The world of cars never stops giving. There’s always something new to learn, some forgotten bit of arcane knowledge that you never encountered before, and you can never know everything, no matter how much car stuff seems to be rattling around in your head. I encountered that just recently, when I happened to see something about a Bertone concept car that looked weirdly familiar. It was firing all those car-identification neurons, but it had the wrong animal on its grille: a jaguar instead of a bull.
The car had a jaguar on the grille, but it was named for a fish: a piranha. Well, it’s actually a little more confusing, because the name is technically Pirana, no ‘h,’ but the badges on the car are spelled like the fish, with the ‘h.’ It’s weird.
Also weird is how this car came to be. It’s a Bertone concept built on a Jaguar E-type chassis, but it wasn’t commissioned by either Jaguar or Bertone. It was commissioned by the motoring staff at The Telegraph, the British newspaper! What? Man, the days when there was real money in journalism had to be pretty fantastic.
The editor of the paper, John Antsey, dared the staff to create
“The car he would create for his own pleasure if funds were unlimited.”
Holy crap, what a dream! The paper was able to get an E-Type chassis from Jaguar, and it was a relatively easy process to get Bertone on board, where chief stylist Marcello Gandini took on the project. The work started in May 1967, with the goal of having it ready to display at the Earl’s Court Motor Show, only five months later!
Incredibly, they did it, and the car they built was a staggering triumph of bold design and the best tech and appointments that the British motor industry could muster: an in-roof air-conditioning system from Smiths, Connolly leather seats, a then-wow-inducing tape deck, seat belts, the works.
It was the hit of the Earl’s Court Show, and I imagine it brought The Telegraph plenty of whatever the analog version of clicks were back in the day. But Jaguar wasn’t interested in pursuing it as a car, and it was eventually sold to a private buyer.
But! Bertone wasn’t done yet. When they were working for Lamborghini on the car that would become the Espada, the wooden bucks used to build the Pirana were used to build early Espada prototypes – that’s how close these cars are.
I mean, just look:
The Espada was a four-seater from the get-go (the Pirana was converted to a four-seater later in its life, then reverted back when restored) so you can see related changes like the larger rear side windows. Overall, though, the proportions and basic design of the Pirana definitely lived on in the Espada.
Even some design details like the design of the badging seemed to survive from Pirana (or Piranha, since that ‘h’ was still part of then name when the badges were made) to the Espada as you can see:
Sure, the Piranha is suggesting a sleek fish and the Espada is suggesting a sword, but the angled, directional lettering carries through in both. The Pirana’s pirhana badges also do the directional thing that I always geek out about every time I see an Espada:
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I don’t know how I missed the story of the Pirana before; I’m glad I know it now, though. The car sold a few years back via RM Sotheby’s for an impressive $324,000, and even that staggering price seems fair for a car as beautiful and interesting as this one. Also, I can’t get over how this is a record of what may have been the Golden Age of auto journalism – when your publication could commission a custom-built concept car from flapjacking Bertone, for fudge’s sake.
Damn.
The thought of all of you coming to consensus on what to build, what it should look like, and its feature set is cracking me up. Better than a lot of “reality” TV. Keeping up with the Torchinsky’s.
Spoiler: His fleet is not particularly speedy.
But his wit seems pretty quick.
I like it. A lot.
Your advert algorithms are a wee bit too snarky! As I initially read Jason’s analysis of how Bertone reused and repurposed the (Marzal to) Piranha to Espada design, under the topshot appeared a prominent blue banner ad with white block letters promoting RECYCLING (sponsored by Keep America Beautiful, a goal partially accomplished by daily driving all surviving Bertone and Gandini cars).
The progenitor of both was the Lamborghini Marzal.
https://oldconceptcars.com/wp-content/uploads/lamborghini_marzal_12.jpg
I think the analog version of clicks was sales, something that generated real revenue!
I’ve got a pretty big soft spot for the Espada too, it’s pretty close to being a Shooting Brake, perhaps could be depending on how you argue.
Separated at birth?
The Piranha is not bad looking, but the Espada is overall much better.
Something about the Piranha is not quite coherent, like they couldn’t quite commit to the wedge so they added some extraneous curves and cuts. And the nose makes me think of the Capri. That said, the Piranha rear 3/4 view is damn near perfect!
I can see why Jaguar rejected this, it looks like an Italian exotic and not a Jaguar. It’s very pretty, but could have been an Iso or a Maserati just as easily.
A world without the xj12…
I’ve always loved the Espada and Gandini, so I already knew about this, but I didn’t realize they used the same fantastic typeface for the Piranha. Wish I could download that somewhere, though it probably only existed for the letters used in those two models.
Finally a use case for AI that makes sense!
Get chat GPT busy on creating this typeface
As much as I hate AI, I have to admit that’s a great idea.
If it is able to make fonts, I expect them to be just as bad as the art it generates, and for the same reason. It doesn’t understand what it’s doing.
Eh, given that generative AI relies so much on scraping the work of actual creatives, that is, stealing their work (& credit) and is so resource-intensive to the detriment of the environment it’d be infinitely better to look to the bona fide creatives themselves, like the genius graphic designer who figured out an entire alphabet based on one of the greatest automotive logos of all time, namely, the logo for the Lancia Stratos: https://mccauleycreativellc.com/blog/2012/03/jalopnik-lancia-stratos-typeface
If Kevin McCauley has some free time I bet he would do an awesome job of the Esperanha font.
Oh, the original Piranha looks SO much better than the Espada. I was introduced to the Lamborghini version from a Doug DeMuro video and it just looked off in an uncharacteristic way for the time and brand. Now it makes sense!
Yeah I like the original better, too.
The rear window proportions are so much better. Like I don’t hate the Espada, but the four-seater nature while trying to have the Lambo flatness just isn’t gonna work quite right with that much glass.
I feel the Piranha is better at the back and the Espada is better at the front (dash to axle issues for me on the Piranha) but if the two were combined I don’t think it would work. Wheelbase issues. I’ll just have to stick to liking them both!
One is a show car, one is an actual real life car. I like the Espada better generally, but I also think changes were made for real life usage (like 4 seats).
Man, I love those Dunlop wheels.
I remember an article about this car in Autocar (British car magazine) in around 1979 which said that the owner felt that the car looked a bit unfinished as it didn’t have a front bumper, but no-one could find a photo of the original car to work out if it had ever had one. Seems like someone eventually worked that one out. I vaguely recall the car was sporting some hideous whitewalls as well.
If that counts as a bumper, then I’ve got six pack abs.
Neat! This one escaped me too.
If I ever have Italian exotic car money, an Espada would be high on my list. And pretty much the ONLY Lamborghini I have ever liked.
Beautiful cars. Did Bertone design shoes also? Both the Piranha and the Espada look like fancy Italian shoes on wheels.
What an interesting story and a gorgeous car! Much better looking than the Espada, IMHO, but I’d love to hear Adrian’s take on it.
But, um, just a word about the title: “stillborn”? Really? I’m flabbergasted that David let that one slide. It seems unnecessarily grotesque but perhaps I’m a bit oversensitive, having experienced my wife having several miscarriages. But yeah, there are so many better adjectives to use here: “One-off”, “Bespoke”, “Extremely Limited Edition”, etc.
“Stillborn” is widely used for projects that are largely production-ready but get cancelled before they go on sale. You may just be being understandably sensitive about it (condolences for your losses). I agree that the language is in need of a less-charged term.
Yeah, I understand, and really, that term doesn’t apply to this particular car, anyway. Just more of a reason to use a different term.
“the car they built was a staggering triumph of bold design and the best tech and appointments that the British motor industry could muster: an in-roof air-conditioning system from Smiths, Connolly leather seats, a then-wow-inducing tape deck, seat belts, the works.”
All that work and they STILL put the steering wheel on the wrong side! Will those Brits never learn?
(I’ll bet they grounded the positive battery terminal too.)
Floundering in flummoxed flabbergastion
Torch, I bet with your clout you could get an Autopian decal package for the Chang-Li, now that it’s $20K due to Mango Mini-Hands.
Always like the Espada but I have to say, in profile at least, the Pirana is the better looking car. That longer dash-to-axle/shorter overhang and more muscular rear haunches, smaller rear window really improves the whole look.
Agreed, I was going to say the same thing. The Espada is solid, but the Piran(h)a is even better.
It amuses me that the car’s name could mean “whore” in Brazil.
Other than that, pretty interesting story that I never heard before despite being familiar with the Espada.
Given its styling they should have named it Bundalelê rsrsrs
In-Roof Air Conditioning?
Okay – I’ll bite…
…how’d that work?
Torch definitely buried the lead with that, I was wondering the same thing! He buried it so far he didnt even write about.
probably roof mounted vents, evaporator, and controls, with a conventional compressor and condenser. This is not the sort of roof mounted AC you find on RVs or old trucks
But it is likely the sort of AC you’d see on vans (and possibly things like the Suburban) that have rear A/C.
Some details on the AC system – and a photo of the roof-vents here:
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/bertone-jaguar-pirana-comes-out-of-the-shadows/
Apparently the cool air was directed up behind the seats via the sills, up into the roof via the B pillars, and vented along the center-mounted roof console.
https://rmsothebys.com/auctions/mo19/lots/r0022-1967-jaguar-pirana-by-bertone/#/smallgallery_1202770
You say Piranha, I say Pirana let’s call the whole thing off.
–Jaguar boardroom members
While I appreciate it being built on the 2+2 chassis so it can be a GT car, I have to wonder what it would have looked like on the standard coupe chassis. A little less rear overhang would make this perfect.
Looks like Torch is trying to send some hints to Beau…
Yes, such as let Bertone go to work on the Changli. Although Changli might do better with Giugiaro. They’d call it “one box” design.
Yes, Beau will have to pay for a vehicle to satisfy the staff – it will be 4WD with 10” ground clearance (David), sleep four and have at least a cassette toilet (Mercedes), be attractive and well-proportioned (Adrian), and be only 48 horsepower (Jason).