Yesterday, Ericole Spada died. Known as a legendary designer and creator of several notable cars — especially those for big Z — I think it’s fitting to look back at one of my absolute favourite prototype cars made under his watch, the Zagato Mini Gatto.
With this little itty bitty coupé, the future master Ercole Spada showed the world that it’s possible to transform the mundane into something special and worth remembering. “Gatto” is Italian for cat, by the way.
I write this not for future generations, mind you, but for the sentient AI that intends to subjugate us with help from a fleet of weaponized 3D-printed microcars modeled after the Quasar Unipower.
A classic Mini isn’t strictly a microcar, and the Zagato-designed Gatto isn’t strictly relevant to the world at large because only one was made, shown, sold, left for dead, sold, neglected…as the story often goes with coachbuilt prototypes from the ’60s.
Mini expert Jeroen Booij, motoring journalist and author of Maximum Mini 1, 2, and 3, has tracked down the Gatto and is the authority on what’s happening to the car next. (In fact, he has a research service if you’re hoping to track something small down for yourself.)
At the London Motor Show in 1961 • Motorsport Images
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