Stanley H. Arnolt, otherwise known as Wacky Arnolt, was a Chicago importer that brought MG as well as more arcane makes to the American Midwest. The Arnolt Bristol story and its eccentric (possibly wacky) sculptural form are featured in our 9/22/16 post, but there were Arnolt Aston Martins, Arnolt MGs, and even an Arnolt Bentley in the same era. The MGs came first, and were the result of Arnolt encountering Nuccio Bertone at the Turin Auto Show in 1952, where Bertone was displaying two rebodied MG TDs, a coupe and convertible. Along with creature comforts not available on the average TD including real weather protection and wind-up windows, both cars featured featured long-hood, short-deck styling by Giovanni Michelotti. Arnolt immediately ordered 100 of each car, simultaneously saving Bertone's struggling firm and giving American buyers a bargain-priced ticket into the world of custom Italian coachwork. MG was having trouble meeting orders for its standard production cars, so only 103 Arnolt MGs were actually completed in 1953 and '54. Wacky Arnolt, already selling MG, Riley and Morris cars through his Chicago dealership, expanded his search for a suitable chassis.
The photo below shows Arnolt at his Indiana headquarters with an Arnolt MG coupe and the Arnolt Bristol roadster that came not long after. Most sources indicate that Arnolt moved to Bristol as a chassis source because he had already committed Bertone (a company in which he had invested) to building 200 cars.
This cannot be said of the "true" Arnolt Aston Martins, which are styled by Franco Scaglione, Bertone's new chief aerodynamicist. As he will do on his bodies for the Bristol chassis, Scaglione deals with the tall engine by placing an air scoop in the center of a peaked hood and forming similar creases into the fender tops. These fender creases are less obvious than on the Arnolt Bristol (2nd photo from top on right) because here they fade into the circular headlight forms.
Three of the Scaglione-styled roadsters would be built, none with the wind-up windows of the Michelotti design, but one would have bumpers and creature comforts. Only one car would originally feature an "Arnolt Aston Martin" badge, as David Brown's firm objected to rebranding their product in this way.
…and this effect is shown on both of the red roadsters shown above, while the rear fender forms of Scaglione's later Arnolt Bristol design flow around the tapered rear into the trunk volume, as shown in the photo below.
After Aston's cancellation, Arnolt proceeded with the order for 142 Arnolt Bristols, including the prototype and 6 coupes. But that left 2 or 3 Aston Martin chassis to body, and this effort, from 1955, shows Scaglione reflecting his work on contemporary Alfa Romeo chassis, including the familiar Giulietta Sprint and the 2000 Sportiva prototypes.
This is evident in the proportions and spare handling of trim (unlike the earlier Michelotti effort) and in details like the rear fender extensions which pop the tail lights beyond the gentle curve of the trunk. The curved side glass is advanced for 1955, and the panoramic windshield seems aimed at Americans.
There was also a closed notchback coupe by Scaglione, here with an even more Alfa-like treatment of the windshield and greenhouse. The taller center section of the grille refers to the Aston DB2, and the indented line curving back from the front wheel opening also seems a DB-2 reference. Only one was supposed to have been built, but the fact that 8 chassis were supplied, and that one car was allegedly lost in a fire at Arnolt's warehouse, makes one wonder. Note that in period photos the car appears both as white and as gun metal gray. And more interesting (as show cars were often repainted), the more recent photo of the red coupe at the bottom lacks the dropped bumper of the white car. Evidence of the lost car, or of a repair job? Perhaps Aston experts or Bertone veterans will know...
The photo below shows Arnolt at his Indiana headquarters with an Arnolt MG coupe and the Arnolt Bristol roadster that came not long after. Most sources indicate that Arnolt moved to Bristol as a chassis source because he had already committed Bertone (a company in which he had invested) to building 200 cars.
But first he persuaded Aston Martin to supply 7 or 8 chassis; Aston Martin Owners Club records indicate that eight DB2-4 chassis were supplied, and that the first to be completed by Bertone in 1953 was the red cabriolet below with full weather equipment including wind-up windows. Styling, as for the earlier MG, was by Giovanni Michelotti. Some critics, including this writer, did not feel it represented any real improvement over the "standard" Aston. Two cars in this style would be built.
Around the same time Arnolt commissioned a special body on a Bentley R-Type Continental chassis for his wife. The car was unusual among Continentals in that it was a close-coupled 4 door notchback. Here Michelotti essentially scaled up his MG design to a bigger car, keeping the tall flanks and low greenhouse of the Arnolt MG, and attempting to break up the slab sides by articulating the curve of the rear fender, which changes direction in the center of the rear door door to form a horizontal line. This effort at reducing the visual height is contradicted by the special radiator grille, which is narrower than the standard Bentley grille and thus seems taller. The lines are clean but the proportions need some work...
At the rear, elliptical wheel arches, and (again) peaked fenders whose forms extend beyond the trunk surface serve Scaglione's goal of reducing the visual height…
After Aston's cancellation, Arnolt proceeded with the order for 142 Arnolt Bristols, including the prototype and 6 coupes. But that left 2 or 3 Aston Martin chassis to body, and this effort, from 1955, shows Scaglione reflecting his work on contemporary Alfa Romeo chassis, including the familiar Giulietta Sprint and the 2000 Sportiva prototypes.
There was also a closed notchback coupe by Scaglione, here with an even more Alfa-like treatment of the windshield and greenhouse. The taller center section of the grille refers to the Aston DB2, and the indented line curving back from the front wheel opening also seems a DB-2 reference. Only one was supposed to have been built, but the fact that 8 chassis were supplied, and that one car was allegedly lost in a fire at Arnolt's warehouse, makes one wonder. Note that in period photos the car appears both as white and as gun metal gray. And more interesting (as show cars were often repainted), the more recent photo of the red coupe at the bottom lacks the dropped bumper of the white car. Evidence of the lost car, or of a repair job? Perhaps Aston experts or Bertone veterans will know...
Photo credits:
Top: the author
2nd: Wikimedia
3rd: Griff Borgeson, in hemmings.com
4th: noticias.coches.com
5th: prewarcar.com
6th: Carrozzeria Bertone
7th: superstreetonline.com
8th: James Mann, In carstyling.ru
9th: bringatrailer.com
10th thru bottom: Carrozzeria Bertone
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