This strange car used to BE Michael Jackson

What makes “car culture” so interesting and fun to nose around in is how far and wide into other cultural places it extends. Case in point: this bizarro Stratos Zero is heading to auction. Yes, the car is strange and cool, but as with most cars, the bodywork and engine and chassis aren’t the whole story. This car, which looks like it escaped from a 1970s science fiction film, appeared in a Michael Jackson movie, and was later converted into a road-legal vehicle, is heading to auction. It's one of three fiberglass replicas of the legendary Bertone Stratos Zero built for not just any MJ film, but Jackson’s 1988 musical anthology film Moonwalker, a delightfully strange piece of automotive and pop culture history.

The original Stratos Zero is one of the most radical concept cars ever built, an impossibly low, wedge-shaped machine designed by Marcello Gandini for Italian coachbuilder Bertone. The car offered for sale isn't that priceless original, but it has a story of its own, and it’s just as strange as the car itself. According to our friends at Silodrome, British custom-car builder Andy Saunders acquired the gutted movie prop in 2003 and spent several years turning it into a functioning automobile now offered on Bring A Trailer.

Bertone Stratos Zero: The Wedged Wonder 

Let’s start with the car. The original Bertone Stratos Zero debuted in 1970, when the automotive world was experimenting with increasingly radical shapes and futuristic designs. Gandini, who would later design cars including the Lamborghini Countach, created a wedge so extreme that it stood only a silly 33 inches tall. That's barely enough height to accommodate an average adult sitting upright, let alone a car with an engine and suspension.

Lancia Stratos Zero Concept

Bertone developed the Stratos Zero to grab the attention of Lancia. The sci-fi concept used mechanical components from a crash-damaged Lancia Fulvia 1.6 HF, including its narrow-angle 1.6-liter V4 engine. Bertone relocated the engine behind the cockpit, changed the layout to rear-wheel drive, and built an entirely new body around the newly ordered mechanics.

Getting inside the strange contraption was an exercise in flexibility and grace. Rather than conventional doors, the Stratos Zero used a top-hinged windshield that lifted to provide access to the cockpit. The driver stepped over the nose and climbed inside, making the car feel less like getting in a car and more like boarding a spaceship.

Lancia Stratos Zero in traffic

Legend has it that Bertone chief Nuccio Bertone drove the concept to Lancia's headquarters and drove clean underneath the entrance barrier to get everyone’s attention. While the truth of that story might be hard to nail down, we won’t let it get in the way. However Bertone piloted the craft to Lancia, he made an impression. That relationship eventually produced the legendary Lancia Stratos HF, a purpose-built rally weapon that shared the Zero’s name, designer, and mid-engine philosophy but was otherwise a substantially different machine, except for its iconic wedge shape. Powered by a Ferrari Dino-derived V6, the Stratos HF helped Lancia win three consecutive World Rally Championship manufacturers’ titles from 1974 through ’76.

The original Stratos Zero remained a fan-fave concept car, eventually becoming part of a private collection. For anyone hoping to own the real thing, the auction market is unlikely to offer an easy way in. So, a replica with a Hollywood backstory is a considerably more attainable proposition. Add the King of Pop to the mix, and we’ve got something pretty damned wild here. 

Michael Jackson turned into a Lancia Stratos Zero in Moonwalker

Released in 1988, Moonwalker is a far cry from anything resembling a traditional movie. It’s a sort of collection of music videos and short films strung together by a series of bizarre, even hard-to-follow narratives, often taking the form of animation and surreal fantasy sequences built around Michael Jackson. Among its best-known segments is the extended Smooth Criminal sequence, in which Jackson dances and sings his way through an underground den of cartoonish gangsters. As always, everything surrounding MJ might be the corniest stuff humanity has ever produced, but dude still manages to look cool as hell. 

In the lead-up to the “Smooth Criminal” sequence (around the 47:35 mark), MJ is cornered in a dark alley by a team of bad guys. His solution is not to call for help, negotiate, or make a run for it. Nope. He inexplicably transforms into the Bertone. It’s bonkers but not any more unhinged than the rest of the film. In fact, this is one of the least insane sequences. 

At the tail end of the extended “Smooth Criminal” bit, MJ then turns into a weird transformer/mech thing and then a spaceship, defeating Joe Pesci. I know. It’s wild. 

Back to the car, though. The MJmobile is modeled on the Bertone Stratos Zero, whose dramatic proportions made it a solid stylistic choice for the sequence. According to Saunders, a film-prop company produced three fiberglass body shells for the transformation scene. One eventually made its way into his hands, although at the time it was little more than an empty, silver-painted shell.

How a Moonwalker movie prop became a road-legal car

Saunders bought the Stratos Zero shell in 2003 and shipped it from the U.S. to England. Rather than attempting to engineer an entire car from scratch, he looked for a suitable donor vehicle. The Fiat X1/9 proved to be an oddly good match, partly because its wheelbase was within approximately 0.7 inches of the Stratos Zero's dimensions.

There was another connection, too: the X1/9 was also designed by Gandini and later built by Bertone. It was almost as if the two cars had been waiting for someone to do this.

Fiat X1/9

Saunders started with a rust-free Fiat X1/9 1500, retaining its floorpan, engine, transmission, and suspension. He removed the original bodywork, reinforced the structure, and mounted the fiberglass Stratos Zero shell around it. Then came the work that separated a movie prop from a usable vehicle. Saunders created functioning lights, windows, grilles, and opening body panels, adapting the shell to accommodate the Fiat's mechanical systems.

According to the auction listing, the donor Fiat supplied a 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine, a five-speed manual gearbox, independent suspension, and disc brakes at all four wheels. Those components made the replica a functioning sports car rather than a static display piece. Saunders completed the conversion in 2006 and painted it Lamborghini Mica Orange, replacing the prop's original silver finish with something more flamboyant.

The finished car flashes Bertone badges, Schmidt multi-piece alloy wheels with Bertone center caps, and a right-hand-drive Mountney steering wheel. Saunders also signed the rear bodywork, leaving his mark on a machine that bridges Italian design, British craftsmanship, and Hollywood spectacle.

The Michael Jackson Stratos replica heads to auction

The car was sold in 2008 and shipped to the U.S., where it was registered for road use in Michigan. Its paperwork reportedly identifies it as a 1970 Lancia, although the car’s actual mechanical foundation is the Fiat X1/9 and its body began life as a Moonwalker film prop. The listing includes a Michigan title, service invoices from its current ownership, import documentation, magazine articles and, of course, a Moonwalker Blu-ray.

Bring A Trailer / Adnogal

That makes this an unusual offering for collectors. It isn't an original Bertone concept car, nor is it a factory-built Lancia Stratos HF rally car. Its value lies in the story: an unlikely combination of design, movie history and the extensive work required to make it a functioning automobile.

There are plenty of replicas built to imitate famous cars, but few can claim a direct connection to one of the biggest pop stars to ever live. Fewer still began as props in a sequence where Michael Jackson transforms into it. Nah, this is a one-of-one type deal. 

The original Stratos Zero helped push automotive design toward a more futuristic vision of the sports car. This replica took that same vision into Hollywood, then into the hands of a builder determined to make it work on actual roads. Now, it’s getting another chance to turn heads, this time without needing a movie camera or a musical number. It'll be interesting to see how the market responds to something this strange. We have until Oct. 19, when the Bring A Trailer auction ends, to wonder.

For anyone who grew up watching Moonwalker, or who simply appreciates the gloriously strange corner of automotive history where concept cars and movie props collide, this is a particularly memorable machine. Just be careful. When you put the key in, it might go “chamonai!”