Motto

Introduce

Est. 1932

Rocco motto born in Rivarossa (TO) in 1904. Orphaned during the WWI, little Rocco began working the iron like many other boys of his village. He learned quickly and well the job and was employed by several manufacturers of coaches or car bodies.  In 1925 he became chief-department at the Martelleria Maggiora of Turin. In 1932 he began working on his own by opening his workshop in Turin, in via Orta. Here, his main activity was to build crude shells on behalf of the main coachbuilders and the major car companies of the period, including Pininfarina, Ghia and Lancia. Rocco Motto took advantage of capable staff who designed and crafted the bodies, while he took care of the finishing touches. Soon Motto revealed to the world his own style, made of simple and essential lines, but also smooth and flowing. One of the best result achieved in that period was a boat body, created in 1938 using a Fiat 500 chassis. After the end of the WWII, Rocco Motto transferred his assets in via Bardonecchia and specialized in race cars made in aluminum. Between 1946 and 1949 he built the bodies of some Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Cisitalia, Bandini and Ermini. Motto established also a partnership with Fiat for the realization of bodies for the 1100S berlinetta MM. Shortly after the business collaboration was truncated by the Fiat to rely on a cheaper coachbuilder. Shortly thereafter, realizing the inferior quality of these alternative bodies, Fiat took the 1100S out of production. This decision, however, was not a blow to Motto, because his reputation was growing day by day, thanks to the Cisitalia D46 and 204, which running succesfully in many races, they contribute to the remarkable reputation of the coachbuilder. Everyone liked the race cars derived by Motto from the series productions.  Unforgettable beauty and high-performance, for example, was the small number of Lancia Aprilias Sport built by Gianni Basso and bodied by Motto. Soon the name of Motto stepped over the Italian borders with the production of the Talbot-Lago and Renault specimens. He also worked on some Jaguar, a Delahaye 150, the Delahaye 175 which won the Monte Carlo Rally in 1951 and a 1953 MG. Moreover Motto realized the 4 Lancia Aurelia B20 race cars for the factory and also returned to work on some models like the Siata Daina and the 208S. The fame of Motto even crossed the Atlantic Ocean and arrived in the USA, where appeared some models with bodywork by Motto, as the 1953 Cadillac La Salle. Motto prominent admirers gathered in the USA, including Virgil Exner and Raymond Loewy. At his request came the Lancia Flaminia Loraymo, famous for the curious design. Loewy chosen Motto after all the other coachbuilders refused the charge because of the complexity of the work. Among other accomplishments, Motto action includes the Jaguar XK140, the Fiat 600 Campestre and some Fiat 1100/103. In 1963, the Porsche was interested in Motto, who built the streamlined silhouette of the Porsche 356B Abarth GTL with the mechanical parts fitted by Carlo Abarth. The production of the bodies ceased in 1965, after Motto devoted himself and his son Francesco in the production of caravans and commercial vehicles. Rocco Motto died, aged 92, in 1996.