1970

As a thank you to their customers, to motivate their workers and greet the new decade with optimism, the company took part in the the 51st Turin motor show in 1970 running from 29 October to 13 November.
Their stand at in the historic Palazzo Esposizioni presented three demonstration models of individual body parts, outer skin and compete chassis.
The brochure's slogan distributed to customers and the public was "The car was created by us in 1919".
From the professional photography of the event, note that the stand's banner is "STOLA" and no longer "Alfredo Stola & Figli".

011970 Turin Stand of Alfredo Stola & Figli at the 51st Motor Show. It is curious to note the written Stola in full instead of the actual company name.

Fundamental to the company's growth was the complete modeling development of the Alfa Sud, designed by Giugiaro, in all its 3/4 door, coupe and spider variants. The latter never being produced. A project started in 1970 and so important that the Alfa Sud took over 500 square meters of the Alfredo Stola & Figli facility, having its own testing area and offices for its resident technicians, who worked on the coordination of suppliers throughout the industrial area of Turin.
The Sunday visits of Giorgetto Giugiaro to Via La Thuile were unforgettable. Checking the quality of the surfaces of the master models in complete tranquility, his 6 year old son Fabrizio, always accompanied him. A tradition, though not always on a Sunday, that continued for the Isuzu Piazza and Saab 9000 models.
During these visits, among the resin models, a great friendship was born between the young Fabrizio Giugiaro and Alfredo, son of Francesco Stola.

021970 Alfa Sud control jig.031970 Alfa Sud control jig.

041972 Master Model Alfa Sud Giardinetta051972 Master Model of the family version.

061973 Master Model Alfa Sud Sprint for sheet metal control.

07Rudolf Hruska at the time of the Alfa Sud.The technical director of the Alfa Sud, Engineer Rudolf Huruska, known for being one of Professor Ferdinad Porsche's assistants in 1938 on the original VW program and later,together with Piero Dusio for the Formula 1 Cisitalia. In those years, the Alfa Sud factory based in Pomigliano d'Arco was thought to be the largest industrial project in southern Italy, where the government shareholder had decided to create a car factory.
08Sestriere winter 1988. The Principe Di Piemonte hotel, the perfect engineer Rudolf Hruska's favorite for his passion for skiing.During the 1970’s, besides the Alfa Sud, other extraordinary projects were overseen by the Engineer Hruska for Alfa Romeo in Arese.
The two brothers had gained the trust and confidence of the great technical director, just as their father had done with Vincenzo Lancia. In particular, with Roberto, the friendship continued even after Huruska had retired. Pleasant winter meetings at Sestriere, sharing descents on the slopes, in fact it was the Engineer the had given him his first ski lessons.

09Sestriere 1988, Hotel Principe di Piemonte. Engineer Rudolf Hruska already retired with Roberto Stola andtheir respective families.

In the 1970s, a number of impressive master models were created, and, despite the oil crisis and union unrest in the country, some extraordinary cars were born in via La Thuile 71.
In order to more securely face this considerable increase in work and to manage the increasingly organized customers, from a professional point of view, in 1971 the two Stola brothers took on Alberto Sasso, a very young mechanical engineering graduate from the Polytechnic of Turin.

101975 The technical direction of Alfredo Stola & Sons. The two workshop managers Sante Sellan and Carlo Bordone, and in the center the engineer Alberto Sasso in the meeting room, via la Thuile 71.

A role which was new for those times in a relatively small company, today we would call him the General Manager. Certainly a sign of modernity and change half a century after the first workshop of 300 square meters occupied by the owner, 3 modelers and the boy apprentice.
A choice that would prove even more forward-looking when, from the beginning of the 1980s, foreign sales would consistently represent 40/50% of the entire turnover.

111971 Massimo and Alfredo Stola in the meeting room,
Via La Thuile 71121972 Alfredo Stola opposite 69, Via La Thuile, in the background the Fiat type 625 company truck.

131970 Master Model FIAT 132141970 Master Model FIAT 132

1970 Master Model 130 Coupè for Pininfarina.1970 Master Model 130 Coupè for Pininfarina.

151970 Master Model 130 Coupè for Pininfarina.161970 Master Model 130 Coupè for Pininfarina.

171970 Master Model Ferrari 365 GTC4 for Pininfarina.

181970 Master Model Alfa Romeo Alfetta

191970 Specific master for complete Alfa Romeo Alfetta side panel.

201970 Alfa Romeo Alfetta Master for verification of the attachment of moving parts to the windscreen frame and rear window frame.

211970 Lancia Beta foundry models for the engine of the modified former Fiat Lampredi Beta for the Borgo San Paolo Lancia plant.

Among the most notable, if not important projects, in the early months of 1970 the truck manufacturer Kamaz, an industrial arm of the communist Russian government, emerges via the ministerial council of the USSR.
Alongside Detroit, Turin represented one of the two world centers of the automobile, the transport ministry chose Alfredo Stola & Figli for the models and Berto Lamet of Turin for the moulds and assembly line for their first project.
Particularly innovative for the Italians, but quite normal for the Russians, was that many of the engineers responsible for the trip to Turin were women. The first truck branded Kamaz came off the assembly line in February 1976 from the Naberezhnye Chelny factory located in the north of the Soviet Union.

221971 Il Master Model Kamaz231971 Il Master Model Kamaz

241971 Master Model Lancia Beta Sedan first series.251971 Master Model Lancia Beta Sedan first series.

261972 Master Model Fiat 131271972 Master Model Fiat 131

281972 Master Model OM 241291972 Master Model OM 241

301972 Master Model FIAT Citroen 242

311973 Master Model Lancia Beta Coupè321973 Master Model Lancia Beta Coupè

331973 Master Model Lancia Beta HPE341973 Master Model Lancia Beta HPE

351973 Master Model FIAT type 180.361973 Master Model FIAT type 180.

371973 Master Model FIAT Campagnola.381973 Master Model FIAT Campagnola.

391973 Master Model Lancia Gamma.

401974 Master Model Fiat 131 Familiare411974 Master Model Fiat 131 Familiare

421974 Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT control jig for the door closure and the rear side glass opening.

431974 Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT, Master for control of side panels, pavilion, rear window and windscreen.441974 Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT, Master for control of side panels, pavilion, rear window and windscreen.

451974 Alfa Rome Alfetta GT Master complete floor.

461974 Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT Master aluminum door.471974 Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT checks doors opening.

481974 Alfa Sud Master for checking the panels and frames of the bodysides, roof, tailgate and windscreen.491974 Alfa Sud Master for checking the panels and frames of the bodysides, roof, tailgate and windscreen.

501974 Alfa Sud, separate details to be assembled on the Master to check couplings.511974 Alfa Sud, separate details to be assembled on the Master to check couplings.

In this period the demand from manufacturers increased for resin copies of the production moulds, both in negative and positive forms.
Special equipment called calibration gauges were used for individual exterior and interior parts, and sheet metal structures for the car in its complete form.
Even the pressed resins and the construction of the related sheet metal panel assemblies become a new and important source of work.

521975 exterior control jig, Alfa Romeo Giulietta.

531975 interior control jig, Alfa Romeo Giulietta. 

541975 control jig, Alfa Romeo Giulietta trunk compartment.551975 Giulietta bonnet control jig.

561975 Control jig Alfa Romeo Giulietta doors.571975 Partial control jig for Alfa Romeo Giulietta wings.

581975 Master Model Lancia Beta second series.591975 Master Model Lancia Beta second series.

During the first 10 years in Via La Thuile, the workforce reached 85 employees, including modellers, resin craftsmen, maintenance technicians and other workers. Turin endured some serious labour unrest in the metal working sector, but at Alfredo Stola & Figli there is no record of this occurring in this decade or the next, not even a single strike.
The atmosphere in the factory continued to be familiar, a continuation of the original spirit. Relationships were built on mutual respect between each and every worker and Francesco and Roberto Stola. In these times, at the end of a particularly demanding or important project, they would all find themselves on a Saturday or Sunday at a restaurant to celebrate a job well done.

601976, Crescentino (VC) Restaurant Villa Rosa from the left: Miuccio Fiorin, Carlo Bordone, Francesco Stola, Fonda.

611976 Alfa Sud second series 4 door.621976 Alfa Sud second series 3 door.

631976 Master Model Simca 1000 3 door, never gone into production. Style by Mario Revelli of Beaumont and Boano.641976 Master model for Chicago metro
front end.

651976 Master Model Alfa Romeo Alfa 6

661976 Master Model Fiat Ritmo.661976 Master Model Fiat Ritmo.

681977 Master Model Lancia Delta
691978 Lancia Delta Master for door closure check.

701978 Lancia Delta special Master Model to control the moving parts like hood, fenders, bumper, front grill and lamps.711978 Lancia Delta special Master Model to control the moving parts like hood, fenders, bumper, front grill and lamps.

721978 Lancia Delta.In the middle Lino De Franceschi, in the left Giuanin.

73Boeing 767. The wings and therefore their "leading edges" made in Alfredo Stola & Figli are also used on the smaller Boing 757.In 1977, Alfredo Stola & Figli, a leader in the European Auto industry, won a very important order from Areitalia, itself a leader in the aeronautical and aerospace sector.
The model shop was asked to build the leading edge of the wings for the Boeing 767 and 757 joint project.
Sophisticated aluminum forming equipment was created for the bending of the wing leading edges at the Aeritalia plant.

741977 "ALFREDO STOLA & Figli In the model shop, a wing section of the Boeing 767 757.
At work Ciliutti Ezio.

75April 1977. A lunch organized by Francesco Stola to celebrate the work of the Lancia Delta. From left: Gastaldello, Fiorin e Vittorio Danzi.

76May 1977 The brothers Roberto and Francesco Stola in a souvenir photo in via La Thuile 71 in Turin.

771978 BMW M1It is also interesting to remember another very special order from Italdesign from the early months of 1977.
This was for the construction and assembly of glass fiber body parts for the BMW M1, designed by Giugiaro. Under the direction of the Moncalieri design house, a dozen or so rough, unpainted shells were made for a special series. The other 456 units were built directly by Italdesign.

 

781978 Master Model Fiat Panda.791978 Master Model Fiat Panda.

801978 at the Alfredo Stola & Figli the Master Models of the Lancia Beta Trevi and the innovative dashboard designed by Mario Bellini are made. Unfortunately, the original photos of Master Model not found.811978 at the Alfredo Stola & Figli the Master Models of the Lancia Beta Trevi and the innovative dashboard designed by Mario Bellini are made. Unfortunately, the original photos of Master Model not found.