In 1967 a one-off concept car based on the Jaguar E-type was commissioned by newspaperman John Anstey of the Daily Telegraph Magazine in the UK. In less than six months, the car that would become known as the Jaguar Bertone Pirana Coupe, was styled by Marcello Gandini for Carrozzeria Bertone.
The fully functional Pirana made its debut at the 1967 Earls Court Motor Show owing some of its styling to Bertone's Lamborghini Marzal concept car and it served as the preview for the styling treatment for the production Lamborghini Espada which debuted just a year later.
For more than 40 years the Pirana virtually disappeared from view in the UK and later, in Palm Springs, California where it surfaced briefly in 2010. It was from there that it was sold to Southern California-based collector Ed Superfon who commissioned a complete restoration, replacing the car's green exterior to a silver metallic finish that closely represents its original Earl's Court presentation back in 1967.
The Jaguar Bertone Pirana Coupe contains 13 pages of historical text and images, a specification chart comparing the Jaguar Bertone Pirana Coupe to the Jaguar E-Type 2+2 that served as the donor chassis, and 33 full-page color plates.
The Jaguar Bertone Pirana Coupe serves to document this unique collaboration between The Daily Telegraph Magazine, Jaguar, and Carrozzeria Bertone. It transports the reader back in time when an audacious editor, John Anstey, had the power and budget to commission the building of an auto show dream car.
Under the able hand of stylist Marcello Gandini and the direction of Nuccio Bertone, Carrozzeria Bertone was able to bring the Jaguar Bertone Pirana Coupe from design concept to auto show star in just five months.
It is a remarkable story, one that will likely never be repeated.
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