1953 Alfa Romeo B.A.T. 5 (EVO)

1953 Alfa Romeo B.A.T. 5 (EVO)

(B.A.T. = Berlinetta Aerodynamica Technica)

There is a song out there that goes:

You don’t tug on Superman’s cape
You don’t spit into the wind
You don’t pull the mask off the Ol’ Lone Ranger
And you don’t mess around with [Franco Scaglione’s designs]

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That is what it feels like personally to me when modifying a Franco Scaglione original. But I’ve always wondered what the Alfa Romeo BAT 5 would look like if I had built it given my coachbuilding and metal shaping skills instead of what was available to him in 1953 at Bertone. Here is my version with a few restyling changes to the door opening, rear skirts and window profile itself. (and modern wheels) I’ve had the chance at the Blackhawk Museum to photograph and sit in the B.A.T.’s and they are a nightmare to get in/out of.

I still remember when I witnessed my first BAT on the road about four decades ago and how out-of-the-world it truly seemed… and I will admit that someday I’d like to recreate one for myself as being different is actually a good thing.

Note: Reflections are sometimes a good vision of what the past actually was.