Monteverdi: American Technique - European Design

The golden era of american car design has it´s peak in the late 60s. From now on american cars lost their extravagant look without further tecnical progress.

It´s the time of a swiss car-manufacturer named Peter Monteverdi. He entered the market in the late 60s and had his most successfull time during the first oil crisis. Monteverdi used american technique of the Chrysler Motor Company for building a kind of european Mopars - his most famous and perhaps one of the most beautifull cars of it´s time has never made it to production: The Monteverdi Hai (=Shark).

The golden era of american car design has it´s peak in the late 60s. From now on american cars lost their extravagant look without further tecnical progress.

But it´s also the time of a swiss car-manufacturer named Peter Monteverdi. He entered the market in the late 60s and had his most successfull time during the first oil crisis. Monteverdi used american technique of the Chrysler Motor Company for building a kind of european Mopars - his most famous and perhaps one of the most beautifull cars of it´s time has never made it to production: The Monteverdi Hai (=Shark)..

The strong and durable Mopar 440-Engine was used for several models, which all could be named supercars. The most successful was called High Speed.

Later in the 70s he build some SUVs, the Sahara and the Safari, for which he used the plattform of the International Harvester Scout. A car that we know very well

In the late 70s, americas car design has nearly lost it´s creativity, a boring(?) Dodge Aspen base redesigned to the Monteverdi model: Sierra.

The brand Monteverdi was no commercial success-story, to less cars were produced and Monteverdi cars have until today the reputation of being very special and exotic.
But, it´s a good example for a cutural comparison between America and Europe, a dicipline we as Chromjuwelen editors are very interested in.

For me, as result: I love the big V8 but american car design after 1973 is very 'special'.
The dark side of european car design had started nearly a decade later, around 1983. Until then european design was more detailed, more creative and mostly more expensive. Before 1973 american cars had these majestic, eyecatching shapes which lead us buy a new Chromejewel build in 1964 - a Chrysler, a Mopar with a big block such as the Monteverdis.

 

Worth reading: Monteverdi auf Wikipedia
Pictures: Wikimedia