Bertone treasures head to auction in Torino

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Characteristic Bertone 'b' stands nearly 7-feet tall | Aste Bolaffi photos

You may recall back in February, the amazing exploration of the warehouse that had hidden the treasures of Italian design house and coachbuilder Bertone, which traced its history to 1912 when Giovanni Bertone opened a shop to form sheet metal for motorcars.

The warehouse was discovered during the company’s bankruptcy proceedings. A few pieces were sold at an auction in early summer, with more on the docket of Aste Bolaffi’s “Auto Classiche: Classic motor vehicles, Yountimers & Memorabilia” auction scheduled for November 17 in Torino, Italy.

Pair of car doors turned into a piece of wall art that’s 47 inches tall and 86 inches in length

All of the Memorabilia at the auction is automobilia from the Bertone Stile bankruptcy, including several 1:5 scale models of Bertone-designed vehicles, press-office documents, spare parts — many of them one-off items built by Bertone, as well as Bertone insignias and sculptural artwork from the company’s buildings. 

Here are just a few examples:

•  A pallet stacked with large Bertone promotional posters,

  A single lot that includes five large-format photos printed on fabric and seven wall banners celebrating the history of Bertone,

Wall clock with scale-model cars is 56 inches in diameter

•  A wall clock featuring six models of the Z.E.R. electric-powered speed vehicle.

•  The left-side front and rear door prototypes turned into wall art.

•  Bertone’s distinctive lower-case letter “b” emblems in powder-coated styrofoam and standing 6 feet, 8 inches in height.

•  The individual capital letters B-E-R-T-O-N-E that once stood atop a Bertone facility in Grugliasco, Italy.

•  Marcello Gandini’s drawing board.

  The unique hatchet that Giovanni Bertone used to mark his initials into the timber he selected for use in the coachbuilding workshop.

•  Wooden cases containing samples of the interior materials for vehicles such as the Lamborghini Miura, Maserati Khamsin and Lancia Stratos.

•  Assorted wheels, gauges, seats, and engines.

Lancia Stratos windshield as wall art

Among the vehicles being offered at the collector car portion of the sale are a 1991 Lancia Delta Integrale Evoluzione I, a 1985 BMW M635 CSI and a 1971 Alfa Romeo Montreal described as “perfect,” a rare 1959 Fiat Nuova 500 Sport, an ex-NATO 1965 DKW Munga, and a never raced 1979 Talbot Sunbeam Lotus 2.2.

To view the auction catalog, see the Aste Bolaffi website.

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