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IF there is one word that sets fire to the soul of a true car buff, it is the word Italian. For more than half a century, Italian design has been synonymous with flair, power and grace.

The design studios carry names that are familiar to anyone who has paid even scant attention to the automotive scene. Ghia, Bertone, Giugiaro are among the big ones. Their cars are Volkswagens and Volvos, Fiats and Fords, a whole array of brands and badges.

And then there is Pininfarina. This Pininfarina is Sergio, the 58-year-old son of the company's late founder and the current chairman of what has become Italy's preeminent design firm. He is sipping coffee in New York's Pierre Hotel, natty in a gray suit accented by a blue and green tie from Brooks Brothers. The conversation ranges from child rearing to management theory, from Italian artistic success to the things that make a luxury car. But right now he wants to talk about his tie.

''You like my tie?'' he asks. ''This is American. I bought it yesterday. This means that good taste is the same in New York or Torino or Paris or London. It is a lovely tie. But this is all I can say about a tie. Lovely or not lovely, nothing else. A tie is another mentality. That's why I don't do ties.''

What he does do is complex things with lots of moving parts, most of them swooping and expensive automobiles. All Ferraris carry Pininfarina bodies. The Rolls-Royce Camargue is his. So is the Peugeot 505 and the Fiat Spyder. His latest project is Cadillac's 1987 Allante, and its launching has brought him to these shores from his home in Turin. Everything but a Phone

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The Allante is a $54,700 roadster that is meant to compete with the Mercedes-Benz SL series and the new two-seater that is a joint venture of Chrysler and Maserati. The bodies are built in Pininfarina's factory and flown to Detroit, where they are mated with the General Motors powertrain. The finished product is a large car with a V8 engine mounted sideways that drives the front wheels, and only one option, a cellular telephone.

''They said that Allante had to be easily recognizable as a Cadillac,'' Mr. Pininfarina said. ''That was the only design limitation. But we had some difficulties, because we are accustomed to smaller surfaces than this. The difference in size is less than it was 10 years ago, but American wheels are still bigger, front suspensions are still taller than in Europe. So in the beginning, we had a certain embarrassment in seeing our lines translated into panels as large as these.''

Despite the car's size, 56 bodies fit into a Boeing 747 for transport to Detroit. The cost is high, but Mr. Pininfarina says that, as a percentage of the Allante's sticker price, it is bearable.

But why not design and build the bodies in the United States?

Mr. Pinanfarina smiles and nods. ''The Allante could have been designed by General Motors,'' he says. ''But they wanted to offer something from Europe. It's a different flavor. If you want to compete with the imports, I think you want to offer American technology and Italian design.

''If you think of painting, if you think of sculpture, if you think of architecture, Italian people have always been famous for arts - not very much for war. And I'm happy for that. I'd like no more wars, so the generals are useless. I think there is an artistic inclination certainly in the life of the Italian people.''

Perhaps that is why coachbuilding was an Italian success story even before the automobile came along, he says. His father, Battista Farina, nicknamed Pinin, opened shop in May 1930, and one of his first commissions was to design the 1931 Cadillac. Renamed by Decree

In succeeding years, the studio turned out a number of landmark cars, including the Cisitalia, which has been displayed as an example of moving sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The company took its current name in 1961, when a decree by the Italian president combined nickname and surname in formal fashion.

He is reminded that he once said life would be less pleasant if he had to work for General Motors, if he had to please hordes of customers instead of a relative few. That brings a laugh, and he says: ''Imprudent of me. But up to now, I have always been totally free, and the people follow. Certainly when you design a Ferrari, or when you design an Allante, you are entirely free.

''When you design an automobile that you must sell to millions of people, the investment is terrific. That is the origin of the clinics, where you make a new car and you invite a dozen people, a dentist, a sportsman, a lawyer, a prostitute. And you say do you like this, do you prefer that? I accept it, but I am not an enthusiast, and I'll tell you why. It is not because I am super. But I am looking to the future and these people are accustomed to the past. That can be very misleading.''

But what of those cars that are sold by the millions? In an era of homogeneous technology, are they not built as well? Don't they have power windows and other gew-gaws? And if so, what constitutes today's luxury car?

Again a nod. ''The progress in construction has been so important that even in a low-priced car you have near-perfection. But you haven't all the comfort. In a deluxe car, you have all this. And the materials. Leather is very distinctive. Another factor is the ratio between the volume of the car and the volume of the occupants.

''I'm exaggerating to make you laugh, but if you take an economy car, you have more space on the inside than the outside. You see the whole family in a very small car, and everything is full of people, full of animals. In a deluxe car, you don't care much about space, because you are looking for silence, for roominess.

''I remember one day, a very rich man wanted me to make a Ferrari for him, and he said he wanted it to be very light. Well, the engine is heavy, the wheels are heavy. I can't reduce the wheels. So we started to cut weight. Two doors are better than four. Plexiglas instead of glass. Trunk lid? He says he doesn't use a trunk lid. I said, 'Where do you put your bags?' He said, 'I tell the chauffeur to carry the bags in another car.'

''That is what we are talking about. When to reduce the weight, you have no trunk lid and you have another man bring your bags, this is luxury. This is the difference.''

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