Monteverdi

I will admit that up until about 3 years ago I had never heard of this brand so don't feel ashamed if you didn't either. 

When you think of things that come out of Switzerland you tend to think of cheese, banking, army knives, chocolate and watches. You wouldn't think of the Swiss making a car, in fact for those you that haven't visited the fine country of Switzerland it is my duty to inform you that they are often positively anti car. The population seems to despise the automobile, I'm not sure of the reason. It just always felt like I was driving around in a hostile environment, not as bad as Erbil but still not calm, fortunately the awesome scenery makes up for it. But there once was a time when the Swiss did in fact produce a car.

Monteverdi, named after the founder Peter Monteverdi, existed from 1967 to 1984 and sadly didn't have

much luck which is a massive shame as the cars they produced are hugely interesting machines.

The first vehicle to wear the Monteverdi badge was the brilliantly named 'High Speed' which is a hilarious way of naming a car, can you imagine if other automotive manufacturers adopted this method? We'd end up with things like the Kia 'low risk of theft' and the Toyota 'really cold AC'.

Regardless of the slightly odd name is was quite desirable, because it was drenched in coolness. Imagine it's the late 1960s, you're a businessman and you need some new flashy wheels.

Got wood?

I think the businessman in question might have been in the pornography industry and this is without a doubt a pornographers car, not quite as much as a Mercedes SEC but almost. I mean look at that interior, you wouldn't be used to seeing that much wood unless you were in the business.

It was powered by Chrysler engine, a 7.2 V8 Chrysler engine no less. The same engine that Jensen used in their Interceptor. This gave the 'high speed' somewhere in the region of 380-400bhp which even today wouldn't exactly be lacking in power, and as you'd expect it's massively torquey developing 480Nm which makes this a proper grand tourer, a genuine Autobahn stormer.

Fantastically cool.

The 'high speed' went through a couple of different iterations until they eventually arrived at a saloon variant. Using exactly the same power train setup as the coupe but with the added bonus of having four doors and some extra luggage space. It retains the same front end styling as its two door counterpart which was in production at the same time, the rear however that doesn't look quite right, at least in my eyes.

High Speed 375/4

Obviously it's still endlessly cool and seriously unique, back in 1970 when it was launched there wasn't many cars like this available. Today you can go out and buy a four door Hyundai with over 400bhp but back then this was not the case and the High Speed would of been something really rather special.

Production at the Monteverdi factory in Northern Switzerland continues for another few years albeit at a very slow pace. The cars were hand built and pricey but demand for the marque remained.

They had a plan to take on the likes of Maserati, Lamborghini and even Ferrari with their new vision, the prototype named 'Hai 450 SS'  an odd name but 450 relates to the horsepower available from the again Chrysler sourced V8 motor, and Hai is German for shark. The 7.0 engine positioned behind the seats in true mid engined supercar style, this could of been a serious threat to the people at Ferrari. Sadly it didn't happen and only one was built, a second was built but it was slightly different and named the GTS.

Hai 450 SS

In 1973 the world experienced what it went on the call the 'oil crisis', demand for luxury sports cars with huge engines diminished and suddenly Monteverdi found themselves with a product that just didn't have a place in the market and demand plummeted.

In an effort to reinvent the company and find new customers Monteverdi switched the focus from sports cruisers and supercars to luxury SUVs. Something that only Land Rover was manufacturing at the time with the Range Rover. Powered by either a 5.2, 5.6 or a 7.2 engine, performance was still exceptional and well exceeded that of the 3.5 engine available in the Range Rover at the time.

The Monteverdi Safari was again a unique offering, a luxury SUV that was capable of 200kph if fitted with the 7.2 Chrysler engine. The Safari was based upon the Scout MK2 an SUV built by the American now defunct company International Harvester. The Safari was the companies most successful model and it's easy to see why. A unique combination of power, switchable four wheel drive, luxury and sportiness. The seating actually came from a BMW as Peter Monteverdi wanted to keep the interior as sporty as possible.

Apparently a good number of the production went to the Middle East, I wonder this there is a Safari sitting in a warehouse somewhere in Abu Dhabi or Dubai? 

In 1982 production of the Scout MK2 came to an end thus ending the life of the Safari. 

Monteverdi didn't have another vehicle in development to replace the Safari or otherwise, so turned to modifying Mercedes-Benz S Class models.

Like this, the Monteverdi Tiara. Based on the Mercedes W126

Sadly it was not a success and it was produced in very low numbers, the true figures aren't known. 

It is thought there are three left today. The project was abandoned and sadly that was the end of Monteverdi. There have been several attempts to bring the marque back but nothing has come to fruition.

I feel the Safari is especially ahead of it's time, I can remember Porsche kicking up all sorts of a fuss when they launched the Cayenne and everyone thought it was the first sporty SUV ever built, when in fact that badge of honor predates the Cayenne by a long way.

The Monteverdi factory is now a museum, and I will be visiting next time I'm in Switzerland.