Bertone-BMW 2800 Spicup
| Bertone- BMW | |
|---|---|
Bertone-BMW 2800 Spicup (1969) |
|
| 2800 spicup | |
| Presentation year: | 1969 |
| Vehicle fair: | Geneva Motor Show |
| Class : | Sports car |
| Body shape : | Coupe |
| Engine: |
Petrol engine : 2.8 liters |
| Length: | 4150 mm |
| Width: | 1780 mm |
| Height: | 1207 mm |
| Wheelbase: | 2340 mm |
| Empty weight: | 1330 kg |
| Production model: | none |
The Bertone-BMW 2800 Spicup (also: Bertone Spicup ) is a concept car that the Italian design studio Bertone developed and built in 1969 on the technical basis of a BMW sedan. A special feature of the Spicup ( Spi der / Coup é) is a multi-section hardtop that can be opened electrically. Bertone only produced a single, ready-to-drive exhibit. The vehicle still exists and is now occasionally shown at classic exhibitions.
background
In the 1960s, Carrozzeria Bertone began to offer not only classic body design and the production of complete automobile bodies, but also detailed technical solutions for automobiles. This included an electrically operated hardtop for coupés that Bertone had developed in 1968. This construction, described as a “lamella roof”, was originally designed for the successor to the Fiat 850 Spider , which after several leaps in development finally came onto the market in 1972 as the Fiat X1 / 9 . Even in the early development phase, however, it became apparent that the "lamella roof" was very costly due to its complex mechanics, so that it could not be used in the small Fiat sports car, which was to be offered as an inexpensive mass vehicle. Accordingly, contrary to original plans , the Autobianchi Runabout show car , the conceptual forerunner of the X1 / 9, was not equipped with it when it was presented at the fair. Instead, Bertone tried to establish its roof construction in a higher market segment. In the autumn of 1968, the company decided on a concept car based on a BMW equipped with the "lamella roof". This choice was based on the fact that Bertone had had business relationships with BMW since the early 1960s and, beginning with the luxury class 3200 CS coupé , had designed or advised on several BMW bodies. In the first few months of 1969, this resulted in the Spicup, which Bertone also saw as a proposal for a successor to the BMW 507 , which had been discontinued ten years earlier . Contrary to Bertone's expectations, however, neither BMW nor any other manufacturer could be won over to take over the "louvre roof"; A small series production of the Spicup, which Bertone had hoped for, did not materialize either.
Technology and design
Louvre roof
The “lamella roof”, the most extraordinary design element of the Spicup, was based on an idea by Bertone mechanic Enzo Cingolani. It was conceptually a further development of the Targa roof and represented the attempt to use a roll bar, which was available for safety reasons, to accommodate the hardtop in order to save space. In the conventional Targa roof, the middle part located between the windshield and the roll bar usually had to be removed manually; then it had to be stowed separately in the trunk or in the interior of the vehicle. In contrast to this, the electrically operated “lamella roof” of the Spicup disappeared into the roll bar to save space and automatically. The roof of the Spicup consisted of two stainless steel panels of different sizes above the passenger cell, which were arranged at right angles to the direction of travel. The front smaller panel attached to the windshield could be pulled into the rear, larger panel with the help of an electric motor. Then both panels - the front in the rear - disappeared into the roll bar, thus releasing the space above the passenger cell. As a result, the car could be used either with a fixed metal roof as a coupé and, when opened, as a convertible or spider. The model name Spicup, which is a combination of Spi der and C (o) up é , also indicates this hybrid position .
One of the disadvantages of the concept, in addition to the complex, cost-intensive mechanics, is above all the need for a wide roll bar, the dimensions of which must be designed in such a way that they can more or less completely accommodate the panels. In the case of the Bertone Spicup, there was also a limited suitability for weather. Contrary to the descriptions in the advertising brochure from 1969, Bertone had not succeeded in completely sealing the individual panels, so that larger amounts of water regularly got into the interior of the vehicle when driving in the rain.
The French car body manufacturer Heuliez developed the idea further in the following years. With a similar concept, a Targa version of the Citroën SM called Espace was created in 1971 , in which the panels were arranged parallel to the direction of travel and disappeared in a central web between the windshield and roll bar. Heuliez produced two copies of the Espace, one of which was sold.
design
The Bertone-BMW 2800 Spicup is designed as a two-door, two-seater notchback coupé with a removable central roof section. The design of the Spicup body is the work of Marcello Gandini , Bertones' chief designer at the time. In the area of the front of the car, Gandini was based on the Alfa Romeo Montreal (also designed by him) . Like this one, the Spicup also has semi-concealed headlights, which the contemporary press often referred to as “bedroom view”, and a front section that slopes forward. Functionless ventilation grilles are embedded in the front fenders, reminiscent of a design feature of the BMW 507, which is a good ten years older. The front bumpers are pierced by a stylized BMW kidney, the halves of which, however, do not serve as cooling air openings, but are closed with dark plastic covers. The wide, trapezoidal roll bar is contrasted in color. In the upper part it is wider than at the base. This design was necessary to make room for the roof panels. The vertical rear window can be lowered electrically. The interior was designed by Eugenio Pagliano . Numerous add-on parts came from BMW series production.
technology
A vehicle from the BMW E3 series served as the technical basis of the Spicup . Specifically, it was a pre-production copy of the BMW 2500 without chassis number, which had been used in the plant in 1967 and 1968 as a test vehicle and had covered a total of almost 100,000 kilometers. Bertone shortened the wheelbase by 350 mm to 2.34 m; the total length of the spicup is 4.15 m. Shortly before its completion, the Spicup was equipped with a 2.8 liter, 170 hp six-cylinder engine from the BMW 2800, which, due to its height, did not fit under the low bonnet. Gandini solved the problem with a so-called Shaker Hood : He had an opening cut in the hood in the area of the engine and installed a solid, color-contrasting cover over the engine block, which, as it were, broke through the hood.
idea
The Spicup was completed in early March 1969 as a roadworthy exhibit. Shortly after completion, it appeared for the first time at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1969. The car was not shown here at BMW, but at Bertone's stand. The car was painted in light green and the interior was covered with olive and silver synthetic leather. After the exhibition, Bertone left the Spicup to some journalists for test drives in traffic. The last public presentation of the visually and technically unchanged car took place in September of the same year at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt am Main , after which the Spicup was sold.
Whereabouts
After the end of the IAA in 1969, the Düsseldorf car dealer Auto Becker bought the Spicup. After a few intermediate sales, it was taken over by Dutch dealers in the early 1970s, who - allegedly by bribing the authorities - were given road approval for the Spicup in 1975. The dealer painted the car orange, the interior was painted black. Several attempts to sell the car to BMW were unsuccessful. The Dutch dealer kept the car as part of a collection until 2008 but did not use it or show it publicly. In 2008 the Spicup was taken over, along with a few other exhibits, by a Belgian collector who had the car restored by the Milanese Carrozzeria Grandturismo . Grantourismo returned the meanwhile neglected car to its original condition and showed it to the public for the first time in 2009. In 2011 the Spicup was for sale at the London auction house Bonhams .
literature
- Georg Amtmann, Halwart Schrader : Italian sports cars. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-613-01988-4 .
- Wolfgang Blaube : Umbrella, Charm, Bertone. Presentation and driving report of the Bertone-BMW 2800 Spicup in: Oldtimer Markt, issue 7/2009, p. 48 ff.
- Richard Heseltine: Driven: Bertone Spicup. In: Octane Classic & Performance Cars, issue 12/2011.
- Ralf JF Kieselbach: BMW special types. 1st edition. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-613-01597-8 .
Web links
- Brief description and images of the Bertone Spicup on the website www.madle.org
- Brief description and images of the Bertone Spicup on the website www.supercars.net
- Photo gallery of the Spicup on the website www.oldconceptcars.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Richard Heseltine: Driven: Bertone Spicup . In: Octane Classic & Performance Cars, issue 12/2011.
- ^ Georg Amtmann, Halwart Schrader: Italian sports cars . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-613-01988-4 , pp. 81, 181, 183.
- ↑ a b c Ralf JF Kieselbach: BMW special types . 1st edition. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1995. ISBN 3-613-01597-8 , pp. 138-141.
- ↑ Illustration by Wolfgang Blaube: Schirm, Charme, Bertone . Presentation and driving report of the Bertone-BMW 2800 Spicup in: Oldtimer Markt, issue 7/2009, p. 50.
- ↑ All technical data are the article by Richard Heseltine: Driven: Bertone Spicup . In: Octane Classic & Performance Cars, issue 12/2011.
- ↑ Image of the Spicup next to a Lamborghini Espada (also designed by Bertone) on the Bertone stand on the website www.classicdriver.com (accessed on October 22, 2014).
- ↑ Wolfgang Blaube: umbrella, charm, Bertone . Presentation and driving report of the Bertone-BMW 2800 Spicup in: Oldtimer Markt, issue 7/2009, p. 52.
- ↑ Internet presence of the Carrozzeria Grantourismo ( Memento of the original from February 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on October 22, 2014).
- ↑ Presentation of the Spicup on the website www.bonhams.com (accessed on October 24, 2014).
