The Vandenbrink GTO is a tribute to the iconic 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO and designed to be built on the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano chassis and drivetrain.

Ferraris have always been a passion of mine, mainly because of the beautiful and timeless bodywork designs from the fifties and sixties. Unsatisfied with Ferrari’s current designs I picked up my pencil and started to draw. I tried to picture my all-time favorite Ferrari model, the 250 GTO, as she would have looked when she’d have developed into a modern day, all mature lady. Still sexy, still powerful, but also realistically purposeful to modern standards.

Soon after my initial sketches got spread all over the internet, it seemed I was not the only one with similar nostalgic thoughts. The design sketches drew a lot of positive attention. TOPGEAR even wrote: “We’ve reached ocular nirvana. Arguably the best-looking car in the world”, and in 2008 the GTO had been awarded the GOOD DESIGN AWARD by The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture & Design.

Read more about the GTO and the start of Vandenbrink Design in my column ‘Rendez Vous’ at COACHBUILD.com

Together with Hietbrink Coachbuilding and EDO Competition, two versions are offered: the 599 GTO ( 5998 cc / 650 hp / 630 Nm ) and the 630 GTO ( 6300 cc / 750 hp / 680 Nm ).

Visit VANDENBRINK DESIGN BV for more information.

The Vandenbrink GTO is a tribute to the iconic 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO and designed to be built on the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano chassis and drivetrain.

Read more about the GTO and the start of Vandenbrink Design in my column ‘Rendez Vous’ at COACHBUILD.com

Together with Hietbrink Coachbuilding and EDO Competition, two versions are offered: the 599 GTO ( 5998 cc / 650 hp ) and the 630 GTO ( 6300 cc / 750 hp ).

A Competition version was planned a little later. With the original 250 GTO as inspiration, it was only logical that our Vandenbrink GTO would enter the race tracks around the world in experimental GT-classes.

Visit VANDENBRINK DESIGN BV for more information.

Project ‘Fra Mauro’ is a Spyker C8-based design proposal. The low-tech Spyker C8 Spyder has a very nice aluminium tub chassis and no structural body panels, making it an ideal base for coachbuilt projects. The original Spyker C8 was heavily inspired by classic fighter planes, but with the Fra Mauro I made some steps forward by drawing inspiration from contemporary jet fighters.

Visit VANDENBRINK DESIGN BV for more information.

The GT Convertible I designed when I still was a partner in Vandenbrink Design, is my vision on how an open top version of the Ferrari 599 GTB should look.

Visit VANDENBRINK DESIGN BV for more information.

At Vandenbrink Design I created several special Shooting Brake designs, amongst others based on the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. In true coachbuilding tradition, any Shooting Brake can be tailor made for its intended use like hunting on private estates or for carrying the special gear required for country sportsmen, golfers, tennis or cricket players, etcetera.

Visit VANDENBRINK DESIGN BV for more information.

In 2005 at Spyker Cars NV in The Netherlands I created the exterior and interior styling of the D8 Peking to Paris SSUV. The extraordinary ‘Super Sports Utility Vehicle’ was penned under the guidance of Spyker CEO Victor Muller with the Middle East and American market in mind. The concept car was first shown at the 2006 Geneva Autosalon and this outrageous vehicle is currently being developed towards series production by Lotus Engineering.

During my stay at Spyker Cars I created many livery variations for the GT2-R competition cars. Eventually the Spyker ‘S’ was draped over each corner of the car and the color scheme could easily be adjusted to the main sponsor’s corporate style. Since 2005, the competition Spykers were seen in different color combinations, but always with the same S-lines running across the car’s body.

The Mitka is an environmentally friendly vehicle, which has been developed back in 1999/2000, in a joint research project for future mobility. I was given a clean sheet to develop this all new concept in cooperation with the Delft Technical University, Nike Europe, TNO, Gazelle and Van der Veer Design. The Mitka is specifically designed for distances between 5 and 20 kilometers and has several innovative design features, such as a folding roof system, electrical power assistance and a tilting three-wheel chassis design for natural corner leaning.

The Dutch professional cyclist Jan Janssen became the first Dutchman ever to win the Tour de France in 1968. After his professional career he decided to fill the growing need for high quality custom built bicycles. Since 1972 the family-owned company builds high-end sports bicycles for the demanding professional and semi-professional cyclist. All their bikes are tailor made to personal perfection for each specific client. See their latest collection here.

Zahir Rana from ZR Auto in Canada requested a striping design for promotional use, to be applied to his extreme Ferrari Enzo XX Evolution. This fastest Enzo in the world (840 HP, 780 Nm, topspeed > 390 km/h, 0–100 km/h 3,2s) is modified and tuned by Edo Competition.

Initial studio shots.

Latest images.

Striping design for promotional use applied to the Lamborghini Gallardo, modified by IMSA and tuned by Heffner. Commissioned by Canadian Exotic Car Dealer ZR Auto.

Photoshop design renderings.

The result.

Striping design for promotional use applied to the Ferrari F430, modified and tuned by Novitec Rosso. Commissioned by Canadian Exotic Car Dealer ZR Auto.

Initial studio shots.

Latest images.

German Tuning company Edo Competition was the initiator of this highly unusual and unique art-car. The original artwork for this project was provided by fashion artist Christian Audigier. My job was to get inspired and digitally modify Audigier’s work to be applied onto the body and into the interior of a Lamborghini Murciélago LP710. Only 5 Audigier Lamborghinis were available.

There is nothing more personal than style and taste

Questions about the ‘how’ and ‘why’ are often unimportant

Just be
Just do

Just enjoy the essence and its beauty

Welcome to Atelier Michiel van den Brink

Do not try to explain an object of art with words
Words can never do justice to its true meaning
and will eventually kill the essence

Give it a single name instead
enjoy its beauty
and it will come to life