Unique Bertone Mantide up for sale

In the American city of Scottsdale on January 15, an auction of rare and exclusive cars will be held. Perhaps the most interesting lot presented is the Bertone Mantide coupe. It features a unique design and the presence of "hardware" from Chevrolet.

The car is designed by Bertone. This is a small-scale project, which never went into production. It was planned to make ten such cars, but the creators settled on only one. This is an exhibition sample.

The author of the project is the world famous designer from the USA Jason Castriot. He currently works for Ford. Among the latest works of the specialist is the crossover Mach-E. The challenge that Castriot set for himself at the time was to create a combination of Bertone's unique design and Chevrolet's reliability.

As a basis for structural elements, the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 model was used. From its "donor", the Bertone Mantide car received a suspension with transverse springs, a 6,2-liter engine and a gearbox in 6 gears. Car rear-wheel drive. Design work was entrusted to Danisi Engineering. An officially unique car was introduced in 2009. This event took place at the Shanghai Motor Show. The name of the car has no translation, but it is closest to the word mantid. Translated means “praying mantis”. Most likely, the creators wanted to make such a reference, because the car has visual features resembling an insect.

Interestingly, the Bertone Mantide surpassed its donor in terms of running characteristics. The maximum speed is 350 km / h. The car accelerates to 96,56 km/h (60 mph) in just 3,2 seconds.

The cost of the model is not yet possible. Everything will be decided by the auction. One thing is for sure: there will be many people who wish to purchase a unique vehicle.