Italian design house Bertone is playing all the hits right now, looking back on its history of impressive and polarizing design to come up with inspiration for its future products. The company announced this week that it would be building a modern-yet-faithful interpretation of its 1969 Runabout concept for a limited number of well-heeled buyers. This was an early inspiration for Bertone design, which was famous for “consisting of two lines.” You can see the Runabout’s influence playing a big part in car design from the 1970s through the 1990s.
The Runabout will be available in either removable-roof Targa or fully open-top Barchetta configuration. Bertone says it will be powered by a “500 horsepower V6” though doesn’t specify which manufacturer it comes from. Speculation says the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio’s twin-turbo 2.9-liter V6 c0uld serve this purpose, or perhaps Maserati’s Nettuno twin-turbo 3-liter V6 which makes 483 horsepower in the base model Gran Turismo Modena. In either case, the car should be plenty potent for its size and weight.
There’s no indication as to exactly how many of these will be made, or exactly when they will be delivered to customers, but if you have the $380,000 that Bertone wants for one of these, you can “register your interest” to be put on the list. I would expect fewer than 100 of these will be built. Possibly fewer than 20.
“The challenge was maintaining the spirit and purity of the original 1969 model while integrating modern high-performance technology,” design lead Andrea Mocellin said in a statement. “Crafted with precision, it celebrates pure geometry and design with only two defining lines—capturing the essence of elegance and the joy of driving.”
One thing is for sure, the new version of the Runabout is going to be much quicker than the 1969 original. Way back then, the Runabout concept was powered by an Autobianchi 1.1-liter engine making 55 horsepower. Honestly, I’d be more interested today if the car came with a tiny engine like that. Perhaps the 1-liter 3-cylinder from Toyota’s GR Yaris and Corolla would have done the trick.