CARROZZERIA FRUA

Pietro Frua (2 May 1913, Turin, Piedmont – 28 June 1983) was one of the leading Italian coachbuilders and car designers during the 1950s and 1960s.

Early years

Frua was born in Turin, the centre of coachbuilding in northern Italy. He was the fourth son of Angela, a tailor, and Carlo Frua, an employee of Fiat.

After school he was educated as a draftsman at the Scuola Allievi Fiat, where he underwent his apprenticeship.

Design career

Frua’s professional career began at the age of 17, when he joined Stabilimenti Farina as a draftsman.[1] At the age of 22, he became Director of Styling at the Stabilimenti Farina, already a leading Turin coachbuilder employing several hundred people. Some credit him with having influenced early designs of the iconic Vespa while at Farina.[1] That was where Frua had his first contact with Giovanni Michelotti, who became his successor as Head of Styling after he started his own studio in 1938.

During World War II car-styling work was scarce and Frua had to turn to designing children’s cars, electric ovens and kitchen units, as well as a monocoque motorscooter.

Frua planned for post-war times: in 1944 he bought a bombed-out factory, hired 15 workers (including Sergio Coggiola, who founded his own carrozzeria in 1966) and equipped himself to design and build cars.
His first known car is a 1946 Fiat 1100C spyder. Maserati was one of the first clients who contracted Frua for the styling of their new 2-litre, 6-cylinder sports car, the A6G. From 1950 to 1957, Frua built 19 Spyders and seven coupés in three different design series – including some on the A6 GCS racing chassis.

In 1957, Frua sold his small coachbuilding company to Carrozzeria Ghia in Turin, and Ghia director Luigi Segre appointed him head of Ghia Design. In this short period, Frua was responsible for the successful Renault Floride, which experienced well-deserved commercial success (about 117,000 were sold in ten years).[1] This success led to a disagreement between Segre and Frua over the car’s “paternity”, and Frua left Ghia to start his own design studio again.

At the same time, Pelle Petterson designed his Volvo P1800 under the attentive eye of Frua and, not surprisingly, it is often attributed to Frua’s pen. From 1957 to 1959, Frua also designed several cars for Ghia-Aigle, the former Swiss subsidiary of Ghia Turin, already independent at that time. Giovanni Michelotti was his predecessor in this position.

After Ghia-Aigle finished coachbuilding, a former employee, Adriano Guglielmetti, started his own business and founded Carrosserie Italsuisse in Geneva. Again Pietro Frua did the drawings and, most probably, built all the prototypes for this company. After a Corvair-like styled pontoon-Beetle in 1960, Italsuisse showed a Maserati 3500 GTI Coupé on the Italsuisse stand at the 1961 Motor Show in Geneva, together with two tasteful bodies on Studebaker chassis. In 1964 a lovely little Spyder followed with Opel Kadett mechanics.

During the 1960s Pietro Frua was among the most prominent car designers in Italy. The “Frua line” was synonymous with the good taste of a single man. He followed each car’s realization to the last detail of fully functional one-offs and prototypes, often driving them to their presentation at the motor shows in Europe.

Glas

In 1963, at the age of 50 and at the peak of his career, Frua designed a range of cars for Glas, Germany’s smallest car-maker. This included the GT Coupé and Cabriolet as well as the larger V8-engined 2600, often called “Glaserati” for its likeness with Frua’s Maserati-designs. These were built until 1968 as the BMW GT, after BMW had bought Glas.

Maserati Mistral

Also in 1963, Maserati showed the Frua-bodied four-door Quattroporte which, after several one-offs, re-established Frua’s connection with this manufacturer. Two years later, the Mistral was shown, cementing Frua’s status in the mid-sixties.[1] With these cars Maserati was positioned into a new market of luxury and powerful, understated cars.

AC Frua

In 1965, AC showed the powerful, Frua-bodied 7-litre AC Frua Spyder, which drew from the Mistral’s shape. A coupé followed in 1967. In the same year, the Swiss racing driver and Ferrari importer Peter Monteverdi started to build a Frua-bodied sport coupé, the Chrysler engined Monteverdi High Speed 375S. He also designed the Monteverdi 2000 GTI, but this remained a one-off. Due to Frua’s limited capacities, the production of the following High Speed models went to Fissore in Turin. However, the near-mythical Monteverdi Hai 450 was also designed by Frua.[1]

At the end of the 1960s, Frua tried in vain to prolong his success with Glas by making a dozen proposals to BMW. BMW decided to make it on their own.

In the 1970s Frua reduced the frequency of his presentations, but in the sixth decade of his life he still demonstrated his good taste and craftsmanship to the younger ones who already had taken their role in the industrial process. There was no longer a demand to build completely detailed and functional prototypes in less than ten weeks, and no more customers for special bodied one-offs. One of his last designs to enter series production was the two-door GT Maserati Kyalami first shown at the 1976 Geneva Motor Show.

Later years

In 1982 Pietro Frua developed cancer and had unsuccessful surgery in the autumn of that year. He married his long-time assistant, Gina, shortly before he died on 28 June 1983, a few weeks after his 70th birthday.

DESIGN MODEL

 

AC 428
Maserati Mistral (1963)
Monteverdi High Speed 375S
Frua CD (1970)
Maserati Quattroporte I (1963)
Maserati Quattroporte “Aga Khan”
Maserati Kyalami (1976)
Glas V8 (1965)
Renault Floride (1958)
Lamborghini Frua Faena

MODEL SCALE 1:43

AC428 o AC FRUA

NEO SCALE MODELS – AC – 428 FRUA CONVERTIBLE 1966

NEO SCALE MODELS – AC – 428 FRUA FASTBACK 1967

MASERATI MISTRAL

MINICHAMPS – MASERATI – MISTRAL COUPE 1963

EDICOLA – MASERATI – MISTRAL COUPE 3.5L 1964

EDICOLA – MASERATI – MISTRAL COUPE 3.5L 1964

BBR – Maserati Mistral Street 1964

Replicars – Maserati Mistral Coupe 1964

IXO MODEL – Maserati Mistral coupè 1964

Maserati Mistral Spyder

IXO MODEL – Maserati Mistral Cabriolet 1963

MINICHAMPS – MASERATI – MISTRAL SPIDER CABRIOLET OPEN 1964

EDICOLA – MASERATI – MISTRAL SPIDER 1964

WHITEBOX – MASERATI – MISTRAL SPIDER 1964

MASERATI 4 PORTE I SERIE & II SERIE

EDICOLA – MASERATI – QUATTROPORTE 1963

MINICHAMPS – MASERATI – QUATTROPORTE 1963

WHITEBOX – MASERATI – QUATTROPORTE L 1964

KESS-MODEL – MASERATI – QUATTROPORTE II SERIE FRUA – KING JUAN CARLOS OF SPAIN – 1974

MASERATI – KYALAMI

EDICOLA – MASERATI – KYALAMI 1976

MASERATI 5000

MATRIX SCALE MODELS – MASERATI – 5000 GT FRUA COUPE 1962

ABC – MASERATI – 5000 AGA KHAN CARROZZERIA FRUA

MASERATI – 3500

KESS-MODEL – MASERATI – 3500 GT COUPE FRUA 1961

MATRIX SCALE MODELS – MASERATI – 3500 GT SPIDER BY FRUA # AM101268 1957

MASERATI – A6G/54

EDICOLA – MASERATI – A6G/54 FRUA COUPE 2.0 1955

EDICOLA – MASERATI – A6G/54 FRUA COUPE 1957

UNIQUE DSM – MASERATI A6G SPIDER CARROZZERIA FRUA 1951

EDICOLA – MASERATI – A6G 2000 SPIDER FRUA 1952

MATRIX SCALE MODELS – MASERATI – A6G 2000 FRUA SPIDER 1956

MATRIX SCALE MODELS – MASERATI – A6G GRAND SPORT SPIDER FRUA 1957

CITROEN

MATRIX SCALE MODELS – CITROEN – SM MASERATI FRUA 1972

BITTER

MATRIX SCALE MODELS – OPEL – DIPLOMAT CD FRUA COUPE ( FRUA CD) 1970

FIAT

PROGETTO K – FIAT – 600 FRUA 1957

DODGE

KESS-MODEL – DODGE – CHALLENGER SPECIAL FRUA COUPE 1970

BMW

KESS-MODEL – BMW – 2000 TI COUPE FRUA 1968

MATRIX SCALE MODELS – BMW – 2002 GT4 FRUA 1970

MERCEDES BENZ

MATRIX SCALE MODELS – MERCEDES BENZ – SL-CLASS 230SLX FRUA COMBI 1962 STATION WAGON

OPEL

MATRIX SCALE MODELS – OPEL – KADETT A FRUA CONVERTIBLE 1964 – SPIDER

LAMBORGHINI

KESS-MODEL – LAMBORGHINI – FAENA FRUA 1978

YOW MODELLINI – LAMBORGHINI – FAENA FRUA 1978

ROLLS ROYCE

NEO SCALE MODELS – ROLLS ROYCE – PHANTOM VI FRUA DHC DROPHEAD CABRIOLET 1971

RLMODELS – ROLLS ROYCE – PHANTOM VI FRUA CABRIOLET OPEN 1987

RLMODELS – ROLLS ROYCE – PHANTOM VI FRUA HALF ROADSTER VERSION OPEN 1987

RLMODELS – ROLLS ROYCE – PHANTOM VI FRUA CABRIOLET HARD-TOP 1987

COOOL – Rolls Royce Phantom VI Frua Half Roadster 1997

British Heritage Models – Rolls Royce Phantom VI Frua Cabriolet

MONTEVERDI

KESS-MODEL – MONTEVERDI HIGH SPEED 375/4 1971 RED

GLAS

NOREV – GLAS – 2600 V8 1967

 RENAULT

VEREM – Renault FLORIDE cabriolet

 VEREM – RENAULT FLORIDE AVEC HARDTOP

NOREV – RENAULT – FLORIDE

NOREV – RENAULT FLORIDE HARD TOP & SOFT TOP

SOLIDO – RENAULT FLORIDE HARD TOP

 PROVENCE MOULAGE – RENAULT FLORIDE HARD TOP

ALTAYA – RENAULT FLORIDE LA PROMENADE DES ANGLAIS