Bertone BAT 11

[faksta]

Bertone BAT 11 (2008) Sketch.jpg

Will debut in Geneva this year. Based on Alfa 8C Competizione chassis, it will be just a static model without even interior. More info will follow closer to launch.

[henk4]

does it mean that Bertone has not yet gone under?

[faksta]

It means that even though Bertone is in the red, guys can't stop drawing good cars

[Revo]

Originally Posted by henk4

does it mean that Bertone has not yet gone under?

Sadly, there is a typical Italian drama (or a comedy, if you will) going on here....

Mummy (Lilli Bertone) says Bertone is not going to Geneva, both daughters (Marie-Jeanne and Barbara Bertone) claim that Bertone is going to Geneva. Of course the Italian authorities are involved to make the situation even more confusing.

The stage is set for a true commedia dell'arte...

Read all about it from here.

[henk4]

the two protagonista....
(Villa d'Este 2007)

[Ferrer]

Originally Posted by henk4

does it mean that Bertone has not yet gone under?

I bet it's only 10 minutes till they do...

About the car itself it's not even confirmed for Geneva.

[ScionDriver]

Good times. I would like to see it in the real. They can still make pretty cars.

[nopassn]

Originally Posted by henk4

the two protagonista....
(Villa d'Este 2007)

Good thing they can draw pretty cars... cause them broads is u-g-l-y.... UGLY.

[henk4]

Originally Posted by nopassn

Good thing they can draw pretty cars... cause them broads is u-g-l-y.... UGLY.

I hope you realised that they were mother and daughter Bertone....

[LandQuail]

I'M SO ****ING HAPPY TO RESPOND TO THIS POST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I might be the only UCP member to crash a car with factory-applied Bertone badges at both ends.

It was a 1989 Fiat X1/9, but FIAT had already bailed from the long-lived X1/9 project in 1988, and already produced their Gran Finale model.

Bertone picked up from there, for one more year, and produced a Bertone-badged car from the last few Fiat X1/9 bodyshells they had laying around.

Those cars, those X1/9s, I just love the **** out of them. They were the first mass-produced mid-engine car (the Lotus Europa was the first production mid-engine car, but sadly, they couldn't be considered mass-produced.) and my GOD, where they ever tricky to drive at their limits.

They were a great car, the Fiat/Bertone X1/9s; they could change direction like a ballerina, and broadcast messages back from the tires to the wheel like an Edward R. Murrow Wet Dream, but ask them to go beyond 8/10ths, and you life was in your own hands.

[faksta]

You killed it! OMG!
BTW, do you write for magazine? The language makes me think so...

[Kitdy]

Originally Posted by faksta

You killed it! OMG!
BTW, do you write for magazine? The language makes me think so...

He does.

[BigJake]

The real story here, is as follows:
My father, Gary Kaberle, owned the BAT 9 for MANY years and became the BAT authority. His dream was to create/build the BAT 11dk a modern equivalent to the BATs of old; with a purpose. To pay tribute to my late mother and foster Breast Cancer Awareness. He has worked on this project for 10+ years.
About 18 months ago my father took this idea to Bertone. At which time they gladly took up the task of desiging/building the new BAT. The 11 was born through many trips to Italy by my father. Stile Bertone did a phenomenal job of bringing his dream to reality. Unfortunately my father has gone unmentioned as of late, with regards to this design and the true story/inspiration behind the new car.
The car is beautiful. I have seen pictures of the full scale model. I truly hope the world gets to see it at Geneva. This is another testament to the creativity this financially burdened company has to offer the automotive world!!!!

[BigJake]

BERTONE CANCER CAR.pdf
This release was sent out Saturday to several media outlets.

[LandQuail]

Upon sobering up from my epic vengeance-fueled bender, I reflected on the enduring mass appeal of those old BAT cars.

I saw a Matchbox toy BAT at the supermarket the other day — the one with the wrap-around tailfins — and since I'm married and no longer as concerned with making an impression with the only-slightly-chubby teenage goth checkout girl, I took it off the impulse-buy rack for a study.

In their time — and this probably is still true today — the BAT cars were out-of-this-world; they were flamboyant, elegant and deliciously unobtainable, but here's the key thing: they were drivable.

The had proper, adequate windscreens and side glazing — not the pillbox slits the drivers of too many concept cars today would have to peek out of — and though the tailfins offer a nod to form and a cold shoulder to function, I don't think they'd really interfere with a driver's vision in traffic.

Sod's law suggests that if you did take one out for a sunny day's motoring, some teenage dope fiend would steer a borrowed Hyundai S'Coupe into it while trying to find the "hidden track" on a bootleg Ramstein album, but you wouldn't crash because you couldn't see out of it (Maser. Birdcage concept, anyone?).

And as exotic as the bodywork is, there's proven, reliable running gear underneath — nothing über-exotic, just nicely-sorted, quality mechanicals.

I'm looking at the BAT 11 concept and I like the over-the-top styling, but I can't imagine having much fun negotiating commuter traffic in it.

Point is: value not considered, I'd rather drive any of the first three BAT cars on a daily, real-world basis than the 1900 Sprint on which they were based.

I haven't seen anything but this sketch for the BAT 11, but I'm thinking that under the before-mentioned conditions I'd rather have an unmolested Alfa 8C than the new BAT.

Still, it does what concept cars are supposed to do: inspire the public and draw reaction to gauge the effectiveness of evolving "design language."

But couldn't there have been a way for the new BAT to do this without the impractical cockpit, as the BATs of yore did?

Of course, seeing it in the flesh could prove me wrong. These sketches are often rather more "Buck Rogers" than the finished product.