Austin A40 Farina
This was the first fruit of BMC's decade-long association with Pininfarina, a represented a significant departure from the conservative styling of in-house Austin stylist Dick Burzi.
BMC "Farina" saloons
The follow-up to the A40 Farina adopted what was a becoming very much the Pininfarina house style during the mid-late 1950s. Indeed, the Pininfarina-designed Peugeot 404 emerged a couple of years later looking very similar, if a little cleaner; however, both these cars owe a lot to the Lancia Flaminia of 1955 – also designed by Pininfarina...
Morris 1100
The 1100 was the first of these cars which was as modern under the skin as its stylish Italian bodywork suggested, featuring front-wheel-drive and Hydrolastic suspension. Pininfarina successfully managed to prevent it from looking like a four-door Mini.
Austin 1800
Perhaps not one of Pininfarina's better efforts, and the precise extent of the Italian design house's involvement in the car's final shape remains unclear. Sergio Pininfarina certainly worked on the front and rear ends (having had his previous 1100-lookalike proposal rejected), and BMC did not miss the opportunity to use his name in their publicity material.
MGB GT
Pininfarina's services were procured in order to turn the MGB roadster into the MGB GT fixed-head coupé.
Jaguar XJ Series 3 roofline
When the time came to refine the sublime design of the Jaguar XJ saloon for the 1980s, BL again turned to Pininfarina to provide a revised roofline treatment. As can be seen from the accompanying photograph, the results were so good that it soon became hard to remember that this aspect of the car had ever looked any different.
MG F / TF hood
Designing the hood mechanism for a modern roadster is a major engineering exercise in itself, so Rover elected to sub-contract this element of the MG F's development programme to a third-party specialist, and once again, it was Pininfarina that got the job.
