Where does one start with the story of Giotto Bizzarrini? I guess in 1953. That's when, at the age of 28, he wrote his engineering thesis about the complete Abarthization of the Topolino, the 13 horsepower predecessor of the Fiat 500. The following year, he landed at Alfa Romeo (not unlike Enzo Ferrari back in the day), where he became a chassis engineer, despite the fact he was hoping to work on powertrains.

Bizzarrini's next move was training to be a test driver, only to leave Alfa the moment Ferrari was looking for one in 1957. He soon became chief engineer, a position he held for five years. During this time, Ferrari came out with the legendary 250 series, with Bizzarrini designing pretty much every part the most important of them all: the 250 GTO.