Monday 19th March 2012

Atalanta Sports Tourer unveiled

Little-remembered Brit sports car marque gets a new lease of life 75 years on

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A few months back we revealed that a Staffordshire-based entrepreneur by the name of Martyn Corfield had embarked upon plans to revive the Atalanta sports car marque.

The return of the brand, which made just 21 vehicles between 1937 and 1939, was intended to (in the words of Corfield) "sensitively bring the original Atalanta design up to date, delivering modern motoring needs of safety, reliability and performance but still remaining true in spirit to the Atalanta sports car ideals and deliver the quality of product that this marque deserves".

And this is the result. Launched a couple of weeks ago (exactly 75 years after the first Atalanta was shown to the public), the new car is certainly redolent of the 1930s original - right down to maintaining tall, narrow tyres for 'driver feel and ride comfort'.

There's a lot of new, bespoke stuff in it, however, with castings, stub axles, springs and the steering system unique to the car. In fact, its makers claim 85 per cent of the Atalanta is made from bespoke parts. Which, presumably, is why there's no word on the Atalanta's price, although you can order one now...

And if you want an Atalanta, ordering one is probably your best bet - of the 21 examples originally built only seven remain, and only four are in working order.

[harryowl]

At least tell us what the engine is!?

[mybrainhurts]

More important, tell us it's not electric...

[LotusOmega375D]

Can't stand head-restraints on old school roadsters. I guess they're required for type approval, but I'd whip them off straightaway. Otherwise looks nice.

ETA: Probably needs a pair of bumpers too.

[Riggers]

It's not electric... but we don't know what it is!! (Will attempt to find out...)

[kambites]

LotusOmega375D said:

Can't stand head-restraints on old school roadsters. I guess they're required for type approval, but I'd whip them off straightaway. Otherwise looks nice.

ETA: Probably needs a pair of bumpers too.

I doubt they'll build enough to require type approval.

Decent enough looking thing, but a bit nondescript.

[RichTBiscuit]

Preeeety car.

*in my head i've said this in the voice of the Italian Mafioso in The Italian Job*

[Repent]

Gave an 8, most likely would have been higher if I knew what powered it .

Beautiful thing though, looks perfectly composed. Far more composed than the V8 Morgan does on its stupid Jap style 6 spokes, still cant get my head around that.

[PascalBuyens]

Riggers said:

It's not electric... but we don't know what it is!! (Will attempt to find out...)

Original cars seemed to have pretty interesting engines at the time...

4.4 V12 (112hp)

And on a Dutch site it says the 1.5 had 78hp, and the 2.0 98hp, which to be fair seems pretty high for a 1930's engine... (haven't found any confirmation yet)


If they continue that same trend... Looks interesting

[Carfolio]

Riggers said:

It's not electric... but we don't know what it is!! (Will attempt to find out...)

It's going to be a Yank-sourced 2.5 litre 4 pot, supercharging an option.

[Roman]

Gorgeous - deserves a straight 6

[FlossyThePig]

kambites said:

LotusOmega375D said:

Can't stand head-restraints on old school roadsters. I guess they're required for type approval, but I'd whip them off straightaway. Otherwise looks nice.

ETA: Probably needs a pair of bumpers too.

I doubt they'll build enough to require type approval.

It will need IVA then on each car sold.

[kambites]

FlossyThePig said:

It will need IVA then on each car sold.

Indeed, so it has to conform to a very different set of rules than type approval.

[Nitro666]

See here for more details of past Atalanta cars:

http://carspector.com/marque/atalanta/

[mneame]

Love the look of that. Very similar to a Lea Francis.

[Dave Hedgehog]

stunning, simply stunning

its going to cost starship money ..

[ugg10]

Looks like a good alternative to the Suffolk SS100, but will probably be more in the league of the Eagle Speedster/E Type pricewise I suspect.

Another vote for a straight 6 under the bonnet, nothing too stupid, around 200hp and a nice carb fed sound track would fit well with those look and tyres. Refurb BMW 2.8 (pre 1995) with a set of triple webbers (or 6 bike carbs !!) would do the job and be IVA compliant IIRC (was in SVA days).

[Johnboy Mac]

ugg10 said:

Looks like a good alternative to the Suffolk SS100

^^^Exactly what crossed my mind.

It's nice looking car - elegant but suspect very costly. Another vote here too for a straight six.

[soad]

Dave Hedgehog said:

stunning, simply stunning

its going to cost starship money ..

[Banjo47]

It is stunning in the flesh too. I saw it on display at the RAC and the quality is superb, superior to the Suffolk. The dash is beautifully finished and although these types of cars are not really my bag I thought this one really seems to capture that essence of vintage motoring that other makers seem to miss.

[crmcatee]

Ahem.

Is Atalanta a porn star ?

Article said said:

fist Atalanta