1980

 1987 Villarbasse, Alfredo Stola with Fabrizio Giugiaro and his DeLorean DMC-12.

1979 testing a model with a motorized DEA with
a special ruby-tip sensor.The 80s, as we will see later, would witness an extraordinary technological revolution.
The difference compared to the past was that now the final models were examined with modern computer controlled Dea measuring machines from Turin.
The data collected was directly recorded using printers on special paper print outs.
This methodology, requested by Ford, was the prelude of self-certification testing.

1979 Stola Alfredo & Figli installs the DEA Delta 3d measuring machine with a working area of 5500 mm.
Ferreo Versino, in the white coat, is the operator.

The model shop was well prepared, having just finished an expensive re-fit program of their Dea, updating all the machines originally installed in 1965.

1981 The first brochure by Alfredo Stola & Figli showing customers the technological changes of the time.

February 22 - March 2, 1981,
Milan Malpensa - New York - Detroit and back. Boing 747-200 Alitalia.February 22 - March 2, 1981,
Milan Malpensa - New York - Detroit and back. DC 10 North West.

1981 Detroit,the Alfredo Stola & Figli stand,Cobo Hall exhibition center, on the left Guido Toninelli and on the right Alfredo Stola. In his American trip there is also the engineer Alberto Sasso.

1981 Detroit Cobo Hall, Umberto Agnelli visiting the stand. On the right Alfredo Stola.Alfredo, in the side of his Uncle Roberto in the company, among the first assignments abroad in the winter of 1981 flies to Detroit together with a delegation from the Turin Chamber of Commerce.
The goal was to set up and present a stand by Alfredo Stola & Sons at the car supplier show at Cobo Hall.
The American event was called SIAE, an international initiative aimed at showing to Ford of Europe the global vision of their own Italian "Partner Supplier".
The stand was unexpectedly honored also by the visit of Umberto Agnelli, one of the major shareholders of Fiat.
In the same exhibition building in Detroit at the motor show, 18 years later, Mercedes would exhibit the A Class Show Car, made in Turin by the family model shop.

March 1981. Commemorative medals were made for the occasion which were distributed from a medieval armor placed on the stand.

March 1, 1981 Photographs by Guido Toninelli of a Sunday morning in Detriot down town. These images include the famous Renaissance Center, the old tram and the ancient skyscrapers from the 1930s and a car park adjacent to the Cobo Hall, which tells the story of four-year-old cars. In the photograph with the American flag you can see the Pontcharirain hotel where Stola, Sasso and Toninelli stayed.

On March 2, on the return journey on the occasion of the long stopover at the Kennedy airport in New York, Alfredo Stola, Alberto Sasso and Guido Toninelli will decide for a quick visit to Manatthan.

March 2, 1981 New York. Alfredo Stola, Alberto Sasso and Guido Toninelli spend 4 hours in Manatthan.

In the summer of the same year, Alfredo and Massimo Stola were invited to work internships for two months.
Working as modeling apprentices, among the shirts and lunch boxes in the canteen at the Ford factory in Cologne-Niehl.
The opportunity given by the director Munch, was a way to integrate the technical relations between Ford and the modeling shop in Turin, satisfying the uncle's desire for his nephews to have practical experience from outside the company.
What is certain is that the experience in Cologne improved technical communication, as they had the opportunity to share their construction knowledge, also applying the basics of self-certification testing.
The internship, among other things, made it clear that in order to continue the cooperation with Ford, Alfredo Stola & sons, would have to adopt the primary hardware systems and "PDGS" software, used in all Ford plants around the world.

March 1981 Massimo Stola works on the keyboard of the first Helwet Packard 1000
computer purchased by Alfredo Stola & Figli.

In 1980, a new technological innovation hit the world of automotive modelling.
The realization of numerical control models through automatic milling with special three-axis milling machines.
This was a real revolution in this environment, born, as many innovations were, in the United States of America.
The first to experience this new way of working in Italy are the two giants Fiat and Areitalia.

1981 The flow chart of activities, designed by Roberto and Massimo Stola to regulate
the numerical control model construction processes.

The acronym "Cad Cam" (Computer-Aided-Design and Computer Aided Modelling) was born and is still used in the same way, though it has evolved, increasing in performance year by year.
Roberto Stola, with finance and courage of thought, promoted this total change within the company, Alfredo Stola & sons was the third model shop in Italy, after Fiat and Pininfarina to adopt Cad Cam.

1981 The first plotter with different couloured nibs like Zeta.

1981 the Mecof Cs 10 with numerical control is installed. Not knowing how to use numerical control, initially it is used as a normal cutter.The first major investments were in a Mecof type Cs 10 three-axis CNC milling machine with an 8-meter working area, managed by an ECS controller, two Helwet Packard 1000 computers and a 1500 mm Zeta roller plotter.
These were pioneering years, nights and Sundays were worked to realise the software programs, the translation of drawings with a ruler and the preparation of perforated ribbons of blue paper to transmit the data to the numerical control.

1981 Massimo Stola in the computer center department of Via Villa Giusti.

Massimo Stola

Massimo, son of Giuseppe Stola of the casting foundry ,was the young man who started this activity by joining the company in September 1980.
His work took great intelligence and sacrifice, computers were still tools for the few and the dedicated software could not be bought.
Massimo Stola compiled in person the programs, drawing on the works of the first students of three dimensional surface modelling, in particular the mathematicians Steven Anson Coons and Pierre Bézier.

 

SIt was understood that the change would not only be technical but also human, in fact the fifty specialized modelers with an average age of 45/50 years were always used to build models with chisel and gouge, tracing and measuring them with guages.
The thought that a machine could automatically mill a model was a disconcerting development for their profession, above all the thought of being able to lose work forever took over.
The reality turned out to be not so severe, the modelers would still be needed to prepare the material for cutting and to finish the model by hand, removing the tool crests left by the milling and tracing out the detail lines.
In 1981, Alfredo Stola & sons was marginally involved with Gallino of Rivalta Torinese, a plastic moulding company, to realize a master for testing for the front of the Lada Vaz Samara.
A project that was very innovative at the time, so much so that the Russian carmaker entrusted the complete design to Porsche Engineering.
The task of Gallino was to mould in plastic, a special front panel. The plastic material was not only for the bumper and front grille but also formed a ring panel positioned at the end of the bonnet and front fenders, linking them all together in a single part.
La Gallino asked Stola for their experience for the design of a super control device to measure the couplings of all the frontal parts, including the head lights. Given the contract with Porsche, Gallino was asked not to take pictures given the uniqueness of the solution for that time.
The first paycheck of the student who became a modeler in 1980 Walter Boscolo.It was a time of distrust, but Roberto Stola managed to convince his workers that nothing bad would happen to them, indeed he promised that new opportunities and other types of specializations would be born of this modern technology.
In the meantime, as a consequence of these changes, there was an urgent need for a new profession; the surface modeller.
The need for the "new modeller" to perform manual surveys from complex technical drawings, and to insert the mathematical coordinates into the computer.
Once the data was processed, instructions were sent to the mills numerical control through via tool paths.
Three professional courses were established in 1980, 1981 and 1982, subsidised by the Piedmont region, with the participation of a selection of students from the professional technical schools of Torino Arti e Mestieri, San Carlo, and Giovanni Plana.
The three annual courses were held in the second entrance of Via Villa Giusti 68. In all 45 students were trained.

 

 

1981 In via Villa Giusti the already operational department from the first modeling course.

1981 Maccarini draws a model in
pine wood.Michele Adamo, one of the professors, checks the model just made by Tornatore Aniello.

Turin February 1982,via Villa Giusti 68, the students of the 1981/1982 course Bennici Salvatore, Rolando Maurizio, Ferrero Roberto, Spadone Saverio, Dinunno Giuseppe, Peiretti Aldo, Stola Alfredo, Mamusi Giuseppe, Leale Valentino, Rossi Adriano, Gualtiero Gianni, Carmignato Enrico.
Carlo Mantovani and Vincenzo Madonna, father of this group, are absent because they are
engaged in military service.

The professors were some of the best modellers, those who had worked with the founder Alfredo Stola who was then close to retirement.
Francesco Nada and Aldo Peiretti, coordinated by the young Michele Adamo, chief tester for Dea.
This decision to involve them as teachers convinced all the other modelers that the road mapped out by Roberto Stola was right for both themselves and for the company.
Even today in 2019 almost all of these former fifty-year-old students work in respected positions in Stola spa or in other concerns both in Italy and around world. Gradually, having learned to build models by hand, from the end of 1981 these youngsters were transferred from the workshop to the new department called "Calculation Center".
The work overalls were still brown, the chisels replaced by a keyboard connected to a computer, and the workshop was replaced with an open space office.

March 1982 Boys trained on the second professional modeling course. From the left we can see Carmignato,
Ferrero Massimo Stola, Bennici and Rossi.

1982/83 Turin Alfredo Stola & Figli realizes the Master Models of the Fiat Duna sedan and sw.The original photos of the master models were not found.

Ford Europe was still a protagonist in this change, entrusting to the Stola company the milling of the first model built with numerical control.
In January 1982 ,the upper body stucture of the successfull Transit series was created.

March 1982 Massimo Stola with the Mecof CS10 milling machine performs the very first numerical control
milling test on two different Ford Transit upper bodies.

Practically an experiment, from manual input of the measurements from mylard drawings, to numerical control milling through computer processing.
This work was totally performed by Massimo Stola, including operating the Mecof CS 10 milling machine personally.
It was very special day and a significant change, seeing a model born without the use of the chisels guided by the hands, marked the beginning of a new era.
The milling of the models would take place gradually, continuing according to the situation and how convenient it was compared with the traditional manual technique.
Obviously exterior models are the first to be milled with numerical control, only later in 1986 the frame of the Fiat Tipo body side was the first internal structure to be milled with numerical control.

March 1982, the details of the very first numerical control milling of the Ford Transit upper body.March 1982, the details of the very first numerical control milling of the Ford Transit upper body.

March 1982 ,the milling of the Ford Transit upper body.

1979 Talk of the Town,London. Dinner with Ford managers. From left: Jane Kallar, Sid Kallar, Don Bidwell and wife, Alberto Sasso and wife.Despite the initiative of giving  the support jig for free for the Cargo-type master of 1978, Ford, for logistical and process control issues, preferred to do the future assembly of the complete Master Models within its own plants in Germany and in Great Britain.
Nevertheless, in these years hundreds and hundreds of single models were milled in Turin both for exteriors and interiors.
Escort, Sierra, Fiesta, Orion, Scorpio, Transit, and Mondeo projects included, becoming an exclusive model supplier for Ford of Europe.

For reasons of industrial confidentiality, Ford imposed on the modeling firm an absolute prohibition in the taking of photographs, even for the company archive. It is unfortunately for this reason that there are no photographs of the work carried out in those years with the exception of the Cargo-type Master.

1979 Master Model and Ford Escort third series models.1980 Master Model and Ford Sierra models.

1980 Master Model and Ford Fiesta second series models.1981 Master Model and Ford Orion models

1982 Master Model and Ford Scorpio models.1982 Master Model and Ford Transit fourth series models.

1990 Master Model and Ford Mondeo models first series.

The work, although by Ford Cologne, was handled in England by Sid Kallar, project manager of the Ford Europe model shop.
The English manager traveled non-stop from London to Turin every two weeks from 1978 until 1990, when he retired.
It was from him and the company he represented, that  the technicians and managers of Alfredo Stola & sons learned so much  about Anglo-Saxon management and working methods. 

Novembre 1990 Sid Kallar (al centro con la cravatta) festeggia insieme ai tecnici e alle segretarie della Alfredo Stola & Figli il suo ultimo giorno di lavoro in Ford. Da sinistra Sellan Sante, Alfredo Stola, Massimo Stola, Sid Kallar, Alberto Sasso, Bolle, Hans Widdish,Da sinistra  Grazia Bolla, Enza, Sid Kallar, Carla, Sardi Giovanna e Laura Giunipero.




1990 In the historical room of Via La Thuile 71 Sid Kallar in the center with the two union representatives of the company, on the left Danzi and on the right Cellura.1990 Sid Kallar and Alfredo Stola.

1980 Master Model Fiat Uno 5 door1980 Master Model Fiat Uno 5 door

1980 Master Model Fiat Uno 3 door1980 Master Model Fiat Uno 3 door

1980 Fiat Uno special Master for use in the Fiat design office for visible welding point verification through the transparent outer skin made of plexiglass.1980 Fiat Uno special Master for use in the Fiat design office for visible welding point verification through the transparent outer skin made of plexiglass.

1981 Fiat Uno control jig for exterior and interior panels,
3 door versions.1981 Fiat Uno control jig for exterior and interior panels,
5 door versions.

1980 Master Model Lancia 037 built for Pininfarina.1980 Master Model Lancia 037 built for Pininfarina.

1980 Lancia 037 Master Model front view.

1980 Alfa Romeo - Arna Master of control of all sheet metal of the four-door version.For the Stola the first “reverse engineering” work with the starting point is the Nissan Pulsar / Cherry.

1981 Piaggio control jig of the Vespa PK.1981 Piaggio control jig of the Vespa PK.

1981 Fiat Master Model Regata.

1981 Alfa Romeo Master Model Type 33 Sport Wagon derived from the Master Model 33 sedan.

1981 for Pinifarina Master Model of Ferrari Testarossa.

1981 for Pinifarina Master Model of Ferrari Testarossa.

1982 Alfa Romeo Master Model type 90.

1982 Alfa Romeo Master Model type 90 for sheet metal control.1982 Alfa Romeo Master Model type 90 for control.

1982 Alfa Romeo Master Model type Alfa 90.1982 Alfa Romeo Master Model type Alfa 90.

1982 Master Model of a Ford Falcon for Ford Australia that never went into production.1982 Master Model of a Ford Falcon for Ford Australia that never went into production.

1982 The complete Masters are mostly still handmade. At the experimental level, we try to mill
the Master Model of the Fiat Uno that in 1980 had been made by hand.

1983 Alfa Romeo Master Model type 75 for sheet metal control.

In 1983 Alfredo Stola & Sons received an unusual order from Fiat’s the wind tunnel department.
Fiat's engineer Nevio Di Giusto based in Orbassano, had to create a model with an aerodynamic floor designed by Professor Alberto Morelli, professor of aerodynamics at the Polytechnic of Turin.
This was no longer an experiment but a real job, paid for by a customer and in particular was the first model in 1: 1 scale made by Numerical Control from Stola.

1983 Construction of the adjustable aerodynamic frame.1983 milling of the polystyrene model.

1983 The aerodynamic model designed by Professor Alberto Morelli painted and ready to be tested at the Fiat Wind Tunnel Center in Orbassano.1983 The aerodynamic model designed by Professor Alberto Morelli painted and ready to be tested at the Fiat Wind Tunnel Center in Orbassano.

1983 Roberto Stola in his office on the first floor
of Via La Thuile 71.In the 1980's Fiat, Lancia and Alfa Romeo continued to be very important customers.
The collaboration with Ford was seen by them as positive confirmation of the qualities of the company who had been a supplier to them for 60 years.
Without revealing secrets, it is in the nature of these relationships that new ideas and experiences could be shared with the American manufacturer and its bases in Germany and England.
Not just in methods, but also materials, support structures built  in   a Swiss/German aluminium honeycomb material and aluminum represented a big step forward.
After the first 4 years of collaboration, Ford asked the Stolas to research and develop the idea of cubing control models.
1993 Josef Munsch, director of model departments Ford Europe until 1993, the year in which he retired.In 1982, after disappointing quality results of the Ford Sierra in the pre-production assembly phase a paper project was carried out by the technical office of Alfredo Stola & sons and approved by the Ford managers.
The construction of this Cubing model was carried out in Cologne and it is highly likely that it was the first complete testing tool made in the world for interiors and exteriors to be used on the assembly line.
1982 The Cav. Luciano Guasco of Fiat and Roberto Stola.On the occasion of the Ritmo restyling project,in 1982  the Stola model shop delivered to  Fiat a  Cubing model called an "Assembly Master".
Presented at the Fiat technology department directed by Cav. Luciano Guasco and his assistant Giuseppe Luisolo it was accepted in partial form as  a check for the front alone. This was also given for free, a gamble which paid off as from that time Fiat always requested an Assembly Master for each model of car at each production site.
The construction technology and manual details were reproduced  in resin.

 1982 Fiat Uno Interior Fitting Master.1982 Fiat Uno Interior Fitting Master.

1988 Master Interior Fitting Fiat Tipo.1988 Master Interior Fitting Fiat Tipo.

1988 Exterior Fitting Master Fiat Tipo.1988 Exterior Fitting Master Fiat Tipo.

1988 Partial Assembly Masterfor the Fiat Tipo instrument panel.1988 Partial Assembly Masterfor the Fiat Tipo instrument panel.

1990 Fiat Tempra Exterior Fitting Master.1990 Fiat Tempra Exterior Fitting Master.

1990 Fiat Tempra Exterior Fitting Master.1990 Fiat Tempra Exterior Fitting Master.

1993 Lancia Kappa assembly master model.

From the second half of the 1990's,These "Assembly Masters" were promoted in Europe and Asia by the major auto manufacturers, from this initiative VW group became a major customer.
The resin was replaced by forged aeronautical aluminum with some details being made in carbon fiber.

 

1982

In the early days of 1982 Fiat Auto and Saab reached a definitive collaboration agreement for the development of cars with a shared four door chassis.
It was a concept of synergies from Vittorio Ghiedella, M.D. of Fiat, which gave rise to the "Type 4 Project".
The Lancia Thema, Saab 9000 and Fiat Croma were engineered and built followed later by the Alfa Romeo 164, which was a little different in that it had its own unique doors.
From this "type 4 project" an important and long-lasting working relationship was born with Saab and later also with Scania.
The first contact with the Swedish car manufacturer, for Alfredo Stola & Figli, took place in Geneva the previous year at an exhibition, called SITEV, dedicated to introducing suppliers to car manufacturers.
Engineer Alberto Sasso, accompanied by Margherita Stola, was introduced by Doctor Riccardo Bussolati of Fiat Auto to the Saab delegation present at the event.
As a consequence of the introduction, on the feast of Saint Lucia shortly before Christmas, Roberto Stola and Engineer Sasso flew to Trolletthan in Sweden (with 3 stopovers and 9 hours of travel) to meet with Directors Sven Solvang and Gustav Leftinger, from Saab’s technology and purchasing departments respectively.
The exterior design of the 9000 was the work of Italdesign, this was essentially due to the fact that Giugiaro himself was designing the Lancia Thema and Fiat Croma in parallel.
Bjorn Enval, director of Saab’s Style Center, actively followed the whole exterior design activity in Moncalieri, requiring numerous trips to Italy.
The interior style was instead made entirely in Sweden by the Saab style team in Trollhattan.

1981 Lancia Thema special Master for use in the Lancia design office for visible welding point verification through the transparent outer skin made of plexiglass.1981 Lancia Thema special Master for use in the Lancia design office for visible welding point verification through the transparent outer skin made of plexiglass.

1982 Lancia Thema Master Model.1982 Lancia Thema Master Model.

Vittorio Della Rocca in 1993At the end of 1982, the modeler Vittorio della Rocca was hired as an assistant to the two historians Head of Work Carlo Bordone and Sante Sellan to deal with the increase in the amount of work due to the new assembly masters and the demanding orders of the "Type 4 Project"
In the same period, consultant Engineer Guido Toninelli worked together with Engineer Alberto Sasso and Alfredo Stola until 1989 in the complex management of the Saab customer for the Type 9000 in Basic, CD, CS, 900 Aero and 900 Cabrio versions.
The 9000 project was very extensive since, in addition to the classic master model, Alfredo Stola & Figli created 100% of every single detail of the car in all three versions, both for the exterior, the structures and the interior of the passenger and luggage compartments.
For each variant, a demonstration model had to be built, a negative resin, two positive resins and a control jig.
Every detail had to be created, such as gaskets, springs, handles, buttons, mats and even the internal parts of the light units.
It was a kind of concurrent engineering unknown at the time, most of Saab’s production suppliers (in particular the plastic mould makers) would use the Stola model shop in order to make their work more effective and efficient, to achieve maximum technical alignment and especially avoid any waste of time.
The same procedure was utilised for the 900 Cabrio version, the only variation being the supply of all the cast iron tools for the stamping of the internal and external sheet metal, this was made for Saab by the SAT company in Beinasco, exclusive property of Roberto Stola.
The Swedish car manufacturer used the services of the English company IAD, with their engineers resident in Stola for eight years checking the models, resins and jigs to a dimensional tolerance is 0.2mm (two tenths of a millimeter) using DEA trackers.
Every fifteen days Tord du Hane and Pereic Hoglund of the Trollhattan model department would visit Turin for an unlimited and sometimes exhausting review of the 9000 and 900 cabrio projects
Although less common, there were nevertheless also many visits to Turin by the Purchasing and Technology Directors Gustav Leftinger and Sven Solvang
Perhaps more than a hundred trips to Sweden were made by Sasso, Toninelli, Roberto and Alfredo Stola, at that time it took a whole day to get to Saab with the various stopovers and, on the last trip by car, a passport was still required to cross the border.

Tord du Hane  Pereic Haglund

Bjorn EnvallToninelli between 1989 and 1991 worked as a consultant to directly for Giuseppe Stola in the Sev foundry.
The Saab 9000 was also an opportunity to get to know Bjorn Envall, the first non-Italian designer encountered by the Stola team.
Over time this great relationship allowed for a build up of trust that allowed Alfredo Stola & Figli to learn more about the work at Saab’s modelling department, not just the demonstration and master models.

1983 Saab 9000 Master Model.

1983 Saab 9000 Master Model.

To reach Saab and Alfredo Stola & Figli the flight routes were Turin, Frankfurt, Gothenburg, Trollhattan. We always flew with Lufthansa and SAS; the planes were the Boing 727, the DC9 and the Saab 340.

In all the years of work, with hundreds of trips between Italy and Sweden, Swania in Trollhattan and the Prince of Piedmont in Turin were the only hotels used by the men of Alfredo Stola & Figli and those of the Saab.

Turin 1983: Archie test driver from IAD Saab consultant with Eng. Guido Toninelli.

September 1984 Turin Via La Thuile 69. Pereric Hoglund, Alfredo Stola and Jurgen Kopsch The Saab managers, respectively responsible for model and purchasing. The Maserati biturbo is Alfredo's personal car.

1984 Partner in Progress Recognition from Saab to Stola for the 9000 project.

Late 1984 the Saab 9000 goes into series production; the style is by Giorgetto Giugiaro.

The interior of the Saab 9000 will be built by the Saab Style Center in Trollhattan.The interior of the Saab 9000 will be built by the Saab Style Center in Trollhattan.

In this photo taken in 1998, a top view of the Saab factory. For the men of Alfredo Stola & Figli who will later become Stola s.p.a. this will be an extraordinarily familiar panorama.

 

PRIMI ANNI 80

This first half of the 1980s is a period of great work for Saab (for some years it was the customer with the highest turnover), flight connections with Trollhatan in Sweden and Uusikaupunki in Finland were few and involved long stopovers.
Adding to that Ford,  with their offices in Cologne and London and occassionally trips to Istanbul and Bursa for work with Tofas, in 1985  Stola decided to buy a private aircraft.
It was a Cheyenne III PA-42 72R, 9 seater equipped with two 720 hp  Pratt & Whitney turbo-prop engines, a pressurized cabin, a cruising height of 10,700 m, cruising speed of 523 kmh and a range of 4207 km I -CGTO registered.
The captain was Franco Giordano and his co-pilot Alfredo Stola, who had qualified for instrument flight certification (IFR)  a few years earlier.

 

 

July 24, 1985 Gothenburg, Sven Solvang and Guido Toninelli.July 24, 1985 Gothenburg Alfredo Stola in the cockpit of the PA-42 I-CGTO

1987 Alfredo and Maria Paola Stola at the General Aviation of the Turku airport in Finland.

November 6, 1988 flying to Istanbul. Maria Paola Stola and Alfredo.

November 6, 1988 in flight from Turin to Istanbul.

November 6, 1988 Bosphorus dinner Roberto Stola and Jean Nauhm Executive Director Tofas.

1989 Torino Colonia with Renzo Zampicinini
and Alberto Sasso.

1989 At General Aviation of Cologne before the return flight. Alfredo Stola in one of the last photographs with the Cheyenne III.

It is interesting to remember that during the 9000 and 900 projects, both Coupé and Cabriolet made a lot of cargo flights  to both Gothenburg and  Turku.
Removing the seats in order to deliver the prototypes of the rear spoilers to allow the Saab to complete their first series.
These exceptional deliveries were required due to  delays accumulated by Saab itself in building the assembly lines for the pre-production to final production cars.
In 1989, the aircraft was sold due to  operating costs as well as to  the fact that year after year, air links from Turin were continually improving.
It was however a nice experience that allowed Alfredo to accumulate just over a thousand hours of flight between 1980 and 1990 not only with the Cheyenne III, but also with his Cessna 172 RG Cutlass.

 

END 1984

The relationship with Pininfarina went from strength to strength over the years with masterpieces such as the Master Models for the Ferrari 330 GT 2 + 2, 365 GT 2 + 2, 365 GTC 4, Testarossa and the Lancia 037 ago.
At the end of 1984  Alfredo Stola & Sons were involved in the "Pininfarina Cadillac Allanté" project.

1985 Master Model Pininfarina Cadillac Allantè milled with numerical control.1985 Master Model Pininfarina Cadillac Allantè milled with numerical control.

The Allanté program is absolutely unique, Pininfarina were the stylists, designers and builders of all the shells and interior finishes sending them every 3 days via air  fromTurin to Detroit.
Alitalia and Lufthansa Boeing 747 cargos were used, once the complete bodies were unloaded in Detroit the mechanics were installed in the GM plant.

1987 Turin Caselle Airport. The finished bodies and interiors built by Pininfarina are loaded onto the Boing 747 Cargo, Stresa, destination Detroit.1987 Turin Caselle Airport. The finished bodies and interiors built by Pininfarina are loaded onto the Boing 747 Cargo, Stresa, destination Detroit.

A total of 21,430 examples would be built and the Stola Family's modellers would realize the Master Model, the frame models, all the interior models, the copy resins for the moulds and all the control gauges.
In 1984/85 the Allanté was the first program completely realized through the milling of numerical control models; from then on, hand built masters would no longer be used.

 

1985

1985 Via Lesna 76 Grugliasco from left Mamusi Giuseppe, Ulrich, Vincenzo Madonna and Rossi Adriano.

Still in 1985, the Family consolidated its activities by adding new skills to the value chain.
These included the expansion of the computing center for surface modelling and above all the creation of the embryo of an engineering office for bodywork and interior finishes.
The body design was known as "Product Engineering" and would offer great opportunities for years to come.
Directed by Livio Conti, a second office of 1000 square meters was opened in order to host the new surface modellers along with  a few designers at 76, Via Lesna, Grugliasco.

1985 The first flat Plotter purchased by Alfredo Stola & Figli, which is added to the roller one already purchased in 1981.1985 The first flat Plotter purchased by Alfredo Stola & Figli, which is added to the roller one already purchased in 1981.

1985 The heart of the Computing Center with HP hardware housed in a 15 ° controlled temperature room.1985 The heart of the Computing Center with HP hardware housed in a 15 ° controlled temperature room.

In this building, the brown technician's gowns were replaced by white, it became known as the"Calculation Center".
The central computer connected to the first Cad stations was almost as big as a small car and was enclosed within 15-degree glass walls.
It was  a real revolution but always at the service of the workshop where gradually the work  became less manual and more mechanised.

1985 From the left Cozzani and Giuseppe Di Nunno working on the Prime CAD stations for Ford.

In this new activity, Fiat was among the first in the world to want to design the "complete body sides" intended as structural elements for the"Tipo" model. 
Alfredo Stola & Sons were involved with its designers to carry out the difficult task.
For the first time, Fiat also manufactured the molds without the use of copying resins as a natural consequence of CAD design.

1985 Gioachino Grande takes over the drawings with the Digitaiser.1985 Carlo Mantovani surveys the curves to be inserted later on the computer.

1985 Andreoli Paolo, Carlo Mantovani, Cleres Salvatores, Ulrich.