One Of Bertone’s Wildest Designs Was Basically A Ferrari F430

Bertone is one of the most famous and revered names in the car design world, and with good reason. The company gave us the Lancia Stratos and Lamborghini Miura, after all. The company ran into rough times in the 2010s, though, going bankrupt in 2014. The brand was revived a couple of years ago, but it doesn’t have the Bertone family at the helm. The company, before its bankruptcy, was busy with designs right until the end. One of the last ones was the Bertone Nuccio that you see here. Besides the outrageous looks, it earned a few claims to fame, and it’s a fully running and driving car. Plus, you can actually buy it.

One Of The Last Bertone-Badged Cars

The Bertone Nuccio was first shown at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, but only as a static model. The running version, which is the car for sale, was first shown at the Beijing Motor Show of the same year. Its name comes from the man that ran the design house, Nuccio Bertone. Nuccio was also the son of the founder, and his wife took over the company for the last few years following Nuccio’s passing. With the company going bankrupt a couple of years after the reveal, this car is also the last one that only wore the Bertone name, and not that of another automaker. Of course now, the Bertone name will appear on a supercar from the revived company.

The car took inspiration from the Stratos Zero, a low, wedge-shaped concept from Bertone in the 1970s. The connection is clear with this car’s wedge shape, long windshield, and roof treatment. With the diamond texturing on the roof, the flared roof edges, and triangular openings, it reminds us of the head of a pit viper. That’s no bad thing. For as wild as the exterior is, the interior is quite restrained. It has a simple analog instrument cluster and a handsome, but also simple, aluminum-colored center stack. RM Sotheby’s notes an interesting exterior feature of the car in the front-mounted brake lights. They apparently illuminate in blue to alert pedestrians to the car slowing down.

The underpinnings aren’t common, but they’re not overly exotic, either. For the most part, the Nuccio is a Ferrari F430. It has the same 4.3-liter V8, sequential transmission, and even the same headlights. It’s rated at around 480 horsepower, just like the Ferrari. You can even still see the bright red cam covers with Ferrari prancing horse badges in the engine bay. Again, that’s all arguably good, since it shouldn’t be hard to keep this car on the road.

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Bertone to Sell Nuccio Prototype to Chinese Collector for €2 Million

Bertone spent over 15,000 hours designing, engineering and building the concept.

It Could Be A Bargain Of Sorts

The car is being sold through RM Auctions in a sealed bid format. The auction house notes that the car has only had one owner since new. Our understanding is that the owner bought the car during Bertone’s bankruptcy sale, and it may have changed hands for €2 million. RM Sotheby’s is estimating the sale price of the car at between €400,000 and €500,000, or about $460,000 to $580,000 at the time of writing. That’s a pretty huge discount over the original purchase price, and for a car that might have never gone for sale if Bertone hadn’t gone bankrupt. RM Sotheby’s says the current owner is the only one besides Bertone, and it has 18,099 miles on the clock. Some of those miles are apparently from before the donor F430 was converted into the Nuccio. At the time of writing, the auction will end in 23 days.

Source: RM Sotheby’s