What is the Breadvan Hommage?

When a true admirer of an Italian brand reported to Niels van Roij Design with a special request to custom build a Breadvan Hommage, the design studio saw it as an honourable task to translate the iconic racing car into a car from the more recent past. The Breadvan was built by Sports Cars of Modena, owned by Piero Drogo, for Count Giovanni Volpi di Misurata, owner of the Scuderia Serenissima.

“We see it as a great privilege that we can honour the Breadvan through this Hommage commission,” says Van Roij. “It is a complex task to translate the essence of the legendary ’62 car into a contemporary design. We intend to be inspired by the old car, but will ensure we are not limited by it in our creativity”.

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Because this car design for coachbuilding commission includes a full re-body and major interior changes it is a unique opportunity for Niels van Roij Design to allow full insight into the entire development: from ideation process, exterior and interior design, to clay modelling and coachbuilding of the Breadvan Hommage body. The complete openness that our car design studio offer on a weekly basis is exceptional within automotive design.

For those who are interested it is a great opportunity to follow the creation of this one-off, step by step, through social media.

Welcome to the Breadvan Hommage

The Niels van Roij Design Breadvan Hommage

• Styled by Niels van Roij Design and strictly limited to only one example
• Wearing Vredestein Ultrac Vorti+ tyres
• Equipped with bespoke Koni shocks

The Niels van Roij Design Breadvan Hommage is based on an Italian V12 gran turismo coupe. Niels van Roij Design has styled the interior and exterior of the coachbuilt motorcar and has also overseen the construction process.

Breadvan Hommage

When a true admirer of an Italian car manufacturer reported to Niels van Roij Design with the request to design a Breadvan Hommage, the car design studio saw it as an honourable task to translate the iconic race car into a modern piece of car design. “We see it as a great privilege that we can celebrate the ’62 Breadvan through this Hommage commission,” says Niels van Roij. “It was a complex task to translate the essence of the legendary car into a contemporary design. We intended to be inspired by the original, but ensured we were not limited by it in our creativity. The Breadvan Hommage is a new original.”

Breadvan Hommage by Niels van Roij Design

Breadvan Hommage ideation sketches and design renderings

As is the case with all Niels van Roij Design coachbuilding projects, the Breadvan Hommage started with ideation sketches: quick drawings made by hand. These ideation sketches are crucial for every automotive design project and one of many iterative stages of the car design process. “Automotive design is about the search and the experiment” according to 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.” The next step, after selecting one of the ideation sketches, was fitting the design precisely over the technical layout of the base car and presenting it in a more refined way. All the surfacing and volumes were developed into a large variety of high resolution images. These renderings make the shapes easier to read and again a selection is made. This selection was developed into the clay model.

Clay model Breadvan Hommage

A frame work was installed on the base car, to which the clay was applied. To make the full size clay model, the team needed detailed visual information. Think of surface transitions from side to top and the design of air intakes, rear lights and the opening in the bonnet. All this visual data was provided by renderings, showing the details from different angles. Design work was ongoing during the highly labour intensive clay modelling process. The car was further refined and all challenges, such as the integration of a bevel around the roof and the new headlights, were ironed out.

Niels van Roij Design Breadvan Hommage

Clay model of the Breadvan Hommage

Van Roij: “A car is a complex, three dimensional sculpture, which has to look right from all angles and under different light circumstances. Like sketching, the clay modelling process is iterative and the Breadvan Hommage was reshaped many times, to get it spot on. After establishing the correct proportions the search for sophistication in the surfacing, or skin, started: finding the right subtleties for transitions from one element to another. It includes the exterior graphics like the richly sculpted air vents on the front fenders. The body of the Breadvan Hommage was hand beaten by coachbuilder Bas van Roomen. Bas also worked on the clay model of the Breadvan Hommage. Only the windscreen of that car remained OEM and it was painted in one of the eight specially designed reds.

Bespoke interior

The Breadvan Hommage features a handmade interior. The iconic outline of the exterior design has been embroidered into the blue Alcantara carbon fibre backed seats. The monogram can also be found on the dials, all 7 boasting pure silver inlays. The clock says: ‘che importa’. Italian for ‘who cares!’ All switchgear is made out of milled aluminium, linking to the gated shifter, which is set on a raised block. The driver is surrounded by quilted black leather: it can be found on the centre console, the lower door cards and the headliner. The door panels feature an unpainted, hand beaten aluminium element, which links to the custom body, made in the exact same way. A small embroidered Italian flag in the corner of the aluminium insert is highlighting the roots of the vehicle. The door is opened through pulling a lightweight red cord, whilst a blue Alcantara insert functions as grab handle to close it.