IT WAS supposed to be the world’s safest car. Instead, it became known as the ugliest and most unreliable.

The Aurora, 19ft 6in of black-and-silver fibreglass and foam, was designed in 1957 by an eccentric New York priest who dreamt of making America a safer place. Now, almost 50 years after its first, ill-fated outing, the prototype — the only one built — is back on the road after 12 years of restoration.

It is still ugly and, because there were no spares, restoration proved a lot more expensive than Andy Sanders, of Poole, Dorset, expected.

In fact, there were many times when he wondered why he had bothered to rescue the car after he read about it rotting in a field in Connecticut. The Aurora incorporates safety features that are now commonplace but that were revolutionary in the 1950s.

It had seatbelts, a roll cage, side-impact bars, a collapsible steering column and a padded instrument panel. It also had a “front-end air scoop”, intended to reduce drag and injuries to any pedestrians who got in the way, and a wrap-around foam bumper, like a fairground dodgem.

The seats rotated through 180 degrees so that the occupants could turn round and brace themselves if they saw a collision coming. The curved windscreen was several feet from the driver so that the effect of any impact was reduced. Unfortunately, it also distorted the driver’s view.

Father Alfred Juliano, the Aurora’s creator, raised the $30,000 that it cost to build the car from his congregation. Its unveiling was one of the most eagerly-awaited motoring events of the year. Father Juliano planned a huge party to launch his creation, but the press and TV crews had to wait all day — the whale-like car broke down 15 times on the journey to the launch. Unsurprisingly, no one wanted to buy one and Father Juliano went bankrupt. The car passed through several hands in the next decade before ending up in a field behind a bodywork shop in Connecticut, where it sat for almost 30 years until Mr Saunders saw it featured in the “discovered” section of a classic car magazine in 1993.

He said: “I had never seen a car so ugly in all my life, but I knew I just had to have it.” He paid $1,500 (£790) for the car and $2,000 to have it shipped from New York.

He added: “As this prototype was the only one ever made, there were no spare parts to use. So I had to have everything made. It cost much more than I thought it would. I have done a lot of ridiculous things with cars, but this has been by far the most difficult. It was as if Father Alfred never wanted it to work — possibly that’s because of all my swearing.”

The Aurora will be on display at the Beaulieu Motor Museum in the New Forest, Hampshire, for the next year.

BODY BLOW

• The fibreglass body is so heavy it takes four people to lift the bonnet
• Chassis based on 1954 Buick Roadmaster. Buyers offered choice of engines
• The built-in hydraulic jacks ease wheel changing
• Driver and three passengers sat on individual captain’s chairs
• In 1957 the cost was estimated at $15,000. A Cadillac then cost $4,891

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