Bertone Is Putting This Forgotten 55-Year-Old Concept Car Into Production

Usually, if a concept car is destined for production, there’ll be no more than a two or three-year gap between a car that spins slowly on a motor show stand and one that people can go buy. 55 years, on the other hand? That’s a bit more unusual, but that’s the amount of time that’s passed between design house Bertone debuting the Runabout concept and announcing a limited production run.

Styled by the late Marcello Gandini, the original runabout was a wedgy, barchetta-style sports car based on the mechanicals of the little Autobianchi A112 hatchback, but with the powertrain juggled around to make it mid-engined and rear-wheel drive. It remained a one-off prototype, but its styling was developed into the pretty little Fiat X1/9 sports car.

Now, though, a modernised version of the Runabout is heading for a limited production run, announced 55 years to the day after the car first debuted at the 1969 Turin Auto Show. The production version will feature a few tweaks to make it road-ready, notably ditching the strange roll-bar-mounted spotlights. In their place, though, are… pop-ups! On a new car! In 2024!

There’s also now a thin LED strip running across the car’s nose, and the design at the rear has been tidied up somewhat. In a concession to practicality, the production Runabout will have doors – accessing the concept involved climbing over the side like it was an open-wheel racer – and in addition to the roofless, chopped-windscreen Barchetta, there’ll be a more weatherproof Targa version.

The biggest change, though, comes underneath. Where the original Runabout had a meagre 1.1-litre, 55bhp four-pot engine, the production version will come with a 489bhp V6. Bertone doesn’t say where it’s from or give any other powertrain or performance details, but it should allow the Runabout to properly keep pace with modern sports cars.

The design house is set to produce a very limited number, with pricing starting at €350,000 (around £291,000), before VAT. It’s set to be the first in a series of limited production cars inspired by the firm’s great past concepts, so answers on a postcard as to what you want to see next. We’ll take a production version of one of the wild Alfa Romeo BAT concepts, please and thank you.