The Ælla-60 Is A Rebodied Ferrari 360 With An Unpronounceable Name

This is the Ælla-60, and that name is one of only several things to unpack about it. That’s because underneath its curvy, 1960s-flavoured lines, it’s (probably) hiding the bones of a Ferrari 360 Modena.

So, the name: Ælla was a ninth-century king of Northumberland, and as far as we can work out, it’s maybe pronounced like ‘Alla’. Nobody’s really sure, though, because microphones hadn’t been invented in 862 AD when he was ruling over what’s now a lovely corner of Northern England.

Why is it called that? We don’t know, but that’s not really important. If you’re looking at it trying to work out why it looks so familiar, then take a look at Caterham’s EV prototype, the Project V, and then at this. Any similarity here is more than coincidental, because Caterham’s design chief, Anthony Jannarelly, also designed the Ælla-60.

And if that name’s ringing more bells, it’ll be because Jannarelly previously ran his own low-volume manufacturer, which produced its own similarly retro-influenced sports car, the Design-1. That company was subsequently sold, and the Ælla-60 is the first product of Jannarelly’s new venture, Art Machines, which is planning to produce small runs of what it calls “dream cars.”

What of those Ferrari bones? Well, Art Machines hasn’t explicitly said it’s based on a 360, just that it uses the foundations of a 1990s sports car with a mid-mounted 3.6-litre V8 and an aluminium chassis. Make of that what you will.

It sounds like that sonorous V8 has had a bit of a tickle, because the Ælla-60 is producing a quoted 473bhp compared to the 360 Modena’s 395bhp. The renders we’ve seen so far show it with a manual gearbox too, helping deliver on the promised analogue driving experience. Dry weight is said to be 1130kg, and 0-62mph is quoted at 3.5 seconds.

All sounds like a promising recipe, although the car only exists as digital renders for now. Art Machines, though, is hoping to produce a run of 60 Ælla-60s (obvs). €865,000 – around £723,500 – is the asking price. Would the looks and extra power convince you to spend that on top of a regular 360?