Monteverdi Hai 450

Swiss businessman Peter Monteverdi built his first car at the age of 17 and then organized the Monteverdi Binningen Motors racing team. Quite successfully, Peter Monteverdi performed in numerous competitions, until the accident in Formula 1 in his own car with a Porsche engine almost became fatal and put an end to his racing career.

Then Peter retrained as a dealer at Ferrari , Lancia , BMW and Rolls-Royce . Everything was fine until he had a fight with Enzo Ferrari . It was then that Monteverdi decided to build a car that would surpass the Italian car in all respects. So there was a 375 model with a seven-liter engine from Chrysler and a body from Frois . The two-seater coupe accelerated to 250 km / h.

A little later, an extended 37 cm model 375/4 with a four-door body was introduced. Thanks to good interior trim, soft suspension, good dynamics and limited release, this version has become even more exclusive than a Rolls-Royce car.

To attract the attention of a wealthy public to the 375 lineup (which by then already consisted of four modifications), Monteverdi developed the Monteverdi Hai exhibition model, which at the same time became a rival to the Ferrari 250 GTO and Lamborghini Miura ^[1] .

The path from the drawings to the prototype took only a year, and already at the 1970 Geneva Motor Show , the Hai 450 SS premiered (as in the previous model, the index in the name denoted engine power). The body design was entirely worked out by Peter and his team, some sources indicate participation in the bodywork of Trevor Fiore from Carrozzeria Fissore ^[2] and Pietro Froix ^[3] . The front end was like a Ferrari Daytona , and the back end was like a De Tomaso Mangusta . The seven-liter Chrysler Hemi engine was centrally located and aggregated with a five-speed gearbox from ZF ; the front suspension was independent, and the rear, according to the canons of supercars of the time, was of the De Dion type. Paul Frer accelerated to 100 km / h on 450 SS in 6.9 seconds and reached a top speed of 271 km / h.

Soon, a 450 GTS version appeared with a 5 cm longer base and a shorter body. Automobile Quarterly magazine testers accelerated it to 283 km / h, and Road Test testers took 4.7 seconds to reach 100 km / h from a standstill. In turn, the Autozeitung magazine test recorded results of 5.5 s (0-100 km / h) and a maximum speed of 280 km / h, respectively ^[4] . The mass of the car was 1756 kg, much more than the manufacturer claimed ^[5] .

Peter believed that such a powerful engine in combination with narrow tires is too dangerous for inexperienced drivers, and therefore only four Monteverdi Hai were released - one each 450 SS and 450 GTS in the 1970s, and one more was assembled from the remaining components at the beginning 1990s. Three of these supercars are currently on display at the Monteverdi Museum.