Infiniti

Infiniti

Infiniti

Infiniti

Infiniti

Infiniti

Infiniti

Infiniti

If the automotive world has an equivalent to the Met Gala, it would be the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. It takes place later this week in Monterey, California, and each year it features an assortment of classic and historic cars that are more akin to four-wheeled works of art than the more mundane stuff you or I drive on a daily basis. (Unless you're Ralph Lauren, in which case, carry on.) It's not just car collectors that bring along their machines to show off; the OEMs get in on the act, too. In Infiniti's case, that's a "what if" called Prototype 9, a 1940s-inspired electric race car.

"We discussed the idea of 'chancing' upon an unrecognized race car, hidden away for decades in a barn, deep in the Japanese countryside," explained Alfonso Albaisa, SVP of Global Design at Nissan (Infiniti's parent company). "We wanted to explore what this looked like, what it would have been made of. Open-wheeled racers of the age were beautiful machines, elegant and powerful and with a wonderful purity of purpose. It's an automotive fantasy, but the notion captured our imaginations enough to put pencil to paper."

Forget about modern materials like carbon-fiber composites or 3D printing. Prototype 9 was hand-made by Nissan artisans called Takumi, with hand-beaten steel body panels on top of a steel ladder frame. It's an intriguing-looking vehicle, calling back to the days when a racing car's engine was found in front of the driver. From the sides and rear there's a definite hint of Mercedes-Benz's prewar Grand Prix cars. But head-on, with its bluff grill, the view is more reminiscent of American hot rods.

The suspension design is similarly old school, a rigid axle with transverse leaf springs up front and a De Dion axle with another set of transverse leaf springs at the rear.

But underneath that handmade exterior is a 21st century powertrain. In this case, a 120kW (148hp) prototype electric motor, powered by a 30kWh lithium-ion battery. To go with those 1940s looks, Prototype 9's performance is quite in keeping with the period, too: 0-62mph (0-100km/h) in 5.5 seconds and a top speed of 106mph (170km/h).

A production run seems extremely unlikely, given that this was a passion project for the engineers and artisans who built Prototype 9. But stranger things have happened, and it's possible a very well-heeled enthusiast might wave a sufficiently large check at the company in the hopes of getting one of their own.

Listing image by Infiniti