The B.A.T. Project (Berlinetta Aerodinamica Technica)

Rewind a few years and as most of you know, I’m a big enthusiast of the Italian automobile designer Franco Scaglione. Although most car enthusiasts remember him for his Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale (which some describe as the “most beautiful car ever made”) — I think his earlier work on the Abarth 1500 Biposto, Alfa Romeo Sportiva 2000 and the Alfa Romeo B.A.T.’s 5, 7 and 9 were his most artistic with less constraints by others applied to his creativity.

Thus my goal was to imagineer a tribute of sorts to the B.A.T.’s (and Franco’s earlier designs) and this was the result that I envisioned. It actually progressed into more than just a series of sketches though. When Covid-19 made some changes last year in what we all did, when, where and also for myself with customers who passed because of it… I put a hold on the project for awhile to prioritize things. Somewhere during the hiatus, I realized that although I really like the idea of the above design, it was too literal of a copy of Franco’s work and I knew I could challenge myself to do even better. Thus I did a radical redesign in the months that followed (27 variants!!!) and one day we will get into that and what two projects have sprung forth as a result. But I figured I’d share the concept from eighteen months before the artwork gets lost in my archive.