Concept

Scroll back to 1978 and Pininfarina caused a furore with its Jaguar XJ Spider. No gush was too purple as the world’s motoring media begged British Leyland to adopt it as a production model. It didn’t, of course, but this one-off roadster remains a classic of its kind

The title of Autocar magazine’s article in October 1967 said it all: ‘Bertone-Jaguar: no dream car – but not for you and me’. This one-off gran turismo wasn’t the first Bertone-bodied Jaguar, witness the Franco Scaglione-styled XK150 and Marcello Gandini-designed ‘FT’ that was based variously on S-type and 420 saloon foundations for Italy’s marque concessionaire, Ferruchio Tarchini. However, in this particular instance, there was no intention of making the Pirana in even the most limited of numbers. It was a concept queen, and a compelling one.

Not all coachbuilt Italian sports cars are paragons of beauty, as Giannini’s ‘interesting’ 1971 Fiat 128-based prototype proves

Bertone Jaguar FT — Marcello Gandini’s vision of a mid-1960s Jaguar.

This ‘Made in Turin’ mustang with radical new bodywork was the pony that got away

Ford’s quest for Total Performance resulted in some very tasty automotive morsels being served up. None more so than the Mach 2, which looked like it could have been another star in Ford’s concept car constellation – had it ever seen production…

Richard Heseltine looks at Chrysler’s sub-compact concept which turns into a people carrier, the Voyager III – a concept which most definitely took a voyage to obscurity…

Think the Alfa Romeo SZ ‘MOSTRO’ was ugly? Castagna’s similarly conceived Vittoria took things to a whole new level

This compact concept was touted as a production car for the American market, but despite doing the car show rounds, it never saw production…

The 911 Speedster Studie helped give Porsche’s icon a new lease of life – and put fresh air between the plans of an infamous CEO…

Proof of concept. Original Bulldog project leader Keith Martin recalls the earliest road tests of Aston Martin’s pioneering supercar.

Automotive archaeologist Richard Heseltine unearths automotive oddity… this one even has wreaths, crests and references to a mythical city of gold… How could they?!

In the early 1970s, a racing enthusiast in possession of an accident-damaged 910 decided to transform the Porsche into a no-excuses sports car for the road. Calling in leading experts, he succeeded in creating an automobile of rare sculptural excellence…

When is a Bel Air not a Bel Air? When it’s a 2002 concept that looks more like a Ford Thunderbird crossed with an SSR, that’s when!

This Buick concept hinted at a future SUV/station wagon offering from GM’s Flint-based division; sadly what was rolled out a few years later had none of the bold vision of the concept…