
This design arrives to us from Germany wearing a very rich, carmine red, exactly the kind of sumptuous colour that befits a Scagliati. The roadster body is sleek and futuristic, though the bluff nose of this proposal detracts considerably from the lines of the car. The front of the car is unusual, with an emphasis on symmetrical shapes and designs, split by a very prominent ridge down the centreline. This effect would have worked well were it not for the overly prominent ridge that started and stopped suddenly with seemingly no rhyme nor reason. The split front bumper is an elegant look, though the unusual angle confers an incredibly odd and somewhat unpleasant incongruity to the design overall, as does the very abruptly terminated chrome strip running from the indicator lights toward the front wheel arches. The other side-effect of the ridge on the front panel is that the Scagliati crest relocates to the right-hand grille opening, and subsequently gets lost in the process. The flanks of this proposal are clean, with an elegant thin chrome strip running around each wheel arch and unified by a band from wheel arch to wheel arch. The side vents are large and of an odd shape, though the chromed element bisecting the vents is a nice idea, though it ends up looking a bit heavy-handed.
The rear of this concept reflects the front a bit too much, and illustrates a very odd choice by the designer, with the rear brake lights being larger individually than the headlights at the front, which is jarring to any quick study of the entirety of the design. The split bumper is an elegant solution again spoiled by the odd angle at which they are mounted, and the chrome protuberances beneath both front and rear bumpers give an appearance as though the car is hiding something unseemly underneath its skin. As with the front, again the heavy, blunt strip of chrome stretching from the indicator light to the wheel arch spoils the line and draws the eye away from the car, and is further spoiled at the rear by the continuation of the thin chrome character line running from the front fender to the chrome strip above the bumper, a line that should have terminated with a gentle point much further up the body, and also picked up more of the body’s natural shape along the way. Overall, an interesting concept spoiled by several incomprehensible choices.
MC200 Saetta Proposal, by @DoctorNarfy
The nicely-named Saetta comes to us from America, which surprised everyone here in the styling office to say the least. We were stunned by the sleek shape of the car and its hidden headlights. However, the narrow grille and heavy-looking chrome elements, both the split bumper above and the heavy chrome accent below, imparting a look that gave the car a bit too much visual weight down low. The flanks of the Saetta are a bit odd, with the treatment along the middle character line of the body being incredibly puzzling indeed, and the chrome strip running from the door handle to the front quarter panel just seems to float aimlessly in the deep blue space of the body. The badging treatment is a bit odd on the front bumper too, as is the intake vent where air extraction would be preferable.
The shape of the rear body is very elegant, with a svelte, tapering tail reminiscent of a wooden runabout being very pleasing to the eye, but the tail light treatment is…odd, to say the least. The mish-mash of round and square elements is indecisive more than anything and would have been improved at very least if the round element flipped position with the inboard element. The small rectangular lights just above the bumper feel a little bit lost in the rear and are sort of incongruous as well. Finally, the heavy rear bumper does not match the front of the car hardly at all and would have benefitted immensely from a split treatment as is present on the front end. Overall, an average design, with some excellent features spoiled by poorly executed and heavy-handed choices.
The Sprezzatura quickly became a favourite in the styling office, as it proved you could look forward very easily while keeping ties with your history. To start with, the colour chosen, reminiscent of an Amalfi Coast beach at sunset, imparted an elegant air even before the model was fully uncrated in the office. The semi-concealed headlights and full-width grille give the car an aggressive and stern look, with the indicators smartly hidden off to the sides of the headlight covers. The bumper treatment is very unusual indeed, with a relatively thinner section in the middle bookended by thicker sections at the corners, and with thin vertical bars punctuating the grille where the headlight housings begin. A very thin chrome character line runs all the way around the car, giving it a very pleasing, almost flying-saucer like quality to the overall shape. The flanks of the Sprezzatura are very clean, with only the chrome character line continuing from front to rear, and a chrome panel unifying the front and rear wheel arches in an elegant fashion. A gently sloped, extractor vent behind the front wheel arch extends right to the door shut line, giving some subtle depth to that section of the car, and emphasising its sportiness.
At the rear, a similar bumper treatment to the front appears, and helps draw the eye naturally across the rear of the car, where the rounded-off rectangular tail lights exude modernity. The only serious detractions from the design appear at the rear however, with the rear fog lights looking lost in the design, and the rather inelegant rear antenna for the radio unit being the only major issues. The hood treatment is very simple, but effective, and the cowl vents are clean and attractive. Overall, this is an excellent design that both shows considerable relevance to Scagliati, past, present and future.
Osso di Seppia Proposal, by @albacete84a
The Osso di Seppia – an odd name for a car, if you ask me – arrived in the office and immediately drew recoils from the junior staff, on account of its lurid, red paint job…the kind of colour that looks so hot and bright that you think twice about touching it for fear of burning your hand! Once the traumatophobia subsided, I found that the design was full of “almosts”, in that it had several very intriguing concepts going on, just not implemented to their fullest effect. The front grille treatment was clean and modern, if a bit of a rip-off of our dear friends from Milan, but it just didn’t go much beyond that. The very thin, split front bumper was elegant, but was not mounted in a particularly elegant location, nor did it match the height and weight of the chrome panel on the flank of the car, nor the rear bumper, which was too heavy itself. The front headlights were like nothing we’ve ever seen; sleek, flush mounted and reminding me of this year’s Le Mans race cars, only they were haphazardly placed and sized. The story continued on the flanks of the car, with what should have been an elegantly-tapering character line along the middle of the body utterly spoiled by a sloppy application. The same could be said about the fender vent, turned the wrong way to intake air rather than extract it, with the shape carved by the vent to the door shut line and the side indicator being both of an odd shape and size.
The rear of the car was largely the same story, with the rear bumper being far too heavy compared to the front, or to any of the chrome continuing around the rest of the car. The rear tail lights were clean and modern, but were of an odd shape, size and colour layout, which ended up giving the car a “cross-eyed” look. The fins were an interesting addition; outdated for most purposes really, but the idea of adding some visual height in that area of the car is in intriguing one. Overall, this car was popping with interesting ideas, but at the end of the day it just wasn’t done well enough, nor was it relevant enough to Scagliati to warrant further investigation.
Gotti Escuti Proposal, by @Rk38
This proposal caused quite a stir as we removed it from the crate; it was at once incredibly bold, with its futuristic front end, the chrome bar over the roof and wrap-around rear glazing, and yet it felt entirely familiar as a Scagliati, drawing a lot of the elements that have defined the company over our fifteen years of operation. The front grille is incredibly bold and takes the most modern trends in design and applies them to a familiar profile. The double headlights are clean and strong, while the front bumper gives a pleasing weight to the front end of the car; not too heavy and overbearing, but not overly elegant either, lending an air like that of a professional boxer in a tailored suit. Down the flanks of the car, a very subtle extractor vent on the front fender extends character lines all the way to the rear wheel arches, a touch that helps give the car a dramatic length in profile. A heavy chrome panel along the rocker panel gives an inverse treatment to the front and rear bumpers; a look that really should not work, but with the elegant, sapphire metallic paint, helps lengthen the design once again. The chrome bar over the roof, forming an abrupt C-pillar and the beginning of a dramatic, wrap-around rear glass, defies the conventional knowledge of what the styling of a GT car should be, and no doubt will help to give this coupe a very open, airy feel in the interior.
Around the back of the Gotti Escuti proposal, the bumper once again conveys a very muscular feel about the car, with the Scagliati badge forming the pinnacle of a very complicated treatment of painted and chromed surfaces to give a depth and width to the rear of the car. The license plate holder helps build width in the rear as well, while the triple lights flanking it on both sides are an unorthodox and perhaps controversial treatment, to say the least; it was by far the most divisive aspect of this exceptional design among the rest of the staff. Overall, this is a stunning bold design that both feels authentic as a Scagliati and shows one potential way into the future.
Barchetta Fioriano Proposal, by @Fayeding_Spray
The Barchetta Fioriano arrived in the office in a rather unusually proportioned crate, which caused a lot of head-scratching in the office. It was only when we opened it up that we found that SddF had sent us a fully roofless car that would be more at home at Mulsanne than in Monte Carlo! It is an alright design overall, just…not really what we were looking for in the end, as the lack of roof or even windscreen would make it unpleasant for Ms. Tailor to drive for any length of time! From the front and from the flanks, it does bear some resemblance to the 325 “La Tempesta” of 1954, as well as the 416 Tipo Monza Formula One car that we designed for the 1954 and 1955 seasons, but it’s passing at best. The grille doesn’t really match anything we’ve done, and the flanks of the car exhibit some rather odd vents both high and low, with the upper vent sprouting a chromed tail that just floats in space and terminates rather abruptly. Additionally, the side exhausts, while racy, will offer the driver little more than deafness in one ear before too long.
The rear of the Barchetta Fioriano is more of the same, with little, if any concession being made to regular road use, from the tubular rear bumper, to the large headfairing behind the driver completely blocking access to the luggage compartment, to the utter lack of any kind of weather protection. Overall, this frankly middling design is just not relevant at all to what we are looking for, and suffers greatly for it.
Iurlaro Atelier, our friendly rivals from just up the road, sent us this beautiful and aggressive design as their proposal, in a deep and luxurious claret. On the surface it feels very much like a coupe version of the Montecarlo, but as with most designs to come from Iurlaro, the more you look at it, the more you find these wonderful, subtle touches. The front end of the car is very aggressive and masculine, far more than we at Scagliati have ever done with our designs, but it drew nothing but praise from the staff. The central bumper element, which wrapped around the crest and a set of driving lights, drew a lot of praise from everyone. The hood treatment is simple, but the chrome “fin” on the hood helps to draw the eye back toward the middle of the car and adds a dramatic visual length to the front half of the car. The sides of the Reggia are very simple, yet well executed, with more badging on the front quarter panel, along with a long, slender strip of chrome under the doors to help build some strength to the design down low. An interesting feature is the flush-mounted door pulls; this is like nothing we’ve ever conceived at Scagliati and might be worth incorporating into our designs in general going forward!
From the rear, the Reggia is quite conventional, sharing more than a fair bit with the Montecarlo in its clean, no-nonsense layout. The bumpers, it should be said, are tasteful and light both front and rear, with a band of rubber bisecting each element to break up the heavy chrome. To put this into a culinary analogy, the bumpers in the Reggia are like the perfect palate cleanser; light enough as to not fill you up, but sharp enough to prepare you for the next course. Overall, the Reggia Proposal is an excellent design overall, with some excellent features; about the only criticism that can be leveled against it is that in comparison to some of the other proposals we’ve had, it’s not nearly as bold in its language as the rest.
Results
Scagliati is proud to announce that we have selected, by a single point in our evaluation matrix, @Rk38 and Gotti Escuti to coachbuild the Scagliati 325 Turismo Escuti on our behalf for one of our most valued customers, Ms. Ellie Tailor of Hollywood, California. Thank you to all the other entrants for your submissions!
1st - @Rk38
2nd - @NormanVauxhall
3rd - @Chickenbiscuit
4th - @Private_Miros
5th - @DoctorNarfy
6th - @Mikonp7
7th - @Fayeding_Spray
8th - @Sky-High
9th - @albacete84a
10th - @kobacrashi
Production version 
