Monteverdi Hai 450

Monteverdi Hai 450 SS

The Monteverdi Hai 450 was a two-seater mid-engine coupé of Swiss automaker Monteverdi, which is considered one of the most attractive sports cars in the 1970s because of its sensational body and its high performance. The shark 450 added in 1970, the model range of the Basel company, which had three years earlier started the production of exclusive luxury vehicles with high-speed 375 - series. As there Monteverdi Hai 450 also joined the American uncomplicated drive technology with a handcrafted body in European style. Between 1970 and 1973 he made two as Hai 450 SS and Hai 450 GTS designated versions of the sports car, which differed technically and also in the proportions slightly from each other. From each execution Monteverdi produced at first only a copy. Almost 20 years later, let Peter Monteverdi, creator of the 450 shark, however, make two more vehicles that are called factory replicas.

• 4.1 History of two original vehicles
• 4.2 Factory replicas

Concept

Unlike the high-speed 375 coupes 450 of the shark was designed as a mid-engine coupe. He pointed to a short-cut, two-door hatchback body with pop-up headlights. After presentation of Monteverdi Hai was the development of a response to the Mercedes -Benz C 111, which had been presented in 1969 at the IAA in Frankfurt, where he had aroused quite a stir.

Technically, the shark was resting on a solid steel frame made ​​of square tubes, which was manufactured by the Steel Construction AG in Muttenz. The chassis consisted of trapezoidal front wishbones and coil springs, rear Monteverdi used a De Dion axle with Watt linkage and coil springs. Prior to the rear axle an American eight-cylinder Chrysler engine was installed. For the power transmission is a manual five-speed transmission from ZF was provided, which was also used in the Maserati Bora and the De Tomaso Pantera. Supposedly it proved dimensioned to be too weak in practice missions and was later replaced by a transmission from Ford USA, which had been designed for the Ford GT 40.

The body of the flat, elongated sports car had Peter Monteverdi, the owner of the Automobile Monte Verdi, self-designed in 1970 by its own account. Whether this is true is doubtful; according to the other view, the design on the Italian coachbuilding company Fissore goes back, for the Monteverdi produced the bodies of the Gran Turismo models high-speed 375 since 1969. In Fissore the British designer Trevor Fiore was developed in the late 1960s, a proposal for a new model of the French Alpine sports car brand, which was later sold as Alpine A 310. After representation Fiore Peter Monteverdi had the occasion of a visit to Fissore Fiore's seen designs for Alpine and copied their striking lines. In recent press reports increasingly basic similarities between the Alpine A310 and the Monteverdi Hai 450 conceded.

The technical layout and the limitations that resulted from the short-cut shape of the car, justified some essential shortcomings of the Hai 450 The installation position of the engine was due to the shape of the tubular frame, very high. This resulted in a high center of gravity, which prevented a sporty driving style. The engine was not accessible from outside. It sticking between the two bucket seats and into the driver's compartment in and limited the freedom of movement of the driver's right arm, so the actuation of the manual transmission is limited possible. The very low height of the vehicle also forced a crouched sitting position in which a driver could hardly endure a long time. Overall, the passenger compartment was measured at 450 Hai too tight. Monteverdi's sales manager later confirmed that, in the first version of the shark hardly have been able to sit.

Versions

Hai 450 SS

Monteverdi's first mid-engine sports car was the 1970 presented Hai 450 SS The car was by a 7.0 -liter eight-cylinder engine from Chrysler (type 426 Street Hemi ) driven, which gave about 425 hp SAE. Monteverdi was the performance of the engine in contrast with 450 hp SAE at, corresponding to about 360 DIN hp measurement.

Regarding the performance of the Hai 450 SS Monteverdi gave a top speed of over 290km / h; the sprint from 0 to 100 km / h should be done in 4.9 seconds and the standing kilometer started should be completed after 23.9 seconds. The Belgian racing driver and tester Paul Frère contrast, recorded significantly lower values ​​for a test ride: 270.6 km / h, 0-100 km / h in 6.9 seconds and standing mile 26.1 seconds. These results were also recorded by a contemporary Porsche 911 S 2.4.

Hai 450 GTS

Three years after the Hai 450 SS presented Monteverdi 1973, a further developed version of the mid -engine sports car before, which carried the designation Hai 450 GTS. He differed from the 450 SS, especially through the elongated by 50 mm wheelbase, which led to an improvement of the space available in the cabin. The former sales manager Monteverdi's later explained: " The second shark was better. You could sit in it. " Also new was the engine of the 450 GTS: It was powered by a 7.2 -liter eight-cylinder engine from Chrysler (type 440 Magnum ), which was already used in Monteverdi's Gran Turismo models. Monteverdi estimated the performance of the engine with 450 hp DIN; the acceleration from 0 to 100 km / h was carried out according to factory specification within 4.6 seconds. The purchase price of the vehicle amounted to 142,000 Swiss Francs, about 150 % of the price of a Lamborghini Countach. He was equipped with head restraints, power windows and air conditioning.

Presentation and effect in the public

The Monteverdi Hai 450 SS was presented at the Geneva Motor Show 1970. The car caught in the public and in the press quite a stir. Newspaper reports provide evidence that at the appearance of the car in Basel's downtown passers Swiss national anthem was sung. In practice, however, it was a problematic car. Repeatedly collapsed the vehicle in Basel road and had to be returned with a truck in Monteverdi work. A former employee of Monteverdi reported that the shark several times it was body damage even during a test drive and had to be repaired in repeated.

Dissemination

In the early 1970s Peter Monteverdi claimed that the shark will 450 standard or manufactured " in small series ." This assertion was maintained until the 1980s. This is incorrect. In fact, Monteverdi built 1970-1973 only one copy of the 450 SS and 450 GTS. A series production did not materialize because the company was unable for financial reasons to eliminate the structural deficiencies of the vehicle and to develop the shark for series production.

History of the two original cars

How many models have been built by Hai 450 SS, has long been unclear. Monteverdi was the press and at exhibitions repeated differently painted vehicles ( sometimes red, sometimes purple, sometimes silver), which is also in details such as the position of the door handles and the turn signal distinction ( they corresponded sometimes those of the Fiat Dino Spyder, partly they were in narrow grille housed ), has been so generally assumed from the fact that several different type vehicles Hai existed. Only a few decades later it was announced that only one copy of the 450 SS was made, a vehicle with the VIN TNT were 101 all publicly shown in the 1970s Hai 450 SS one and the same car that Monteverdi only repainted multiple times and details could change in order to suggest a series production. The TNT 101 went on sale. The car belonged successively more southern German red-light sizes before he was for some years in the yard German workshops and was eventually sold in 1982 to a collector in the USA. In 2006, the car was fully restored and returned to its original state. In this context, it was a striking purple finish. The car was first in the U.S., before he was sold on 23 January 2010 during the Paris retromobils by Bonhams auction house for € 398,000.

Even the shark 450 GTS was a unique piece. He carries the VIN TNT 102 He stands today in Monteverdi's Auto Museum in Basel.

Factory replicas

Order in the year 1990 - at a time when for vintage and classic sports cars on the global market top prices were achieved - let Peter Monteverdi two additional copies of the Hai produce. Trigger for this was a customer from the Middle East, which ordered the reconstruction of a shark. In the hope of further transactions Peter Monteverdi was still next to build a second replica. Both vehicles were at L.I.T.L.A. built in Turin. A model was given the chassis number 103 TNT; it corresponds to the optically Hai 450 GTS (TNT 102), while the second with the chassis number 100 TNT externally is a copy of Hai 450 SS, but also has a long wheelbase. Ultimately Monteverdi could not sell the replicas; both plant replicas standing next to the original copy of the GTS today in Monteverdi Museum.

Importance of shark models

The Monteverdi Hai 450 served in the 1970s primarily as exhibits. The Hai 450 SS and later the shark 450 GTS were shown until 1977 regularly at trade fairs and exhibitions, attracting potential customers. The advertising effectiveness of Hai 450 is - at least in Switzerland - even in the 21st century continue in full. The Swiss bank UBS made ​​the Hai 450 in 2010, the subject of an advertising campaign in which it - went to steady strength and endurance - to corresponding characteristics Peter Monteverdi also by reference.

An indirect successor of the same name got the shark in the early 1990s with the based on Formula 1 technology Hai 650 F1.