Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Monteverdi Hai 450 SS - The Purple Shark

by Mike - 

Peter Monteverdi founded Automobiles Monteverdi Ltd. in 1967 in Basel, Switzerland. Of the many models produced by Monteverdi the Hai 450 SS is the most sought after and the rarest.


The Hai 450 SS prototype was intended to compete with leading sports cars such as Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati. It was introduced at the 1970 Geneva Auto Show.




A Chrysler 425.6 cid V8 positioned behind the driver powered the Hai. The beautiful body was styled by Trevor Fiore, of Carozzeria Fissore. Top speed is 180 MPH and zero to 60 MPH takes only 4.9 seconds.


A second Hai was made with a longer wheelbase and minor cosmetic detail changes and was named the Hai 450 GTS.

Monteverdi had planned to make forty-nine examples of the Hai, but production was not continued after the two prototypes were made probably because of the high cost of this car. The list price was $26,000 which was a lot of money in 1970.

Many years later two replicas were made from spare parts.



Monteverdi ceased car production in 1984 and the factory was converted into a museum in 1985.


Hai means shark in German and the color was called Purple Smoke both fitting names for such a terrific car.

Click on the images for a larger view.



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