1973 Audi Karmann Asso di Picche (ItalDesign)

Концепт-кар Audi Asso di Picche («Пиковый туз») - двухместное купе на шасси Audi 80, создано в 1973-м году итальянской кузовной студией Italdesign по заказу немецкой автомобильной фирмы Karmann. Выпущенный в единственном экземпляре автомобиль был представлен публике на Франкфуртском автосалоне 1973-го года.

Beginning with the chassis and the mechanics of Audi 80, on Karmann's demand, a four seats sport Coupé, reproducible in small series.

The Boomerang dominating geometries, trapeziums, are reproduced here to set up a graphic shape with a great optical impact. In comparison with Audi 80, which has the same chassis and mechanics, in the Asso di Picche the rear overhang is shorted while the front one is increased to give more dash to the car.

Great research even for the interiors: instruments panel is a cylinder and creates an innovative approach for future layout.

Asso di Picche will definitely influence Lancia Delta design, that will be presented in 1979: surfaces treatment is the same, just like the transversal section. Lancia Delta is the first car produced in series with integrated bumper painted with bodywork same colour.

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When the doors open to the 45th International Motor Show in Frankfurt, the sensation is perfect. With his Ace of Spades Study, Karmann presents a four-seater coupe, setting standards both inside and out: under the wedge-shaped car body and behind large window panes a futuristic cockpit with drum-shaped instrument panels and narrow sporty steering wheel.

The coupe, based on an Audi 80, was created with help of Giorgio Giugiaro. Next to the unusual shape the car body. other details cause a great deal of discussion: such as the removable shopping bags that can be unbuttoned from the interior door lining.

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Italdesign and Karmann teamed up once again in 1973 to craft a Volkswagen concept car, but the finished product would have a much more profound influence on other production vehicles than the Cheetah before it.

Although Audi was enjoying the fiscal stability provided by new parent Volkswagen, it was Karmann who approached Italdesign with the idea of creating a concept coupe built off the Audi 80. At the very least, the company had a vested interest in the project -- should VW/Audi brass enjoy the proposal, Karmann felt it could attain a contract to mass-produce the car.

Dubbed the Asso di Picche (Italian for Ace of Spades), the finished product looked nothing like the humble 80 it was built upon. Giugiaro envisioned a sleek, wedge-shaped coupe with a slender nose, long hood, and a short, angular fastback. The show car looked nothing like any other Audi model at the time -- arguably, the only visual link to the 80 was the front fascia, which sported a full-width grille housing large quad headlamps and the fabled four-ring logo.

VW executives liked the car, but didn't push it into production exactly like Karmann hoped. Instead, it called upon Giugiaro to pen the first-generation Scirocco, which bears a striking resemblance to the Asso di Picche -- gaping grille and all. Lucky for Karmann, it found a way to score a contract building the bodies for the little sport coupe.

Giugiaro eventually extrapolated the Asso di Picche into a line of "Ace" concepts. The Asso di Quadri (Ace of Clubs), shown in 1976, was built from a BMW 320i, and bears a remarkable resemblance to the second-generation Scirocco. The Asso di Fiore, unveiled in 1979, was a dead ringer for the 1982 Isuzu Piazza/Impulse.

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