Atalanta Motors, a small British sports car manufacturer that ceased production during World War Two, has been revived and will reveal a prototype car next year.
Motoring enthusiast Martyn Corfield has restarted Atalanta, which was established in Middlesex near the end of 1936 and produced just 21 sports cars before WW2 caused the cessation of the motor industry. Atalanta cars were available in a variety of configurations, each tailored to the bespoke needs of each customer. When the war ended, Atalanta did not restart production.
See a picture of the Atalanta Sports Tourer
Corfield has established a new base in Staffordshire and drawn up plans for a new traditional coach-built prototype based on the original Atalanta works Le Mans 24 Hours entry from 1938.
Corfield has been a marque enthusiast since acquiring the works Le Mans car in 2009. He said: “Atalanta is one of the greatest untold British motoring heritage stories. The cars and the team that delivered the original concept were so ahead of their time. What might have been had the war not interrupted development?
“As custodian of the Atalanta marque it is my objective to sensitively bring the original Atalanta design up to date, delivering modern motoring needs of safety, reliability and performance but still remaining true in spirit to the Atalanta sports car ideals and deliver the quality of product that this marque deserves."
According to Atalanta, the new car will "remain true to the function and style of the original Atalanta design, but also satisfy the demands of the more modern motoring. It will take advantage of modern materials and technology in order to aid what was already a very advanced pre-war design to comply with modern safety vehicle standards".
The pre-production prototype is scheduled to be unveiled in spring 2012, 75 years after the first Atalanta car was announced.
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