1988 Santarsiero Atlantis Description

1988 Santarsiero Atlantis Roadster

Concept car designed by Ron Santarsiero to echo the art deco French designs of the 30s/40s Automatic transmission Blue/purple exterior Quilted red leather seats Removable hardtop Aluminum steering wheel Auto Meter instrument panel gauges Carbon fiber dash and aluminum interior inserts Power windows, push button start Sony AM/FM stereo with CD player and six-speaker sound system

From the same mind and hands that brought us the Predator Xtreme, the Callista Roadster and other replicas comes the Santarsiero Atlantis Roadster, courtesy of MotoeXotica Classic Cars. The car uses elements from French, teardrop-styled, art deco cars of the 1930s and 1940s like Bugatti and Delahaye plus motifs from Auburn, Cord and Duesenberg.

Its Ford engine is either a 351 CID Cleveland or a modified 400 CID V-8 tucked under a vee-shaped hood. With its removable hardtop and fully skirted wheels, this ultra-wide, two-seat Atlantis looks like nothing else on the road today! Remember, this is a one-off tribute model that is 28 years old, not a regular production vehicle. Recently the Atlantis was dismantled properly and received a two stage professional paint job and all of the trim was polished to a brilliant finish resulting in making the Atlantis to look absolutely stunning!

The two-tone blue paint is in excellent condition with very minor imperfections. The car’s glass panels are in good shape, with no cracks or hazing to mar the view. All of the vehicle’s lights, including its blue dot brake lights, are in very good shape, with no breaks or missing pieces, including the light in the center of the front end with ‘Atlantis’ scripted on it. The car has no windshield wiper arms or blades but its fiberglass body panels are in good order, including the removable hardtop and the engine bay is in good shape.

Designed and built over a period of time by Ron Santarsiero, just in time to present at the 2012 Pebble Beach Tour d’Élégance, this majestic vehicle that looks like it time-warped from Figoni’s & Falaschi’s 1933 studio in Paris and it can now rest in your driveway or garage.

Inside, the red leather seats mimic the Connolly cross-hatched upholstery found in Bentleys, Jaguars and the like. The seats and door panels present nicely and look great against the car’s voluptuous exterior. There’s a carbon fiber instrument panel, which is in very good order with Auto Meter gauges, a push-button start and the aluminum steering wheel and shifter are in good shape. Car comes with a Sony AM/FM audio system with six speakers. Driver assist features include power windows.

As mentioned above, the Atlantis uses many of the same styling cues found on pre-World War II French models, in general, the 1946 Delahaye 175, and in particular, the 175S crafted by coachbuilder Jacques Saoutchik for British blonde bombshell, Diana Dors, who was game show host Richard Dawson’s second wife. The rear-wheel drive Type 175, 178 and 180 chassis is considerably more sophisticated than its 135 predecessor, the front suspension being independent with pivoting horizontal cylinders that contained a powerful coil-spring and hydraulic shock absorber in an oil-bath Dubonnet. The rear was by de Dion, with semi-elliptical springs. Brakes were hydraulic type made by Lockheed. The brake-drums were deeply finned cast-iron, actuated by dual master cylinders with a balance-bar drums all around.

The other French company named above, Bugatti, also influenced the Atlantis’ design. Bugatti even named two of its famous vehicles Atlantic and Atalante, so more than just styling cues were borrowed.

The Atlantic body Type 57S featured flowing coupe lines with a pronounced dorsal seam running front to back. It was based on the 1935 Aérolithe concept car designed by Jean Bugatti. Like the Type 59 Grand Prix car, the Aérolithe used Elektron (a magnesium alloy) or Duralumin (an aluminum alloy) for its body panels. Therefore, the body panels were riveted externally, creating the signature seam.

However the production Atlantics (just four were made) used plain aluminum, but the dorsal seams were retained for style, and have led to the car’s present fame. Also, the first and the second of the Atlantics were described as “Aéro Coupes,” both based on the same mechanics as the Aérolithe concept.

Three of the original four cars are known to survive and each has been restored to their former glory. Two have been honored with Best of Show awards at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Élégance. In fact we even had one of the others show up to The Great Race that we hosted at our facility in 2015!

The Atalante was a two-door coupe body style similar to and built after the Atlantic, built on both the Type 57 and 57S, but with a single piece windscreen and no fin. Only 17 Atalante cars were made, four of which reside in the Cité de l’Automobile Museum in Mulhouse, France (formerly known as the Musée Nationale de L’Automobile de Mulhouse). The name Atalante was derived from a heroine of Greek mythology, Atalanta.

Looking like the never-shown sidekick to Captain Nemo’s Nautilus Car featured in “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” this car looks like nothing else around and is easily one of the most unique vehicles we’ve ever offered! This car is currently located at our facility in St. Louis, Missouri. It is sold as is, where is, on a clean and clear, mileage exempt Texas title.

VIN: CA457689

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