PIERCE-ARROW MUSEUM
Futuristic car built on poignant past
As a small-town teenager, Dr. Gary Kaberle fell hard one day for an exotically styled Italian sports car, fueling a lifelong automotive passion. He got enough money to buy the rare and futuristic car, a Bertone-designed BAT 9, but sold it three decades later to pay for cancer treatment for his wife, Deb.
After she died, Kaberle began a campaign to help other families coping with the disease and launched a personal crusade to build a next-generation BAT.
This weekend, Western New Yorkers can see the fruit of his labors; Kaberle is showing his striking BAT 11 concept car at the Pierce-Arrow Museum.
“I love the feel [of the BATs],” Kaberle, a dentist in Traverse City, Mich., said this week, standing next to the metallic-green two-seater that looks like the Batmobile crossed with a Ferrari Enzo.
As a teenager, he had taken a brief detour to Greenville, Mich., while driving to a fair from his hometown.
Stopping by an auto dealership, he spotted an unusual red sports car that captivated him immediately, though he didn’t know the car’s pedigree.
Kaberle made several trips to the dealership before buying the car, using money he borrowed and saved.
He later learned that the BAT 9 was one of just three BAT cars designed by the legendary Bertone firm and produced by Alfa Romeo in the 1950s.
“It’s the most famous trio of cars ever built,” Kaberle said.
The BAT 9 was a constant in Kaberle’s life as his father and grandmother died of cancer, his mother developed emotional problems and he divorced his first wife.
In 1989, Kaberle’s second wife, Deb, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Kaberle decided to sell his BAT 9, raising more than $1 million to cover chemotherapy and other treatment for her.
After his wife died in 1993, Kaberle committed himself to raising awareness and money for the fight against cancer.
Knowing he could not afford to buy back his BAT 9, he decided to try to get a new BAT built by Bertone — now Stile Bertone.
In 2006, Kaberle traveled to Italy to speak about the original BATs, and there he shared his designs for a new BAT with the Stile Bertone team and convinced them to build it.
The company started the work in 2007 and finished the $1 million concept car early last year.
The BAT 11 DK — the initials stand for “Deb Kaberle” — is painted Tuscan green and looks as if it’s moving at 200 mph. But it doesn’t have an engine.
Kaberle hopes to find enough money someday to make the car drivable, but for now moves it by trailer to car shows and other venues. “We’re going to make a difference,” Kaberle said.
He came here from the New York City Auto Show to visit his daughter, Kelli Kaberle-Cravey, who lives in Hamburg.
She called Jim Sandoro, founder of the Pierce-Arrow Museum, and Sandoro persuaded Kaberle to display the car there.
The public can see the BAT 11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and Sunday in the museum, 263 Michigan Ave. at Seneca Street. Admission to the museum is $7 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for children ages 3-17.
Kaberle will talk about the BAT 11 at a dinner from 5 to 9 p.m. today. Admission is $25, and reservations are requested.
Call 853-0084 or send e-mail to piercemuseum@roadrunner.com .
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