This is the Sensuale: How one man transformed a dream into a reality

Nick Soprano grew up during the golden era of GT cars. As a child, he’d often draw his dream sports car. As an adult, he would build it. Meet the Sensuale, Nick's lifelong project that aims to capture what made those mid-century GT cars so iconic.

“They are a visceral extension of an emotion,” Nick says of the classic GT cars he loves. “You can integrate with these cars and carry on a conversation at speed, whether it’s on the street or on the race track. You’re always communicating through the steering wheel, gearbox, the seat of your pants, and your eyes and ears–that’s what makes them so stimulating. There’s no electronic simulation of the experience–you’re having a direct experience with the road. When you’re having a conversation at speed … you and the car become one.”

The Sensuale offers an analog experience, with no electronic trickery.

Electronically controlled adaptive suspension? Nope.

ABS? None of that.

Traction control? Not available, either.

With the Sensuale, it’s just you and the car, working in unison.

“The modern car is basically a computer experience,” Nick says. “You’ve got a digital screen in front of you to read about backing up and sometimes driving. You have all kinds of sensory devices that monitor how you drive the car … and a computer controlling so many different aspects of the driving experience. Driving is an art, something to be experienced and enjoyed. Today, the car is just an appliance and it’s become a computer, a video game, rather than a visceral driving experience.”

Nick’s Sensuale comes with some creature comforts not commonly found on golden era GT cars, though.

“The Sensuale has some conveniences, with air conditioning, power steering, power windows and power brakes,” says Nick. “But I didn’t want to compromise the essential flavor of the car. It had to conform to all the aspects of the GT cars that I found so inspirational. The Sensuale pays tribute to that experience, but I made it more user-friendly to be driven on an everyday basis.”

Just because the Sensuale is a comfortable daily doesn’t make it any less of a car. Underneath the skin is one potent driving machine.

The chassis consists of a chromoly tubing construction, with a hand-fabricated all-aluminum body by American craftsmen who faithfully executed Nick's design. The car has fully-adjustable suspension, with rod ends and gas coil-over shocks, and a fuel cell. Under the hood is a 1960s-era 4.4-liter Ferrari V12 engine that’s located behind the front axle to give the vehicle a near 50/50 weight distribution.

Inside you have leather-covered, racing-style seats and a traditional wrinkle-finished dash.

“They were simple; they were beautifully sculpted,” Nick says of the 1960s GT cars. “The lines appeal to the emotion. I wanted to capture all those fundamental ingredients with the design. The idea was to stand in front of a fan, throw a sheet over the chassis and watch the air flow. That gave you the basis of where to design the aluminum to fit tightly around the chassis and the mechanical components.”

Nick’s initial design for the Sensuale dates back to his days in grammar school, when the 1960s GT cars became a lifelong obsession.

“I always was sketching and doodling in the margins,” Nick recalls. “I bought a Ferrari V12 in the late ’80s. I had sketches of mine refined by an illustrator in the early ’90s and a clay model built. We had the motor rebuilt in my shop. A talented fabricator built the chassis, with a 2400mm wheelbase. The chassis was done in the early ’90s. It was a great achievement for me, and for everyone to tell me, ‘You can’t do it, and you can’t do it in America and by Americans. You never went to MIT–you can’t design.’ That’s what they thought. I was happy to see that manifestation of that desire to take all those negatives and to turn that into a positive result.”

The Sensuale is a one-off car, but Nick says he’s ready to build another one for a buyer. Ultimately, he hopes the vehicle serves as an inspiration to today’s younger generations that never saw the mid-century GT cars in their heyday.

“I wanted to share my life experience and my enthusiasm and emotion for these cars by building something that captured that,” says Nick. “Subsequent generations have been deprived of that enthusiasm. The sound of a Ferrari going 9000 rpm down the main straight at Laguna Seca is incredible. It produces an emotional effect that cannot be duplicated by an electronically controlled car. I want the younger generations to be enthused about cars in the same manner I was enthused living through the golden age of motorsports back in the 1960s.”

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