Pietro 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.

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.

Frua's professional career began at the age of 17, when he joined Stabilimenti Farina as a draftsman. 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. 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). 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.

...
Wikipedia