1993 Cizeta 16T

Italy is renowned for producing some of the finest automobiles, and it is also the birthplace of the first mid-engine sports car, the Miura, which is widely regarded as the inaugural supercar. Many household companies call it home, including Ferrari, Lamborghini, Pagani, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Maserati, and Pininfarina (to name a few). This location has nurtured creativity and consistently integrates the highest quality elements of mechanical refinement and luxury in grand touring.

Another name associated with Italian heritage was Cizeta Automobili, founded in the late 1980s by Italian Claudio Zampolli, a former test-and-development engineer at Lamborghini. The name 'Cizeta' comes from the Italian pronunciation of the founder's initials (C.Z.).

Zampolli relocated to Los Angeles and established a business servicing supercars. One of his clients was Giovanni Giorgio Moroder, an Italian composer and music producer who is known as the 'Father of Disco.' Together, the duo would attempt to build a supercar that was both exotic and technically advanced. Moroder provided financial support and worked with Marcello Gandini to perfect its shape. The prototype was unveiled on December 5, 1988, at an event in Los Angeles, where Jay Leno hosted the evening, and Moroder even composed an original song for the event titled, 'A Car is Born.' As the curtain slowly opened under a barrage of lights and fog, the announcer declared, 'Cizeta Moroder. More than a work of art, a masterpiece. Italy's latest gift to the world, and to you.'

Lamborghini
When Zampolli moved to the United States, he helped establish a dealer network for Lamborghini and establish educational facilities to train mechanics on repairing the vehicles. When the supercar industry declined due to stricter emissions, safety regulations, fuel shortages, and the worldwide financial downturn of the early 1970s, Ferruccio Lamborghini was forced to sell the company to Georges-Henri Rossetti and René Leimer. The company went bankrupt in 1978 and was rescued out of receivership in 1984 by brothers Jean-Claude and Patrick Mimran. In 1987, they sold the company to the Chrysler Corporation. Under their stewardship, the Jalpa and LM002 were discontinued and the Countach was replaced by the Diablo. In 1994, Chrysler sold Lamborghini to Malaysian investment group Mycom Setdco and Indonesian group V'Power Corporation.

The Birth of the Cizeta
Zampolli was an engineer who had worked at the pinnacle of the supercar movement and had connections with many of the greatest engineers and designers in the industry. His dream was to build a supercar that would outdo all other supercars. His car would have sixteen cylinders; more cylinders than any other car on the road. Only a handful of engineers had ever attempted to build a sixteen-cylinder engine for the automobile, and only a few manufacturers ever agreed to put it into production.

The Engine
The engine was formed using a pair of Lamborghini Uracco V8s, connected end-to-end. A central drive was used for the crankshafts and the output shaft. Lightweight aluminum alloy was used for the block and head, and fuel was fed via a Bosch K-Jetronic Fuel Injection system. It had a bore size of 3.4 inches, a stroke of 2.5 inches, and an overall displacement of six liters (365.8 cubic inches). It developed approximately 540 horsepower and 400 lb-ft of torque. Comparatively, the Diablo employed a 5.7 liter dual overhead cam, four valves per cylinder engine of the company's existing V12, with a computer-controlled multi-point fuel injection system. It initially produced 485 horsepower and 428 lb.-ft of torque.

The sixteen-cylinder engine was mounted transversely in the chassis, with the five-speed gearbox mounted in the middle of the engine.

The chassis
The Cizeta received a wheelbase size of 106.1 inches, an overall length of 175 inches, a width of 81 inches, and a height of 43.9 inches. (The Diablo had a 104.3-inch wheelbase, a length of 175.6 inches, a width of 80.3 inches, and a height of 43.5 inches.) Both the Cizeta and the Diablo had nearly identical dimensions.

The steel tubular spaceframe chassis of the Cizeta was suspended via double wishbones. Stopping power was via 13.1-inch ventilated disc brakes, and steering was by rack-and-pinion.

The Styling
Marcello Gandini first proposed the design to the then Chrysler-owned Lamborghini, who had its Detroit-based design team create revisions, smoothing out the sharp edges and corners. The Lamborghini Diablo was a significant improvement over the Countach, refined in every detail with respect to aerodynamics, drivability, and road mannerisms. The design that Gandini originally penned would become the one that was applied to the Cizeta-Moroder V16T, and although it differed slightly from the Diablo, it was equally modern and sophisticated. It had a wedge-shaped design, a steeply raked windshield, and air intakes behind the doors and ahead of the rear wheels with side strakes made famous on the Ferrari Testarossa.

The Prototype
The first Cizeta product was a prototype and the only example called the Cizeta-Moroder V16T. Having chassis number 001, it wore a pearl white exterior with a red leather interior and had subtle differences from the production examples that would later follow. It was shown at an event in Los Angeles on December 5, 1988, and was later displayed at the 1989 Los Angeles and Geneva Motor Shows.

The prototype had significantly larger side air intakes with more strakes than the production examples, with different turn signals, side mirrors, and fog lamps. It also had a diagonal crease in the lower bodywork, which was similar to the styling used in the rear bumper design. The interior was also a one-off design with a unique dashboard, steering wheel, door panels, seats, and central tunnel.

After the prototype completed its show tour duties, it remained in Giorgio Moroder's ownership and was eventually put into storage. Many years later, it was revived from its hibernation and was recommissioned back to operational condition.

The Production Cizeta
Only the prototype was known as the Cizeta-Moroder V16T and the only one to wear the 'Cizeta-Moroder' badge. Giorgio Moroder left the Cizeta project in 1990, and the eight production examples that followed were dubbed the Cizeta V16T. Three examples were built for the Sultan of Brunei, joining the vast collection of the Royal Family that would ultimately reach approximately 2,000 cars from all different manufacturers. Two of the cars built for the Royal Family received a black paint scheme, and the third had a blue exterior with a blue leather interior. These cars were ordered by Hong Seh Motors of Singapore on behalf of the Brunei Royal Family.

The Sultan's blue car, chassis number 101, had horizontal slats over the side air intakes like the prototype; most of the other Cizeta's had vertical slats. Chassis 101 was used in press photo shoots throughout Italy and was displayed at the Geneva Auto Show in 1993. It was sent from Modena to Asia in March 1993 and for unknown reasons, remained with Hong Seh Motors in Singapore for over 25 years and was never delivered to Brunei.

The two black cars ordered by the Sultan were later modified by Pininfarina with Ferrari flat-12 engines which required significant structural changes. One of these two cars is currently on display in the Marconi Museum in Tustin, California; the other car is in an incomplete disassembled state.

Reportedly, three additional cars were completed between 1999 and 2003, two of which were coupes and the third was a spyder.

With its sixteen-cylinder engine, the Cizeta could certainly be considered the most technically advanced and sophisticated supercar of its era. Its complexity and production challenges were instrumental in its demise, presenting numerous challenges that were beyond the resources of the small, young company. Its existence was brief, and only a handful of examples were built, yet the Cizeta was certainly a success. Claudio Zampolli realized his dream of building a supercar of his own design, with an engine having more cylinders than any other road-going vehicle and unmatched performance figures. It was everything a supercar should be: spectacular, exotic, exclusive, expensive, and impractical. The few remaining, seldom-seen intact examples represent the pinnacle of supercar dreams of the early 1990s and the ingenuity that brought them forth into existence.

by Daniel Vaughan | Dec 2024