1992 Monteverdi Hai 650 F1

In 1956, at the age of 22, Peter Monteverdi took over his father's repair shop. Monteverdi had built a reputation in Formula 1 and had formed a relationship with Enzo Ferrari. This led to many of the cars being inspired by Ferrari designs.

In 1967, the Monteverdi High Speed 375 S was introduced to the public at the Geneva Auto Show. This was followed by the Hai 450 SS, which was powered by a Chrysler Hemi engine that was mounted mid-ship. The design was elegant and bold, but the company was finding it hard to compete with other marques such as Ferrari and Lamborghini.

Peter Monteverdi re-entered the automobile industry in the early 1990s with the goal of creating the ultimate supercar. It was given a Formula 1 chassis from the defunct Monteverdi - Onyx F1 team plus its Ford DFR V8 engine. The engine displaced 3.5 liters and offered 649 horsepower. It had a six-speed manual gearbox and tipped the scale at 850 kg. Top speed was achieved at 208 mph and had a zero-to-sixty mph in a mere 3 seconds.

By Daniel Vaughan | Feb 2019