Alfa T33 stradale design

Franco Scaglione, the Poet of Aerodynamics

April 19, 2021 By pete

Review by Pete Vack
All photos from the book

Franco Scaglione unfortunately didn’t live to see the widespread appreciation of his work; some 60 cars, which include some of the greatest automotive designs ever hammered into metal.

This should not have been, for his role in the design and development of the Alfa Giulietta Sprint and the B.A.T.s had been examined by a variety of magazines, the most notable being a full article in Quattroruote “The Right Carrozzeria” as far a back as 1961. But from the early 1970s on, after Scaglione’s sad experience with Intermeccanica, he retired and virtually disappeared from view or almost 20 years. Notes Paolo Gianconi, “His world had forgotten him, because when the spotlight of fame goes out, no one has the interest to light a candle to look for who is lost.” [Read more…] about Franco Scaglione, the Poet of Aerodynamics

The Real Stories of the Fabled Alfa B.A.T.S

October 27, 2020 By pete

If you are thinking about spending as much as 20 million (or more) on three used Alfas at tomorrow night’s Sotheby’s Auction, it is advised that you read the following four articles, which provide additional background information about the Scaglione B.A.T.s. From the Archives of VeloceToday, they were published in 2019 but timely and relevant today.

After making a few sketches, working with Ezio Cingolani, who was responsible for fabrication, Franco Scaglione developed a full size model, watched daily by Nuccio Bertone. This is B.A.T. 5

B.A.T. 5: A Stunning Achievement

What are these openings for? One, to strengthen the rather large fin itself, and two, to allow some of the air to escape that was ‘tunneled’ through the extremely inward curved fins on B.A.T. 7.

B.A.T. 7: The Best of the Bunch

Aiming to create more of a GT car and needing a direct connection with Alfa, Scaglione forgot penetration and allowed the use of the new Giulietta grille on B.A.T. 9.

B.A.T. 9d: Ready for the Road

Courtesy Centro Documentazione Storica Alfa Romeo

Scaglione, Strother MacMinn and the B.A.T.s

All three to be auctioned as one lot, tomorrow, October 28 in New York. Click here for RM Sotheby’s Auction Website

B.A.T. 5: A Stunning Achievement

December 10, 2019 By pete

Photos by Jonathan Sharp
Text by Pete Vack

The display of the three B.A.T. Alfas was held at the Phillips Auction House in Berkeley Square, London and only displayed for four days, November 20-23. Jonathan Sharp attended on a Wednesday afternoon and here is the first of three reports.

The first of the B.A.T.s was perhaps the most celebrated, gaining notice in magazines across the western hemisphere. But was it the first? Rick Carey, writing in VeloceToday, thinks the Packard-Abarth Bertone might have been B.A.T. 1. Nevertheless, B.A.T. 5 was shown first in April of 1953 at Turin. [Read more…] about B.A.T. 5: A Stunning Achievement

B.A.T. 7: The Best of the Bunch

December 10, 2019 By pete

Photos by Jonathan Sharp
Text by Pete Vack

Oh, poor B.A.T. 7. It was, in our opinion, the best of the trinity, a refined 5 with an even more dramatic aft that was the quintessence of coachbuilder’s art. Just looking at the various views of those remarkable appendages is awe inspiring. How did they do it?

About a year after it was shown at Turin in the spring of 1955, someone came along cut them off. Those beautiful, inspiring wings. Let’s let the late Strother MacMinn and his cohort Robert Henry Gurr tell us what they thought about the car at the time: (Road & Track, July, 1955, Panel Discussion on Automotive Styling.) [Read more…] about B.A.T. 7: The Best of the Bunch

B.A.T. 9d: Ready for the Road

December 10, 2019 By pete

Photos by Jonathan Sharp
Text by Pete Vack

While the BAT 9 (aka BAT 9d) will eternally be tied with the story of Gary Kaberle, it failed to attract a lot of attention when introduced at Turin in the spring of 1955. Press coverage had been high with the BAT 7 of 1954, but by the time the third and definitely less dramatic BAT appeared, it was no longer newsworthy, despite being much more roadworthy. It was not until December 1958 that BAT 9 appeared on the cover of Road & Track, no longer news. The Kaberle story is well known, but we’ll recap it here. [Read more…] about B.A.T. 9d: Ready for the Road

Scaglione, Strother MacMinn and the B.A.T.s

December 10, 2019 By pete

Courtesy Centro Documentazione Storica Alfa Romeo

From the VeloceToday Archives, April 2018. This is an updated version of Chapter 5 of Franco Scaglione, “My Father: His Life in the Words of His Daughter Giovanna” as told to Robert Little, Renzo Carbonaro, Vladimir Pajevic and Ulrich Zensen. Republished with permissions.

The MacMinn Telefax

Instead of presenting a narrative based upon the writing of others who probably had no first or second hand knowledge of the true facts surrounding the creation of the Berlina Aerodinamica Tecnica series, we have chosen to simply quote from a facsimile of a Telefax which should serve to illuminate the B.A.T. process from the standpoint of Bertone. [Read more…] about Scaglione, Strother MacMinn and the B.A.T.s

Interview with Giovanna Scaglione: The Last Years

April 10, 2018 By pete

As told to Robert Little, Renzo Carbonaro, Vladimir Pajevic and Ulrich Zensen
Copyright: 8 November 2017 All World Rights Reserved
Republished with permissions with changes to suit the format of VeloceToday.com

Nuccio Bertone’s Final Words to the World’s Greatest Auto Designer

Nuccio Bertone wrote the following letter to Franco Scaglione on May 19, 1993, only thirty days before the great designer passed away on June 19th:

My Dear Scaglione,

It is a long time or better to say, I didn’t have any news of you since our collaboration ended.

I asked around if someone had any news about you, but always in vain. [Read more…] about Interview with Giovanna Scaglione: The Last Years

Interview with Giovanna Scaglione Part 10

April 3, 2018 By pete

Giovanna Takes Her First Stradale Ride with Teo Zeccoli

Giovanna Scaglione relates here experiences riding in the Stradale:

Every new car designed by my Babbo was a sister to me! When he designed the 33 Stradale and realized the car, I bothered my “Babbo” so much that, one day, fed-up and desperate, he asked our personal friend Teodoro Zecccoli, Autodelta test driver, to take me for a ride on the car. [Read more…] about Interview with Giovanna Scaglione Part 10

Interview with Giovanna Scaglione Part 9

March 20, 2018 By pete

Editor’s Note: This part of the Scaglione interview is very lengthy at 2500 words. However, we think that what is revealed here is of great interest and should be published at one time to encompass the entire story. We hope you will agree.

Part IX: The Stradale Project Encounters Unforeseen Difficulties

Two geniuses rarely co-exist together comfortably, and sure enough problems arose between Ing. Chiti, immersed in his racing world, and Scaglione, compelled to resolve the growing technical and assembly problems by himself. That silent war was flavored with numerous embittered letters that Scaglione sent without effects to all pertinent addresses. Years later, Scaglione would describe his time at Settimo Milanese as “the worst period of his life.” However, with proverbial Tuscan obstinacy, he finished the first Stradale prototype in a relatively short time, from January to September 1967. [Read more…] about Interview with Giovanna Scaglione Part 9