Tapiro

1970 was a splendid year for Giugiaro and for the other coachbuilders in Turin.
At that city's motor show Pininfarina exhibited his Ferrari Modulo, a Paolo Martin creation. The Bertone-Gandini duo presented a prototype of the outlandish Lancia Stratos, and Giugiaro’s company showed its Tapiro, a sports car based on the mid-engined VW-Porsche 914-916.

A long, eye-catching central roof strip acted like a metallic backbone to which the doors and the two halves of the engine cover were attached. Both could be lifted up-the aptly named 'gull wing' effect. The wedge-shaped nose with its pop-up headlights and the raised, angled rear end were further stylistic components of the car which, with its low, snuffling nose, recalled the curiosity of a tapir, classy and imposing at the same time.

For Giugiaro, this highly unconventional reinterpretation of the Porsche represented the beginning of that stylistic trend based on straight lines with wedge-shaped fronts and bonnets that visually extend the windscreen, with strong transitions and sharp creases marking the change of planes.