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The Alfa Romeo BAT (or Berlina Aerodinamica Tecnica) is a series of Italian concept cars. The cars originated from a collaboration project between Alfa Romeo and the Italian design house Bertone that began in 1953. Three cars were built: the BAT 5 in 1953, the BAT 7 in 1954, and the BAT 9 in 1955. Franco Scaglione designed all three vehicles.
Alfa Romeo contacted Giuseppe "Nuccio" Bertone of the Bertone design house and commissioned three concept vehicles to research the effects of drag on a car. The idea was to create vehicles with the lowest possible drag coefficient. All the cars featured large rear bumpers and curved fins. They were built upon the Alfa Romeo 1900 chassis. The three vehicles were presented at the Turin Auto Show in 1953, 1954, and 1955.
The lowest drag coefficient of the three cars was 0.19, an achievement even by today's standards. For each vehicle, Alfa Romeo provided a five-speed gearbox and a powerful four-cylinder engine that produced more than 90 horsepower (67 kW), good enough to propel the car to a top speed of 125 mph (201 km/h).
All three original BATs have been restored. The cars have been displayed at the Blackhawk Museum in Danville, CA, from 2005 until July 2017. They appear at car shows such as the Concorso Italiano and Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. In 2020, RM Sotheby's sold all three cars as one lot at their auction for US$14.840 million, including the buyer's fee.
BAT 5 was the first of the Bertone-Alfa Romeo BAT project. It was first shown at the Turin Auto Show in 1953. The design of the model was based on a study of aerodynamics. The shape of the front aims to eliminate the problem of airflow disruption at high speeds. The design also aims to do away with any extra resistance generated by the wheels turning and achieve a structure that would create the fewest possible air vortices. In practice, these rigorous criteria would allow the car to reach 200 km/h (120 mph) with the 100 hp (75 kW) engine mounted as standard. Bertone's design was for a high-light car (1,100 kg (2,400 lb)), with side windows at a 45-degree angle concerning the vehicle's body and a large windscreen that blends in with the almost flat roof. The rear windscreen is divided lengthwise by a slim pillar and flanked by two fins tapering upwards and slightly inwards. The car had a drag coefficient of 0.23.
The second BAT was shown at the Turin Auto Show in 1954, a year after the BAT 5. For this design (as for the other BAT models, though less evidently), Bertone added elements from his experience working on wing profiles in the aeronautical industry. The result was the shape of the large, curved tail fins.
The nose was lower than the BAT 5, and the protrusions where the headlights would usually be stuck out even further. The headlights were located next to the nose and moved down when used. The drag coefficient of the BAT 7 is 0.19.
The BAT 7 features in the Top Gear book Daft Cars by Matt Master.
The third BAT was shown at the Turin Auto Show of 1955, the BAT 9 (also known as BAT 9d). It was made to look more like the current Alfa Romeo models than the other BATs.
The BAT 9 did away with the marked wing lines of the previous models in favor of a cleaner, more straight line. The tail fins, which in the other two models had an authentic wing-like look, were sized down into two small metal plates, much like the tail fins in production on American and some European cars of the time.
Test Source: Wikipedia
Images Courtesy of RM Auctions
