You have to hand it to Bertone. The company seems to be more adept at drawing together a collective of designers who are prepared to push the boat out than anyone else.
And when you look at the Bonkers Autobianchi Runabout of that mental year of 1969, the boat was almost literally pushed out. Taking inspir­ation from the nautical world, the Runabout was commis­sioned by the Italian car maker to explore what might be possible with a Fiat platform and a near limitless design parameter.

Marcello Gandini, protag­onist with our her Giugiaro, of the infamous contro­versy surrounding penmanship of the pivotal Lamborghini Miura design, was responsible for this outrageous concept.

Having only recently leaped in Giugiaro’s seat after leaving Bertone, Gandini obviously had a point to prove. It was 1969 and the world was being turned around and around and upside down in almost every cultural form. The runabout typified the sort of thinking that sent folk to the moon.

But Ironically. for such a old set of design elements, it bears a strik­ingly obvious relationship to the Fiat X19, the car that eventuially emerged from in 1972. Just shows you that the greatest dream with their eyes wide open.