This is the 1954 Alfa Romeo B.A.T. 7. After debuting the remarkable B.A.T. 5 concept at the 1953 Turin Auto Salon, Scaglione and Bertone came back in 1954 with even more effort and experimentation. Second to come of the three Alfa Romeo Berlina Aerodinamica Tecnica cars was the 1954 Alfa Romeo B.A.T. 7, chassis no. AR1900C 01485. Each B.A.T. car is vastly different with B.A.T. 7 being perhaps the most daring and outlandish of the entire trio. Based on B.A.T. 5’s success the year before, Franco Scaglione was given the opportunity by Carrozzeria Bertone to create not only another B.A.T., but an even more extreme example than the year prior. That being said, the unprecedented aerodynamics of B.A.T. 5 became even more outlandish in B.A.T. 7. ‘BAT 7’ had a coefficient of drag of 0.19, even lower than the predecessor ‘BAT 5’. To put that into perspective, the Tesla Model S, and Toyota Prius, two cars very well known for their pristine efficiency, achieve a 0.24 coefficient of drag. Weight was reduced from 5 to 7 from around 2,400lbs to just 2,000lbs. Although each car was built upon an Alfa Romeo 1900 chassis, you can see they all took differentiation to an extreme. The very large curved tail-fins are most pronounced on BAT 7 although evident on all of the BAT cars. The car was again powered by a 1975cc DOHC 115 horsepower engine, this time allowing for a 124mph top speed. BAT 7 was perhaps the most visually impressive & flamboyant of them all, finished in a bright Pale Blue Metallic.
How many made? The B.A.T. 7 is a 1 of 1.
Engine: 2.0L Cast Iron Inline-4 that produces 115bhp
Debut: ‘BAT 7’ did officially make it’s public debut at the 1954 Turin Auto Salon, like ‘BAT 5’ did the year before, but with a bit of a twist. The work on ‘BAT 7’ took so long to that Scaglione & Bertone personally drove the car to the show themselves.
Top Speed: 124mph
0-60mph: N/A
Photo Credit: @am_media_ny
Research: @rarecarsonly