FERRARI

F308 GT Rainbow Concept: Marcello Gandini's Ferrari

The relationship between Ferrari and Pininfarina spans decades. It is one of the longest-running associations in the automobile industry and one of the best results. So much so that other prestigious designers tried to offer their vision of what Ferrari products should look like, but to no avail. An example of this is the 1976 Ferrari F308 GT Rainbow Concept, a rare prototype that was designed by Marcello Gandini.

In 1975, Carrozzeria Bertone, where Gandini was head of design, was in charge of manufacturing the bodies of the F308 GT4 that had been launched two years after the arrival of the Dino 308 GTB, with more rounded lines that were quickly approved by the most fanatical in the house. from Maranello.

So, Nuccio Bertone and his chief designer tried to create something that was different from what was conceived as a Ferrari at the time, a car with an aspect that did not resemble any other model of the Italian brand. This led Gandini to design the F308 GT Rainbow Concept and show it at the 1976 Turin Motor Show, a car that was based on the chassis of the F308 GT4 but shortened by 10 centimeters.

The vision of Marcello Gandini, father of models such as the Lamborghini Miura and the Countach, the Lancia Stratos, the Maserati Quattroporte, the De Tomaso Pantera and the Alfa Romeo Montreal, among many others; of what a Ferrari should be like in the mid-70's broke with all the established schemes until then. Bertone unveiled a wedge-shaped car with straight lines and sharp edges that surprised everyone.

The Rainbow Concept had a very short rear overhang, which was offset by a very long, overhanging front. It was brutally aggressive, with design elements that would serve to inspire the Subaru XT and Toyota MR2, and a bodywork bathed in metallic blue that contrasted with the darker tone it displayed in the corrugated profiles, which made them even more marked.

This radical design, far from any other Ferrari product, clashed with a simple but functional interior, with a flat design on the dashboard, some integrated clocks, a large steering wheel and a small lower console. But there was more. In addition to the retractable headlights characteristic of the time, Gandini installed a Targa-type roof that lowered behind the seats and it was not necessary to store it in the trunk. This made it the first Ferrari with a retractable hardtop in history, although the F308 GT Rainbow Concept was a prototype, the first production model to equip it was the F458 Spider in 2009.

The Ferrari F308 GT Rainbow Concept did not have the success expected by Bertone and Gandini for precisely the same reason it had been conceived, because it moved away from what was understood to be a Ferrari model. The concept ended up with the Italian bodybuilder who added it to the Bertone Collection, which now belongs to Automotoclub Storico Italiano (ASI), a federation of historic Italian cars.

Autonews