The story, as I heard it (probably 50 years ago) goes.... Loewy was walking around an Alfa factory at some point and was attracted to the design of a pair of seats that were being removed from a car. He inquired about the seats origin, but not specifically why they were removed from the car. A similar design was used on the two front seats for the new Avanti. It was later revealed that the Alfa seats were being replaced with a better version because they were uncomfortable on long trips..