Surprisingly, Monteverdi sold something like 20 of them. Imagine the hours that went into handcrafting this crisp-edged upscale-looking sedan with the leaf spring axle mechanicals and ill-sealing doors of a rehashed Dodge Dart. Of all the cars on the planet Monteverdi could have chosen from to start with, they selected a Plymouth Volare, the car Lee Iacocca said ‘simply wasn’t well made’ and the most recalled model in automotive history at the time (until the 1980 GM X-Car came along). Take a close look those window frames on the Sierra. Monteverdi, Bring A Trailer, Raleigh Classics
FUNNY SHIFT KNOBS SERIES
What did Monteverdi use as a basis for the Sierra? A Mercedes? A BMW 5 series with a small block Chevy? No, he chose something far more proletarian, and kind of awful actually. This seemed like a sound idea at first, but the cars this coachbuilder chose as the basis of their creations might have made you scratch your head.įor example, a mid-sized luxury sedan seems like a good volume seller for an high-end concern, right? The Monteverdi Sierra was this little company’s entry into this market it’s a rather-attractive-for-the-time V8 powered saloon.
The solution that Monteverdi devised was to modify existing automobiles with new body panels and bespoke interiors. However, Monteverdi knew that he needed an expanded line of cars to truly be successful, and starting from nothing takes a lot of effort. Peter Monteverdi had a small firm that made a few from-scratch cars powered by Chrysler Hemis the machines were quite impressive, primarily the exotic mid-engined Hai and the lovely High Speed grand touring car. The art of specialized coachwork continued into the seventies and eighties at tiny builders in Switzerland. On some occasions, the basis for these artisans’ work was rather unexpected. There were many other coachbuilders like this in nations across the world. Beverly Hills Car Club, Cincinnati ClassicsĪ revival of the Hooper firm even made custom coupes out of Rolls Royce sedans when the factory had no interest in pursuing the bodystyle. One of the most famous examples might be the ‘bustle back’ Hooper sedans with the body shape later copied by the notorious (but possibly misjudged) 1980 Cadillac Seville. Artisans at places like Park Ward and Hooper made luxury vehicles like Rolls-Royces into unique creations for when money was no object for the well-heeled buyer. There was once a cottage industry where tiny firms, often in barns or under the arches of stone bridges in Britain, would turn rather pedestrian cars into something more special. With today’s safety systems, endless digital content, and complex structures, you can’t just chop up a car like you could back in the day. Special bodywork handcrafted onto existing cars, either in short production runs or unique one-of-a-kind specials for the crème or society where just any old fancy car from a top-drawer marque just wasn’t good enough. One area of carmaking that has all but disappeared is the coachbuilt, bespoke car.
0 kommentar(er)
