1963 ATS 2500 GT

The ATS 2500 GT was a sports car made by the Italian company (ATS) Automobili Turismo e Sport in Bologna. It was the first Italian sports car in the world to have a mid-engine layout. The space frame 2500 GT was introduced in 1963 at the Paris Motor Show. Designed by Franco Scaglione and engineered by Carlo Chiti and Giotto Bizzarrini, the car was built only in limited numbers before investors withdrew financial support and the project collapsed.

The ATS 2500GT as shown reimagined here honors all of the Franco Scaglione design language with very little modification. This is the genesis for all the Italian mid-engine sports car story that have come since and why mess with it…

note: I remember seeing my first ATS 2500 GT in the Los Angeles area in either 1977 (or 1978?) at an Italian restaurant with a lot of other great cars in the parking lot. A few days later when making a visit of the Road&Track research library, I encountered Strother MacMinn of Art Center College of Design lore and who also was involved with the Toyota Caltry Design Research facility in Newport Beach, California. (Strother contributed to R&T on occasion) I learned a lot that afternoon about Italian carrozzeria, automobile design theory and also the designer of the ATS who was Franco Scaglione. (whom Strother was very favorably impressed with.) I’ve been an enthusiast of the same designer for 42+ years now!