Atalanta is back

If the brand Atalanta doesn't ring a bell as a car-maker, you needn't be too concerned.

During the late 1930s at a small factory in Staines, Middlesex, the Atalanta company built a small number of expensive two-door cars employing a diverse selection of powerplants, from 1.5 and 2.0-litre four-cylinders to a 4.3-litre V12 Lincoln-Zephyr engine.

Claiming to be "arguably the most technically advanced British sports cars of the era" the custom-built Atalanta coupes, saloons and "sports" cars focussed on refinement and performance with a variety of supercharged and normally aspirated four-cylinder engines that were supplemented by a range of V12-engined cars from 1938.

The motoring press at the time was enthusiastic: Driving the V12 version in 1939, British magazine Motorsport said "The performance is terrific, as might be expected with the big V12 American engine in a relatively small chassis, and this is backed up by superlative road holding and cornering. The

Atalanta went round bends at 80mph as though it was on rails. I wouldn't mind betting that you have never been along a road faster before – this was undoubtedly the case."

Meanwhile Autocar commented in 1941 that the brand was "A British sports car with all the makings of the best kind of machine; one hopes to hear more of this type of Atalanta some day; it seems to deserve a future."

Sadly, the Atalanta brand disappeared with the advent of WWII after just 21 cars were built.

All that is a prelude to the fact Atalanta is making what looks like a carbon-copy comeback: On September 5 at the third International Concours of

Elegance at Hampton Court Palace in the UK, the company will be launching its 2104 model, which is built on the same principles used more than 70 years ago.

According to the company's press release, the new car will be largely built in-house: "90 per cent of the component parts are designed and engineered directly by Atalanta, including castings, forgings and fabrications. Furthermore, it is a traditionally hand-crafted aluminium-over-ash coach-built structure."

The first of the new Atalantas will be joined on stage by an original 1937 model that won Best in Show at the 2007 Cartier Style et Luxe Concours held as part of the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

According to Rory Watson, who is the son of Atalanta's original founder, Neil Watson, "I never thought that something my father helped create all those years ago could be revived."

The company says it is taking "limited commissions" to build cars to individual specifications and that test drives of car number one can be requested at the Concours of Elegance, or by visiting www.atalantamotors.co.uk.