Motor Vehicle Manufacturers of Switzerland - Monteverdi, Martini, Rinspeed, PIC-PIC, Dufaux Automobile, Orca Engineering, Turicum, Enzmann (Paperback)

Chapters: Monteverdi, Martini, Rinspeed, Pic-Pic, Dufaux Automobile, Orca Engineering, Turicum, Enzmann, Ghia-Aigle, Ajax, Mindset, Tribelhorn, Yaxa, Albar, Zedel, Cree Sam. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 47. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Monteverdi was a Swiss brand of luxury cars created in 1967 by Peter Monteverdi (19341998) and based in Binningen on the southern edge of Basel, Switzerland. During the late 1950s and early 1960s Peter Monteverdi built, sold and raced a number of "specials" while at the same time developing the motor vehicle repair business founded by his father into a major dealership handling Ferrari, BMW and Lancia marques. By 1967, he had decided to undertake series production of exclusive high performance luxury sports and touring cars. The first model, the 2-seater Monteverdi High Speed 375S coupe, was launched at that year's Frankfurt Motor Show and received very positive reviews. The car used a heavy and simple steel frame provided by Stahlbau Muttenz GmbH with an aluminium body designed by Pietro Frua. It looked quite similar to other Frua creations of that time, particularly the Maserati Mistral Coupe and the British AC 428. There are rumours that all the three shared some details like windows etc. The elegant looking car was powered by a 440c.i. (7.2 Litre) Chrysler V8 engine delivering up to 375 bhp (according to SAE standards) and had a luxurious interior finished to the highest standards. Eleven copies of the Frua-designed Monteverdi coupe were built from 1968 to 1969, then the alliance of Monteverdi and Frua split in anger. Not long before, Frua had built two 2+2 coupes with a stretched wheelbase. One of them was presented as Monteverdi 375/L, the other one stayed for some years at Frua before, in 1971, it was slightly modified and sold to AC ...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=176219