Description
Peter Monteverdi, born in Switzerland in 1934, was involved with cars from an early age. After some projects of his own, he became a supplier for Ferrari in Switzerland in 1956 and several brands were soon added to the portfolio. In 1965 there was a disagreement with Ferrari and no more cars were delivered to Monteverdi. Instead of fully focusing on the other brands, Monteverdi came up with its own sports car, the High Speed 375 S, powered by a 7. 2 litre V8 from Chrysler.
Initially, the plan was to build 20 cars, but that plan was scaled up to 100 cars, meaning that the construction of the Frua-designed coupe was now done at Fissore. Monteverdi soon discovered that the demand for a four-seater coupe was greater than for his two-seater model and so the 375 L followed in 1969. Such a very early example, from that first year of production, is now in Brummen.
This original European 375 L looks great. This is a very original and unrestored car. A ‘survivor’. We are almost certainly talking about a car with its original mileage on the odometer. The car has already been given a new coat of paint in the past, a beautiful sea blue shade with an incredibly matching cognac-coloured leather.
For both the bodywork and the interior, the car makes a fresh impression and convinces in terms of originality. Many of these types of special and rare cars have been a bit spoiled over the decades with non-original parts, but this car still looks as it should.
Chrysler’s great 7. 2 litre V8 turns nicely and is quite ‘foolproof’. It is and remains a great concept to provide beautiful Italian cars with a solid American power source. The engine is linked to a smooth-shifting automatic gearbox.
The underside of the car is also neat and original and finally, the original instruction book is also present, together with some other documentation.
