Bocanegra!

[barrett]

Looking at the current Seat range it's hard to believe that they could ever have made an interesting car, with a line-up consisting entirely of bloated Golf-alikes, the styling of which is apparently inspired by the work of Spain's most famous son, Antoni Gaudi. Even in the more shite-friendly era of the 1970s and 80s, Seats were little more than rebadged - and later restyled - Fiats, notable only for their astonishing rate of attrition and lack of any sort of following.

Of course, in their home market there was a whole range of Seats that would be unfamiliar even to the most enthusiastic Fiat-owning Italian, including 4 door saloon versions of the 600 and 850, but their stylistic and mechanical roots were Turin, not Barcelona. The acrimonious split from their parent firm in the 1980s saw a move towards more individual cars but in reality they still owed a great deal to their Italian cousins. The merger with the VW group created the first 'non-Fiat' Seats that most people are aware of, but It was actually way back in 1975 that Seat produced its first totally unique car with no Italian counterpart.

The origins of this car lie in 1970 with a pair of stillborn designs by the incredibly talented but sadly little-known stylist Aldo Sessano. The first was a concept for the proposed new small NSU that was to replace the aging Prinz/1000 range, named the Nergal, and the second was the Autobianchi A112-based OTAS KL112. Both cars were doomed to the same fate suffered by most concept cars, that is to say a very brief moment in the sun followed by a lifetime in obscurity as the following year's exciting new shapes took centre stage.

 

 

Fortunately, over in Spain, the two cars' bold styling didn't go unnoticed, at least not by Antoni Amat, head of the INDUCAR, a coachbuilding firm with strong ties to Seat. He invited Sessano to design for his firm a small sports coupe based on the running gear of the Seat 127, with a view to entering limited production. Styling would amalgamate elements from both previous concept cars but be more 'production friendly'.

The prototype for the 127 Sport Coupe was finished in 1972, and the decision was made to enlarge the design to accept the larger 1200cc engine from the Seat 124. Seat had decided not to licence-build the Fiat 128 3p so there was a gap in the market for a small sports coupe, and the Sessano/ INDUCAR design was made an 'official' part of the Seat line-up in 1975, renamed Seat 1200 Sport. Only very minor details were changed from the initial prototype.

1200 Sport styling mock-up with Amat (far left) and Sessano (second from left, leaning on car)

 

Despite the main design elements already being 5 years old, when launched the 1200 Sport was an incredibly bold and modern design, especially given that Seat had never before built a car that hadn't been initially styled in Turin. The shape was crisp, clean and unadorned, from the 'folded paper' school of design that was only then gaining popularity. The most striking feature was of course the integrated rubber bumper at the front of the car, encircling the headlights and grille and earning the car its enduring nickname - Bocanegra (literally 'Black mouth'). Very few production cars of the time could match the Bocanegra for boldness, only Giugiaro's sharp but bland VW Scirrocco and possibly the fussy Renault 15/17 came close. Inside things were less unusual but the plush tombstone seats and 5-dial instrument panel with sunken dials were a cut above anything the average Seat driver was used to.

 

 

In 1977 the car received the larger engine from the Seat 1430 saloon which pushed the top speed up to just over 100mph, although the car was otherwise unchanged. It is these 1430 Sports that are now the most highly prized examples of this collectable car, which in Spain has a huge cult following of enthusiasts who appreciate the importance of the very first completely indigenous Seat.

Production of both types ended in 1981 after around 20,000 had been built, almost all being sold on home territory. Such is the car's status in Spain that Seat even misappropriated the name to use for a special edition 'Bocanegra' Ibiza in 2009. Needless to say that car contained none of the charm of the original.

Sessano is often criticised for being bland, but for me his unwillingness to over adorn his cars with fussy details is what makes him such a great designer. He is quite happy to let a single bold feature 'do the talking' for an entire design, on the Seat it's the 'bocanegra' itself, on the OTAS the sharply upswept rear window (later copied wholesale by Dick Teague for the AMC Gremlin...). Sadly the Seat is one of the few production cars actually credited to him, much of his later work was for Japanese companies, whose business practice dictates that designs are very rarely, if ever, credited to an individual designer, and as such he remains a fairly obscure figure today. A real shame, as the Seat Sport is easily one of the best designs of the decade, and one that sums up everything that was great about 1970s design. I'll take mine in lime green....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

Yours for 8000 Euros

 

index by benno79, on Flickr

[HillmanImp]

Where do you dig these from Barrett? Did you just get up this morning and think, I will do a piece on the Seat 1200. I assume you were not prompted to write about them after seeing a fleet of them on Brighton seafront?

 

Interesting read. Very 70's styling. A bit of Renault 15/17 in there and even a bit of 14 in the lines of the boot IMO. What else did this chap do?

[RedSparrow]

Nice write up, thanks. What a good looking little car.

[Cavcraft]

Class stuff, cheers barrett.

Anyone else think the front looks FSO and the rear a bit FIAT-ish? I know FSOs came later by the way.

[Vin]

Ah, the Carlos Bocanegra...

 

Good work Barrett.

 

I do like these.

 

There's a modern Seat (I don't know which) which is a 'bocanegra' special edition. I saw one by the side of the road a few months ago. I assumed that it is a homage to this original.

[Albert Ross]

Anyone see a hint of 205 in the rear quarter of the 2nd pic?

[Shep Shepherd]

I've never seen one of those before. Looks nice

[hhhugues]

these are really cool !

 

cant remember if i've seen it here first, but seat did a "homage" to the bocanegra (don't know if it actually ended up in production):

 

 

[catsinthewelder]

Great stuff as always Barrett

[John F]

What a lovely little motor!

 

That modern thing looks pretty vulgar in comparison.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

This is one of few cars I would pay a modest four-figure sum for. I did see someone on french eBay selling a pair of them for about 1000€ a few years back, never seen another for sale though. I think theres a 1200 and a 1430, and the 1430 is a lot more valuable.

[hhhugues]

What a lovely little motor!

 

That modern thing looks pretty vulgar in comparison.

 

And it's basically just an ibiza. They missed the point completely...

[dollywobbler]

Fascinating. Top thread Barratt old bean.

[michiel]

Gorgeously odd car. Here's one for sale at 17,999

 

Sadly it's the modern Ibifa nonsense. Huge badge on the rear...

[Mr_Bo11ox]

http://www.milanuncios.com/seat-de-segu ... 421697.htm

 

FINAL OFFER 2500€ INCLUDING LOADS OF SPARES

[Mr_Bo11ox]

http://www.milanuncios.com/seat-de-segu ... 281690.htm

 

BEEN PARKED SINCE 93, 2000€

[Mr_Bo11ox]

http://www.milanuncios.com/seat-de-segu ... 314013.htm

 

1430, GOOD WORKING ORDER, NEW TYRES, 4500€

[John F]

http://www.milanuncios.com/seat-de-segu ... 314013.htm

 

1430, GOOD WORKING ORDER, NEW TYRES, 4500€

 

Nice, but not £3,657.43 nice.