Autoblog

Bertone's not officially exhibiting at Geneva this year, as the company is going through some upheaval, but it still made a splash in Switzerland. The B.A.T. 11, paying direct homage to the original B.A.T. concepts, was unveiled in Geneva at the AutoDesignNight event. The car was commissioned by Gary Kaberle, and you'd never know that there's an Alfa Romeo 8C hiding under the sheetmetal that's strongly evocative of the 1955 B.A.T. 5. Tapered fins and faired in wheels follow the design fundamentals laid down 50-plus years ago by Nuccio Bertone and Franco Scaglione, and the unique wheels with two layers of spokes are a 21st-century interpretation of the classic Borrani wires. Surfaces with a mix of soft and crisp forms and details still look futuristic, even while paying homage to the past. Financial woes or not, Bertone is still one of the world's premiere houses of automotive haute couture, and the B.A.T. 11 will hopefully not be the company's last gasp. Click the source to view more photos of the B.A.T. 11 concept at its off-site debut in Geneva yesterday.

[Source: Car Design News, Photo by Brett Patterson]

click above image for gallery of the Aurora Safety Car

"We pass the basket for a second collection this week at Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration so the parish project car can be finished." It didn't go down quite like that in the Branford, CT parish of Father Alfred Juliano back in the 1950s, but the priest did build a car of his own design that was partially funded by parishioners. I remember rifling through a stack of musty Mechanix Illustrated backissues in my misspent youth and coming across a feature on this vehicle, called the Aurora. A lot of people have declaimed the hideousness of Juliano's "safety car" throughout the years. It certainly has a peculiar reverse rake to its stance, while the flowing, organic form of the fiberglass body give the Aurora the appearance of a quickly departing Sea Ray , rather than an automobile headed at you.

Father Juliano had a lifelong automotive avocation and studied art before entering the priesthood. His intent with the Aurora was to create the world's safest automobile atop a salvaged Buick chassis. The body was hand-laid fiberglass and the bubbilicious daylight openings are rendered in plexiglass. Despite his efforts, things did not go well for Fr. Juliano. The car's press unveiling was a disaster, and Juliano ultimately ended up in financial trouble and was forced to leave his order. The Aurora was given to a garage to settle a debt, and that's where England's Andy Saunders tracked the vehicle down. Andy runs an auto import and customization business, and relishes a challenge. Restoring the Aurora was an arduous process, but as you can see, it's risen like Lazarus from the very disintegrated state Andy found it in. Since its restoration, the car has appeared at several events and museums, including Goodwood. Quite the resurrection.

[Source: NY Times, Photo: Andrew Saunders / NYT]

While Ford was first to market with the pickup-cum-car Ranchero, and El Camino has attained universal descriptor status, like Kleenex, it looks like Kaiser presaged the idea in 1954 with this one-off. Kaiser was one of many smaller independents that had yet to die off in the early 1950s. The independents were often more creative than the big three, pushing innovation with limited resources. This extra-special Special-based vehicle is sporting "Barris Kustom" badges on the B-Pillars, glossy light yellow paint on the flanks, and a iron-irrific Continental L-head 6 underhood. You may not be torching the wide whites off the Kelsey Hayes wires with the 118 horsepower, but it's definitely adequate, even on today's roads. Current bids stand at $7,300 for what looks like a driveable classic. It'd be an interesting vehicle to poke around at and uncover the provenance, and the story would be way more entertaining than "It came down the line in Arlington one day."

Thanks for the tip, Mike!

Through the years there have been many companies that capitalized on the construction of the air-cooled Volkswagens to create unique automobiles. Some of the more well-known examples are the Meyers Manx and the Bradley GT. You Hardcastle and McCormick fans, don't worry, we had childhood lust for the Coyote, even if it was a fiberglass tub surround with Plymouth Fury taillights. The rise of fiberglass technology in the '50s and '60s made it quite easy to whip up a custom body that would mount to the ubiquitous Type 1's floorpan. There were other custom-bodied VWs, and some are extremely rare and sought after. Hebmullers are some of the rarest custom-bodied Volkswagens ever made, and they fetch big money. To our eye, though, they still look an awful lot like a Beetle. The one that really sets our fires burning is the Rometsch.

The Rometsch cars bear the moniker of Frederich Rometsch, a German coachbuilder. Rometsch dreamt up coupes and convertibles that are at times reminiscent of Studebaker Golden Hawks, Porsche 356s, or even Volkswagen's own Karmann Ghia. The one we're crazy about is the Lauwerence Coupe, with a mid-centruy chic reverse C-Pillar. The Lauwerence was named after its designer, and looks to be exceedingly rare. While digging for Rometsch information, it seems the Beeskow coupes and 'verts (again, named for the designer) are more common, as far as super-rare VWs go.