Franco Maina

Franco Maina (1938–2019) was an influential Italian automobile designer and visual artist, best known for his nearly three-decade-long work at the renowned Piedmontese coachbuilder Fissore. During his career, Maina designed a range of cars and was instrumental in the transformation of Fissore into an international player in the automotive design industry.

Maina began his career in 1955 at the age of 17 as an apprentice at Fissore, a company founded in 1920. In 1959, he took over the leadership of the design department and played a pivotal role in reshaping the company’s direction. By the early 1960s, Fissore started to work with international clients, including Brazilian automaker DKW, as well as Alpine, Elva, TVR, and Monteverdi. Maina guided this transition and worked with various designers, including Mario and Paolo Fissore, as well as independent talents like Trevor Fiore and Pio Manzù.

Maina was responsible for designing several significant vehicles, including coupe and convertible models for OSCA and Fiat, and the DKW-Vemag Fissore. One of his most notable designs was the bodywork for the De Tomaso Vallelunga, the first production sports car from De Tomaso. Although De Tomaso did not commission Fissore for the full-scale production, Ghia later adopted Maina’s design without modification. In the 1970s, Maina’s Fiat 127 Fissore Scout became particularly well-known. One of his final works for Fissore was the Macho, a hatchback limousine based on the Ford Granada, which was later showcased by Peter Monteverdi as a prototype in 1980.

After Fissore’s closure in 1984, Maina worked as a buyer for a company in Moretta until his retirement in the early 1990s. Post-retirement, he became a part-time artist, renovating old houses and teaching for two years at the Centro Europeo Modellismo Industriale. Franco Maina passed away in 2019, leaving behind a lasting legacy in automotive design.