After serving in the Italian army during World War I, in 1926 he married and settled in Paris, France: parenthood quickly followed.

In November 1934 Pigozzi's Fiat assembly business relocated to larger premises at Nanterre, and out of this Simca was born.

[1] A bond between Gordini and Pigozzi existed naturally, partly because they were both Italian expatriates who had moved to France after the war.

[1] He quickly showed a flair for improving the performance from the cars' basic Fiat designed engines without incurring massive expenditure, acquiring the sobriquet "le sorcier de la mécanique" (roughly "the mechanic- wizard"),[1] and staying with Simca till 1951.

The break with Simca arose over the extent of the manufacturer's support for Simca-Gordini participation at the top level of motor racing, including Formula 1.

In Brazil, technical changes in the Brazilian version of Renault Dauphine, manufactured by Willys-Overland, caused the company to rename this car model in 1962, releasing it with the popular nickname Gordini.