FörderFreunde lecture: Dr. Stefan Dierkes: Pietro Frua - Italian bodies for Maserati, Glas and BMW

The automobile historian Dr. Stefan Dierkes reports onWednesday April 5, 2023,  at 7:00 p.m., at the FörderFreunden in PS.SPEICHER about the  Italian designer and coachbuilder Pietro Frua (1913–1983),  one of the great freelance Italian coachwork designers in the  1950s and 1960s .

Frua was counted among the “Fashion Kings of the Car World” and mentioned in the same breath as today's better-known coachbuilders Bertone, Ghia, Pininfarina, Vignale and Zagato. For his body designs, he used the chassis of almost all the major manufacturers of his time and, in addition to the series vehicles shown in PS.SPEICHER, he also created over 200 tailor-made individual pieces, for which enthusiasts pay top prices at auctions today.

The lecture not only shows selected examples from four decades of Pietro Frua's work, but also explains his traditional, craftsmanship, with which he drew his cars on the drawing board and then finished them in his workshop within a few weeks put functional and roadworthy prototypes on the wheels down to the last detail.

Of course, some Frua vehicles from the  PS.SPEICHER collection will also be exhibited as display objects in the  PS.Halle on this special evening. 

Dr. After studying science, Stefan Dierkes worked in various management positions in the media industry. Since 1981 he has been a type representative for the Opel Kadett A in the Alt-Opel interest group. He began his research on Pietro Frua after purchasing his Opel Kadett A Frua Spider from 1994. They took him on research trips to Geneva, Turin, Rome and California, among others. In 2004 he digitized the Frua family archive in Turin. He  organized Frua meetings and exhibitions. He publishes the results of his research on his website at www.pietro-frua.de, in three books and numerous articles so far.

Entry costs €10; Supporting friends have free access. Tickets are available in advance at PS.SPEICHER or at the box office.   In order to make planning easier for the FörderFreunde team, interested parties are asked to contact the FörderFreunde office on 05561  92320 270 or by emailursula.raschke@ps-speicher.de register in advance.