AUTUMN 1999

The Turin Motor Show by then was becoming an annual fixture, a moment of encounter and cordiality with all the customers in the concept, master, cubing engineering and pre-production prototypes sectors.
For the June 2000 appointment, the Stolas rely on Marcello Gandini for the construction of an open door model in the autumn of 1999; his name will be Stola S.81.
An important theme, reviewing the Lancia Stratos, thirty years after the presentation by the same hand at the 1970 Turin Motor Show.
Gandini is immediately clear, not a restyling or a nostalgia style, but a contemporary interpretation of the Lancia Strato's HF shown at the Turin Motor Show in the Bertone stand in 1971 (the one with two windscreen wipers, and painted fluorescent orange) and with even a hint of " wedge-shaped side line, not to forget the first “Tipo Zero” presented in 1970 on the same stand.
Seeing it when the work is finished, it will be possible to identify at least four "His" technical and conceptual innovations that will set the tone for decades later, and which concern all the front and rear lights, the transparent instrument screen between the windshield and the steering wheel, and the absolutely minimalist instrument panel with out buttons.

2000 Almese: Marcello Gandini in his studio with the 1/4 scale S81 model and the original drawing.

Marcello Gandini and Pierfranco Gavina.Marcello Gandini had carte blanche, in four months the team of modellers created a formidable and yet feasible model.
Truly a very advanced opening door style model, for Stola S.p.A. given that the style is Gandini's, we will want to show our customers and hopefully new ones a real example at the Salon.
The front and rear LED lights are functional as are the electric door openings, the interiors and in particular the seats are comfortable, and the front wheels are steerable through the steering wheel, but most of all a steel box frame where all the body parts in epowood resin are applied on it with extreme precision.
In short, a summary between a style model, a show car and a master model; a manifesto on four wheels to illustrate the company's technical capabilities.

Rivoli May 2000: before the final painting of the fluorescent model, a photo with Alfredo Stola's Strato's Stradale. You can see that the Lancia brand appears perfectly inserted in its space on the bumper of the model

The top management of Fiat Auto had been informed months before that for the next Turin Motor Show we would be creating a Show Car designed by Marcello Gandini with the Lancia brand, but without providing any other information on what type of car.
Once the gray background painting activity was completed, Roberto Stola invited engineer Paolo Cantarella, CEO of Fiat Auto, to view the model in Rivoli.
The model is presented with Alfredo Stola's road Strato's nearby, he likes it, but "asks" not to use the Lancia brand but the one with the Stola rhombus, as proposing a Lancia Strato's in the year 2000 could have created confusion among their clients.
For the Stolas and the Gandinis it was a very difficult moment, less than six weeks before the start of the Show when the whole project was based on the celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the Strato's Zero.
It was therefore decided between us not to use the Stola brand, but instead the one with the initials MG or Marcello Gandini to make the link with the famous name Strato's clearer.

Gandini makes an attempt to insert the Stola s.p.a. rhombus.Gandini already had his own MG brand (Marcello Gandini)

The bumper and part of the bonnet were then immediately modified to eliminate the shield-shaped compartment of the Lancia brand, to insert the rectangular MG one, and obviously to build the new metal brand.
Gandini, having absolute freedom, given the new situation, changed the design of the wheels at the last minute and so they were milled with a very particular design, composed of three rings which intersecting geometrically in the center naturally create a triangle very close to the shape of the Lancia shield.
With wisdom in this space, Gandini will have a perfect unbranded Lancia shield modeled….
It was his gentle way of not giving up and demonstrating his art.

Rivoli mid-May 2000: in Stola S.p.A. it is Maurizio Dimaria of Team Vercarmodel who paints the S81 in the complicated fluorescent orange.

Turin June 2000, the S81 opening door model at the Stola s.p.a. stand

Cernobbio 2009. The Stola S81 owned by the collector Corrado Lopresto photographed in the park of the Hotel Villa d'Este.

In parallel with the work of the S 81 and given the great esteem of Stola for Marcello Gandini, once again he was asked for his own vision for a hypothetical new Iveco truck.
In July 2000, the drawings presented by Roberto and Alfredo Stola to Fiat to engineer Paolo Cantarella in his Lingotto office.

Turin 27 June 2000. the drawings of Marcello Gandini in his vision of a new Iveco engine.

END OF AUTUMN 1999

Towards the end of 1999, the Technical Management of Maserati involved Stola S.p.A. in a very important project, not only for the house of the Trident itself but for the history of one of its most iconic models.
Attorney Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, in a precise corporate recovery plan, included the fifth generation of the Tipo Quattroporte, an icon in the world of luxury sports sedans.
The chosen style was from Pininfarina with design being entrusted to Stola due in part to the excellent results achieved in terms of quality with the previous M 338 sports project, better known as the 3200 GT.
As in previous model development projects, in this latest one activities started with the scanning of the style model that would enable the definition of the class A surfaces.
This first phase saw the CAD team of Massimo Stola, assisted by Carlo Mantovani and working along with the Pininfarina stylists, to achieve the excellence demanded in the quality of exterior aesthetic body surfaces.
The use of Icemsurf software had become a standard for this type of modeling, with Opticore being used for the evaluation of reflections and curves in the VR rooms at Stola, making it possible to achieve their objectives whilst still validating the surfaces by means of a milled Master model.

Benedetto Carmelo is the project manager for the Stola for the Quattroporte project, together with his nephew Iacopo.Once this first phase was completed, the engineering activity could begin, starting from the feasibility pre-tests of the style model. The technical manager of Stola s.p.a. for the Maserati Quattroporte project, Carmelo Benedetto, was assisted by various team leaders, each of whom were responsible for different areas of the bodywork, chassis, engine compartment, sides, doors, front, hood and trunk, external finishes, dashboard and interior finishes.
The Quattroporte Team brought together around 50 design engineers whose activity was carried out with Catia software, according to the well-established process that involves the creation of: final studies, design and modeling of the individual components and complete and overall design.
Fundamental for the control of project progress was the IBM data storage and sharing system (Virtual Project Management) and the management of the BOM on AS400, also assigned to the Stola Team of Paola Busato, tools that allowed the actors working on the project, Maserati, Stola, co-designers and suppliers to access the latest data.
For around two years, the meetings for the advancement and sharing of design solutions were held in the virtual room of Cinisello.
The possibility of detailed analysis, on a large screen and in 3D, of how the project was progressing contributed to obtaining the excellent result presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2003. As always, the internal "systems" area and its external interface to the customer was co-ordinated by Gianfranco Morlacchi.

June 2003 one of the first official images of the Maserati quattroporte whose first presentation dedicated to suppliers took place in Modena. The style of the exteriors and interiors is by Pininfarina and the engineering, mathematics and masters were created by Stola s.p.a.

NOVEMBER 1999

In the latter part of 1999, Stola s.p.a. acquired 100% of the company Estival , a historic French model shop whose headquarters are in Ivry sur Seine just outside Paris.
The acquisition takes place directly from its owner Luciano Vercellotti, a lifelong friend of the Stolas, who had directed it since 1978 with the assistance of manager Gerard Picard.
L'Estival founded in 1949 by Monsieur Estival is one of the oldest companies operating in the model and show car sectors, and with the new CAD - CAM and CN technologies at its disposal since the mid-eighties it also makes it one of the most modern of France.
A precise strategy suggested this expansion beyond the Alps by the Rivoli model shop, would enable discreet work with the car manufacturers Renault, Peugeot and Citroen.
Stola s.p.a. was quite well known in Germany but much less in France, and for this reason the family delegated Gerard Picard the positions of Administrator and Technical Director.
New technical investments were approved as early as the first months of 2000, including an expansion of the work spaces with new secure areas.
The management of Estival proved to be relatively easy and profitable thanks above all to the professional work of Picard and the generous advice of Vercellotti.

2000

The arrival of the year 2000 brought with it high expectations for the world of technology.
For STOLA s.p.a. in the field of car design, the area of 3D virtual Reality became of great interest.
The technical directors,Gottardo Bustreo, Gianfranco Morlacchi supported by Carlo Biassoni pushed Roberto Stola to reflect on the importance of a VR facility for engineering.
As in 1981, with the first cad cam systems and milling of numerically controlled models nineteen years later,a level of innovation was expected.
The continuous desire for car manufacturers to reduce "time to market" of a new model, the will to cut back on the number of prototypes for cost reasons whilst at the same time improving quality, meant a VR room was answer that they were looking for.
Gianfranco Morlacchi undertook several trips, sometimes accompanied by Carlo Mantovani, around Italy, Belgium as well as a special visit to Sindelfingen to the Mercedes technical center.
The final choice was to invest in a Barco BR-909 system with active steroscopic back projection on a 3 x 2.5meter screen.
The Stolas are so convinced, that together with the Engineer Alecci they will decide to buy two systems for the technical centers of Rivoli and Cinisello Balsamo, thus creating two twin virtual rooms that will be operated in November of the same year.

October 2000. The first virtual room of Stola s.p.a. in the Rivoli headquarters. It differs from that of Cinisello Balsamo for the garnet-colored column.

November 2000. The second virtual room of Stola s.p.a. at the Cinisello Balsamo headquarters. It differs from its twin in Rivoli for the white color of the column on the left of the photo.

In Rivoli, in the department for the development of aesthetic mathematical surfaces, it was necessary to have tools to increase the quality of visualisation and analysis of shapes.
In Cinisello Balsamo where the activity was mainly dedicated to the development of body, trim and chassis projects, a lot of computing power was required to manage the high level of the graphical data needed for digital mock-up and analysis techniques.
In the milestone year of 2000, at both locations the two virtual reality rooms were equiped with tools such as Silicon Graphics Octane Bi-Processor workstations complete with with on board Opticore software, and Sun SunBlade Bi-Processor with Catia software 4D Navigator and Unigraphics Vis Mockup.
STOLA s.p.a would share these new technologies,in particular with Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Ferrari, Maserati and the Same group.
Through these two virtual rooms, and the new analysis tools, customer relationships become more active and dynamic, thanks to the simultaneous sharing of technical solutions and possible improvements that could be applied in real time.
Work processes were changing and required even more internal and customer progress meetings.
Engine compartment layout, fuel systems, air conditioning, simulation of the assembly of external and internal finishes and mechanical and kinematic checks were just some of the activities carried out in partnerships between the Stola Team, the customer and the many specialist co-designers.

JANUARY 2000

In January 2000, Nissan's European style center asked the Stolas to create a concept to be presented at the next Paris Motor Show in October of the same year.
The design is by Stephane Schwarz, under the direction of Shiro Nakamura, and the Stola modelers will create only the style models of the interiors and exteriors in via Ferrero 9 in Rivoli.
Vittorio Della Rocca Head modeling workshop Stola s.p.a. and Flavio Secoli owner of F&SFor the construction of the prototype, as for the Smart cars, the Stola will ask for collaboration with the F&S of the Secoli Family in order to be able to create it in their laboratory always with a mixed team of modelers from the two companies, under the super vision of the technical managers of the Stola.
The painting activities will be carried out in Rivoli, in via Ferrero 9, at the Stola model shop.
The name of the Show Car is Fusion and from this lucky project will come several Nissan cars.

Rivoli June 2000 via Novara, Alfredo Stola with the Nissan team. X, A. Stola, S. Nakamura and S. Schwarz.

Year 2000, Stephane Schwarz's original Nissan Fusion design.

Rivoli via Novara July 2000. At the F&S laboratory the mixed Stola-Secoli team at work for the construction of the show car. We recognize the designers S. Schwarz and S. Nakamura.

Rivoli via Ferrero 9 September 2000. In Stol s.p.a. The Fusion show car on the second floor of the prototype department is assembled before painting which will always take place in the same department.

Turin end of September 2000 the official photos of the Fusion before being transported to the Paris motor show.

Paris October 2000. The Fusion on display at the Nissan stand.