{"id":17814,"date":"2019-06-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.secret-classics.com\/jaguar-pirana-by-bertone-2\/"},"modified":"2020-10-06T13:19:37","modified_gmt":"2020-10-06T13:19:37","slug":"jaguar-pirana-by-bertone-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.secret-classics.com\/en\/jaguar-pirana-by-bertone-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaguar Pirana by Bertone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A look into our photo gallery might lead some of our readers to ask if we have actually included the correct images in this article. Depending on the title, a Jaguar is expected, but the pictures show a car with a body shape similar to an Italian sports car. Correct. The design language of the unique Jaguar Pirana (without ‘h’) was created in 1966 at the Bertone headquarters by Marcello Gandini. He took a Jaguar E-Type Series 1 with the later 4.2-liter inline six-cylinder engine, but the short wheelbase of the early two-seater Coup\u00e9s as a base car. This special vehicle wasn’t commissioned by Jaguar nor by Bertone themselves. Instead, the British ‘Daily Telegraph’ wanted to make a headline with this excitingly designed sports car at the 1967 Earl’s Court Motor Show in London. At the same time, this car should met all licensing requirements as a small-volume production was considered. Just imagine for a short moment that the ‘Frankfurter Allgemeine’ would commission a sports car study for the upcoming IAA Frankfurt Motor Show in September. Sounds outlandish, but was actually possible back then. The conversion from E-Type to Pirana took about $ 16,000 which were fully paid by the newspaper.

The metal sheets for the bodywork were created by hand at Bertone on specially made wooden blocks. Marcello Gandini designed the car with a bit of inspiration from the base model, for example with the long bonnet or the far set back passenger cabin. Like at the E-Type, the bonnet of the Pirana opens to the front. Four round headlights and, for their time, relatively flat taillights give the car a very special road presence at night. From today’s perspective, the entire body looks very familiar, as Gandini mixed many ideas of the Pirana and the Lamborghini Marzal concept, which he designed and built at the same time, into the production design of the Lamborghini Espada. Unlike the Jaguar Pirana, that Italian sports car became a full four-seater.<\/p>\n\n\n

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