This car flows so good, it’s practically liquid, and it’s from the eighties. The last thing that flowed this good back then was that liquid-human from the second Terminator movie, and even that was into the nineties.
That being said, I’m typing this while listening to Whitesnake and drinking Pepsi from an old Esso palm tree glass. It’s the drink of choice of a new generation, a generation that’s now middle-aged and well on their way to obsolescence, so not quite like new anymore. The eighties were the last generation where everyone smoked, and I remember that as a kid. People smoked in the malls, in the restaurants, at work, and smoked in the cars so much that the higher-end models came with something ridiculous like five ashtrays. The eighties were a decade of hard corners and sharp edges. The sports cars were wedges, the luxury cars were bricks, and the muscle cars were brick-like wedges. The art had straight lines, the buildings had angles, and not a curve was desired outside of a beer poster until roughly the mid-nineties, following up the short-lived neon and pastel trend. If you look in old car magazines, you’ll see some fairly cringe-worthy paint jobs, wheels, and interiors, but not everyone wanted to stick with the latest fashion. The Santarsiero Atlantis Roadster was built in 1988, and there’s hardly a flat surface or hard corner on the thing.
When I first saw it, I thought it was an art-deco Delahaye or a Duesenberg, but the grille almost looks Brewster. That’s because it’s a full custom, inspired by companies such as Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg, Bugatti, Delahaye, etc. Constructed aluminum and powered by a simple-yet-effective carbureted 351 Cleveland backed by a three-speed automatic transmission, the Atlantis probably has plenty of power to move, yet nothing too exotic to maintain. Inside is a mixture of cross-stitched red leather, aluminum, and carbon fibre, and of course, a big stereo for those top-down highway tours where you just need to hear some “Here I Go Again On My Own.” The Atlantis was restored about fifteen years ago, but from what condition, I don’t know. It also sold at Barrett-Jackson three years ago; the price is another thing I don’t know. What I do know, however, is that I’ll always respect a blue car with a red interior. Ever since the 1996 Corvette Grand Sport was available with the “bleeder” interior, I’ve been hooked. Maybe it’s the misguided patriot in me, but then again, eagles and stars don’t have the same effect as the blue and the red, so I don’t know… The best part of the Atlantis? Obviously, I’ve saved it for last. Upfront, hands-down the centre-mounted triceratops lamp. Outback, it’s what we’ve all been waiting for: the ultimate eighties exhaust cut-outs. They’re perfect rectangles, four corners each, like an ashtray door or a cigarette pack, as was the style of the time.
Have a question or comment for Kelly? Post it at lmtimes.ca/kirk