The Swiss Supercar Built To Embarrass Ferrari With A Mid-Engine Hemi
As enthusiasts, we all love a good supercar. We especially love a supercar that has an interesting, underdog backstory. That’s certainly the case with the car we’ll be talking about today. The brainchild of an eccentric Swiss businessman, it was built entirely to embarrass a member of the sports car establishment who’d turned into one of his bitter rivals. It could have been absolutely incredible, setting a new standard of performance for its day. But sadly, that was not to be.
The 1960s And 1970s Saw The Birth Of The Supercar
One of the biggest things that the 1960s and 1970s auto industry birthed were the very first examples of what we would now call Supercars. Several manufacturers saw the potential of the brilliant Lamborghini Miura, and wanted to get in on the act themselves. This included Ferrari, one of Lamborghini’s closest competitors. When all these manufacturers got involved in trying to build cars that were faster than anything else, a golden era at the top of the performance car market was born.
As many people will know, the main reason Lamborghini exists is because of the falling-out between Ferruccio Lamborghini and Enzo Ferrari. As it turns out, Mr. Lamborghini wasn’t the only wealthy businessman who got motivated to build his own cars following a disagreement with the notoriously hot-headed Enzo.
The Most Stunning Classic Ferrari Alternative That’s Now Worth Just $10K
Would you buy this mid-engined exotic for the price of an old Ford Focus?
Peter Monteverdi Wanted To Beat One Of The Best Supercar Manufacturers At Its Own Game
Another one of those people who fell foul of Enzo Ferrari over disagreements was Peter Monteverdi. An eccentric car dealer and race car builder from Switzerland, Peter Monteverdi fell out with Enzo Ferrari when Ferrari demanded that Monteverdi pay for 100 new cars for his dealership up front. Monteverdi refused to agree to Ferrari’s deal, and Ferrari blocked Monteverdi from purchasing brand-new Ferraris from the factory as a result. Instead of switching over to selling another luxury sporting brand, Peter Monteverdi decided to build his own cars. The first of those was the Monteverdi High Speed 375, an ultra-rare grand tourer powered by a 440 cubic inch Chrysler V8. This made it the torquiest European car ever built in the 1960s.
Peter Monteverdi’s vision for the Monteverdi brand didn’t just stop at grand tourers, though. Monteverdi wanted to enter the supercar market himself, directly competing with Lamborghini and his old nemesis Ferrari. That gave him the idea to build a car that was truly crazy and, in some ways, ahead of its time.
The Monteverdi Hai 450 SS Is A Prototype Supercar That Was Built To Embarrass The Best Ferrari Could Offer
The Monteverdi Hai 450 SS was the result of Peter Monteverdi wanting to throw his hat into the supercar market. Debuting at the 1970 Geneva Motor Show, it’s an incredibly striking car for its time. Its futuristic-looking (for the 1970s) body design is a subject of debate—some people think Frua designed it, while others think that Trevor Fiore (then an employee of Carrozzeria Fissore) or a partnership between Fiore and Peter Monteverdi himself did. Whatever the case, it would have definitely turned heads at the motor show that year. It is bold and swoopy, and it was finished in a gorgeous “Purple Smoke” color.
Monteverdi Hai 450 SS Specs
|
Engine |
Transmission |
Drivetrain |
Power |
Torque |
|
7-liter V8 |
5-speed manual |
Rear-wheel drive |
350 hp |
490 lb-ft |
The Hai 450 SS also had a slightly unusual layout for a road car of the time. Like the Ferrari Dino and the Lamborghini Miura, it’s mid-engined. This predated the first proper mid-engined Ferrari supercar (the 365 GT4 BB) and the De Tomaso Pantera by a whole year. It also had a very strong chassis, built using heavy-gauge rectangular steel tubes.
Potential buyers were told that it would have a limited production run (49 cars) and that it would cost the equivalent of around $27,000. That put it well into the price range of the most expensive European sports cars of the time.
It’s Powered By One Of America’s Most Legendary Engines
As part of creating the Hai 450 SS, Peter Monteverdi kept to the philosophy he used with the High Speed 375 of combining European quality and aesthetics with American power. Underneath those very European lines was an engine that’s as American as it comes. The Hai 450 SS prototypes are powered by Chrysler’s legendary 426 cubic-inch Hemi V8. This is the same engine that powers some of the world’s most desirable muscle cars, including the Dodge Charger Daytona and the Plymouth Superbird. In those cars, it produced a claimed 425 hp (in actuality, more along the lines of 450 hp or more). But in the Monteverdi Hai 450 SS, it reportedly only produced 350 hp. That happened because Monteverdi changed things a bit with the engine. It was tuned differently in the Hai 450 SS to how it was tuned in those big, American muscle cars. There were also constraints with the exhaust system, due to its mid-engined layout.
Those power issues result in a car that, even though it was on par with the early supercars it would have competed with, is not as good as it could have been. The potential was there for the Hai 450 SS to become something that would have absolutely wowed contemporary audiences, with power and performance beyond their wildest dreams. That’s something that was reflected in Monteverdi’s claimed top speed for this car, which was as much as 180 mph. But sadly, that was not to be.
It Was Too Expensive To Put Into Production
All in all, it seems like the Monteverdi Hai 450 SS would have been a fantastic supercar if it had made production. It would have certainly outclassed early iterations of the De Tomaso Pantera. But it never ended up being more than a prototype—only one other factory prototype was made, besides the one that was shown at Geneva. Two other examples were cobbled together at a later date from leftover parts that were stored at the Monteverdi Museum.
The prime reason for why the Hai 450 SS was never produced is that it simply would have cost too much. That’s not just from the point of view of the manufacturer, either. It definitely would have been very expensive to produce, thanks to its complex layout and construction. But the real killer for the Monteverdi Hai 450 SS is that its advertised price tag was simply too high. The vast majority of buyers were priced out of ownership from the start. Among those who could afford one, many simply would not have wanted to entrust so much money to a relatively unproven manufacturer. It would have felt safer to stick with an offering from Ferrari or Lamborghini.
8 Factory Sleepers That Came With Engines From Supercars
These carmakers shoehorned their very powerful supercar engines into average family haulers.
The Original Prototypes Are Now Valuable Collector Cars
While the Monteverdi Hai 450 SS was a failure as an attempt at a production car, the two original prototypes (and the two re-creations/continuations made from spare parts) have become incredibly valuable. They are so rare and valuable that they could reasonably be considered museum pieces. The original prototype showed up for auction in 2010, selling for €398,000 (around $451,443). It then went up for sale again at Pebble Beach two years later, selling for $577,500. That was just under its auction estimate of $600,000-$800,000. If prices continue to rise, there is every chance that the few remaining examples of the Hai could become genuine million-dollar cars.
Sources: Bonhams, Gooding & Co., Monteverdi
Related posts
Latest Post
No Comments