After World War II had finally ended, the 1950s and early 1960s were known for a bunch of acts, including the surfacing of a number of cultural novelties such as rock’n’roll / rockabilly music and lifestyle (in the 1950s) or the “make love not war” careless living in the 1960s.

Those weren’t the only things worth remembering from back then, especially when it comes to Europe, where tiny and extremely lightweight Italian sports cars were turning heads on every street and on every circuit corner, as they were some of the most inspirational automotive products of the era and in true antithesis with the chromed and finned land-barges that were coming out of Detroit.

As Jefferson Airplane’s Paul Kantner and comedian Robin Williams once said: “If you can remember the ’60s, you weren’t really there.”

Well, thankfully, the boys and girls from ATS (Automobili Turismo e Sport) – the car company known for being formed after “the great walkout” at Ferrari happened – do remember the 1960s and they do it pretty well.
We say this just by checking out their latest product, launched without too many bells and whistles earlier today – the ATS Leggera.

Looking not-unlike a modernized 1960s barchetta sports car and weighing close to nothing, the new ATS Leggera should technical be the snappiest; little sports car on the planet right now.

Two versions will be available in the beginning, each of them weighing just 650 kg (1433 pounds) and being powered by a turbocharged 1.6-liter four-pot with either 210 hp or 240 hp and 295 Nm (218 lb ft) of torque.
One of them is named the ATS Leggera 300, while the other one will be known as the Leggera 365, both numbers representing the power to weight ratio of the respective model.

The standard transmission is a five-speed manual, but it seems that ATS will offer you a straight cut gearbox and/or a six-speed sequential gearbox on request.

It is worth mentioning that a third and even more impressive variant of the car will be available in an initial limited edition of just 5 units, powered by a naturally-aspirated 2.2-liter Honda Spoon engine with 290 hp at a screaming 9,000 rpm.

Called ATS 420 Super Leggera SS, the limited edition model will offer no less than 420 hp per ton and a thoroughbred racing chassis – not for the squeamish.

By Alex Oagana

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