If I had to recommend a series of automotive books for any collection — indeed, one I've seen in other people's collections, actually, is World Cars by The Automobile Club of Italy. Every year from the late '60s to the mid-'80s, there'd be a thick, hardcover tome featuring tons of weird cars and specs for everything else.
There are a few inaccuracies, as you'd expect*, but for the most part it's a pretty nice set to acquire.
I am missing a few years, but today's car is from the 1982 edition. As far as I can tell, there were two versions of the kind-of-Alpine A310-aping TAFCO Baronta. The description, for the second version, is as follows:
“A highly-modified Corsa 6-cylinder engine allied with a full belly pan to create the desired ground effect allow the Baronta II to top 150 mph (240 km/h). The body is handcrafted from 0.035 steel over a tubular inner body. Wheelbase 92 in. (234 cm). Accessories include full instrumentation, CB radio and stereo and tapes.”
Cool beans. Thanks, World Cars 1982. Hmm. Ages ago, I found a really interesting French car website that (using Google Translate, at least) didn’t seem to be too flattering of the car. After all, the title of the page was “THE GARBAGE IN HISTORY: THE TAFCO BARONTA”.
Can't be that bad, right? We've been through some wild stuff over the last year…
Before we get into the TAFCO-hating, seeing that the car was designed and constructed in Dearborn, Michigan, tells me that with its thin metal bodywork and tube frame chassis (not to mention the short track-style wheels and tires used) it's probably intended to be a sprint or stock car for the road. That would be cool, sort of like a sports car version of a car Kurt Russell's character in Death Proof would have driven.
Power here is from a ‘race-tuned’ Chevrolet Monza V6, and with fixed side windows, air conditioning was standard.
Now, this mysterious French website seems to think the car was built in fibreglass — so who is right? My single print source or the website? If there are only two sources and they contradict each other…I’m going with the Italians.
Anyway, the translated French descriptions of the car from a decade ago was hilarious, and I would like to share them with you:
“This month, we will study the production of TAFCO firm, led by Baron Samuel Tafoya, a US Detroit. This baron is so proud of its title, obtained God knows how, he gives the name of his car Baronta, contraction Baron Tafoya, the logo is a shield ‘homemade’ adorned with the initials BST!”
How dare he! Is that a god-given title? Who is this person?
As it turns out, I don't think it's ‘Baron’ at all; a quick search led me to a formerly Dearborn-based Samuel Barran Tafoya, who moved to Florida and who holds a number of patents. Those are:
Stealth bomber, transporter, air-to-air fuelling tanker, and space plane
Stealth attack fighter bomber
Ordinance canister with collapsible fuel-storing structure that after descent and impact atomizes
Tri-point hydro sled
Mechanic's step with stirrup
Vehicle-assisted power generator
Thermodynamic pressure generator
Marine reaction thruster
Infinitely variable geared transmission
Reusable bomb diffuser
High-volume, no-drag sea chest with purge capability
De'sax'e 2-cycle engine, constant pressure adiabatic compound "C.P.A.C." (Lord knows what that is…)
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