ferrari breadvan homage by niels van roij reinvents a historic racing icon

when an impassioned admirer of an italian marque came to london-based niels van roij design with a special request to custom build a breadvan homage, the design studio happily accepted the task to translate the iconic racing car into a completely unique vehicle. the 1962 ferrari 250 GT SWB breadvan is a one-off built by sports cars of modena, and owned by piero drogo for count giovanni volpi di misurata, owner of 1960s racing team scuderia serenissima. ‘it is a complex task to translate the essence of the legendary ’62 car into a contemporary design,‘ says niels van roij. ‘we intend to be inspired by the old car, but will ensure we are not limited by it in our creativity. the breadvan hommage is a new original.’

all images by robbert moree and luuk van kaathoven

the niels van roij design ‘breadvan homage’ is based on an italian v12 gran turismo coupe, with the studio styling the interior and exterior of the coachbuilt motorcar, and overseeing its construction process. the project started with hand-drawn sketches — a crucial element of the studio’s automotive design projects and one of many iterative stages of the car design process. ‘automotive design is about the search and the experiment,’ says van roij, ‘which is only truly achievable in a handmade sketch. in the ideation sketches differences can not only be seen in proportions and surfacing, the skin of the car, but also in the application of graphics and other details. such as the bespoke exhausts and unique headlights. eventually this process produces a so called key sketch: the one sketch chosen to be developed into more elaborated, rendered ideas.’

after selecting one of the sketches, the next step was to fit the design precisely over the technical layout of the base car and present it in a more refined way. all the surfacing and volumes were developed into a large variety of high resolution renderings, which make the shapes easier to read. a selection was then developed into a clay model. design work was ongoing during the highly labor-intensive clay modelling process, with the car further refined and all challenges, such as the integration of a bevel around the roof and the new headlights, ironed out. ‘a car is a complex, three dimensional sculpture, which has to look right from all angles and under different light circumstances,’ van roij continues. ‘like sketching, the clay modelling process is iterative and the breadvan hommage was reshaped many times, to get it spot on.’

the breadvan homage features a fully handmade interior, with the vehicle’s iconic silhouette embroidered into blue alcantara carbon fibre backed seats. the monogram can also be found on the dials, all seven boasting pure silver inlays. door panels feature an unpainted, hand-beaten aluminum element, which links to the custom body made in the exact same way. a small embroidered italian flag in the corner of the aluminum insert highlights the vehicle’s history. the door is opened by pulling a lightweight red cord, while a blue alcantara insert functions as grab handle to close it.

because the breadvan homage design has includes a full re-body and major interior changes, niels van roij has shared step-by-step insights into the entire development process on social media — see more here.