His father owned an automotive repair garage and after his death in 1956, Monteverdi, then 22, took over the business with the intention of transforming it into a luxury car dealership. He was the Swiss agent for BMW, Lancia and Rolls-Royce.

Monteverdi also built and raced his own Formula Junior single-seater, the MBM. Like most other well-heeled privateers of the time, he also raced Ferraris – a Testa Rossa (the name of the 1984 supercar was Testarossa) and a four-cylinder Monza. 

Monteverdi’s association with Ferrari led to his acquiring the distribution rights in Switzerland for the brand, making him the youngest agent for the marque at the time.

However, the relationship later soured when Enzo demanded in 1957 that he pay upfront for 100 cars. 

Monteverdi was now looking for a replacement for Ferrari and came across a small British outfit creating ‘hybrid’ sports cars. Jensen Motors did not yet have a Swiss distributor. 

Hybrid in those days simply meant jamming a big American donk in a (usually Italian-designed) sports car.

The first Jensen CV8 demonstrator on Swiss soil doubled as Monteverdi’s personal car. 

It was the first time he had experienced an American V8 in a sports car package. The only thing missing was beautiful Italian styling. The idea quickly germinated to build his own Italian GT with the power and reliability of American muscle to take on Ferrari.

Monteverdi turned to Pietro Frua in Moncalieri to build the body from his drawings and the 375S was unveiled at the 1967 Frankfurt Motor Show. The 375’s price was around £10,000 which was twice the price of a Jensen Interceptor and nearly quadruple that of a Jaguar E-Type.

Only a handful of the 375S models were built as the relationship was dissolved when Monteverdi sought to increase production to 100 units per year. Frua, a small operation which built everything by hand, couldn’t accommodate an exponential increase.


The High Speed 375L was then produced by Carozzeria Fissore. The 375 refers to the output of the 7.2-litre V8 Chrysler engines fitted to the High Speed 375 L. The new body was exactly the same as the one produced by Frua, but featured a more angular front and rear. A number of variants and prototypes would also be produced including a four-door and convertible.

Fewer than 100 units of the 375 series were built, of which perhaps 66 cars were 375Ls. Rarer still are factory right-hand-drive examples, of which only nine were made. The sole one on the road in Australia is owned by Mark Jansen – a self-confessed Lamborghini tragic who loves ‘quirky brands’.

‘I had always had a fascination with Monteverdi and I had heard about a factory right-hand-drive that was known to be in Australia. It was featured in Modern MOTOR in 1982. So, I went on the hunt but just couldn’t find it.”


Still the thought of a 375L stayed with Mark and he eventually discovered one in a private collection in Germany. The car was light blue with a brown/beige interior. It was sold new into Zurich, Switzerland in 1970. The car passed through at least one other owner in Switzerland before finding its way to Germany in 1993. This Monteverdi is understood to have been with one long-term owner in Germany as part of a large collection of cars before Mark purchased it.

Mark imported it into Australia and did a full mechanical restoration. ‘We were about six months into that build when I got a call from Terry Healey saying, “I’ve found your Monteverdi.”’

That car he’d been searching for was now being offered for sale as part of a deceased estate. The owner, a Swiss German living in Sydney, had been killed in an avalanche whilst skiing in New Zealand.

The car was sold new to Australia through Monteverdi’s agent (Simpsons) in the UK and it was shown at the 1972 Melbourne Motor Show before changing hands a number of times.

The most recent owner decided gold wasn’t for him and painted it burgundy. When he later learned that the original color was silver, he took his car off the road and stripped it down with the intention of returning it to the original color. 

It sat like that for almost 20 years. Six months prior to his death, this owner employed a  panel shop to finish the restoration. Sadly, he never saw it completed. His family organised for the job to be finished before offering the car for sale.

Mark purchased the silver 375L and while the finished paintjob wasn’t bad, it wasn’t great either. He decided to strip it down once more and restore this rare machine to concours condition. ‘There are a lot of hidden panels – it’s a very complex car and once we started to take it apart we found a multitude of sins. This was huge body restoration.’

Parts were hard to source for the old Swiss miss but luckily he still had the other 375L to use as a reference. Frustratingly, even though they were the same model, there were a number of subtle differences that slowed the restoration process. 

This bespoke handbuilt marque is experiencing something of a resurgence. Prominent UK collector Simon Kidston is raising its profile with his 375/4 and a 1972 Monteverdi 375L took the prestigious Best of Show prize at the Cartier ‘Style et Luxe’ Concours d’Elegance in 2018.

After a seven-year restoration, the 375L is now in concours condition and for Mark, the ultimate goal is to show it at Pebble Beach. ‘Whether or not it fits in a class is another matter.’

At its peak, Monteverdi accounted for half of all Swiss-made cars. The other half was Sbarro, which produced replicas of a variety of models including the BMW 328, Ford GT40, Bugatti Royale and Mercedes-Benz 540K.

Unfortunately, Monteverdi was hit by the oil crisis of the mid-1970s and by the end of 1976 had stopped building vehicles.  The business survived by making the switch to modifying and exporting luxury 4WDs.  The Safari, which was based on the International Harvester Scout, was launched in ‘77. It proved to be a successful venture and under the banner of ‘Monteverdi Design’, the company worked for various companies including Opel, Toyota, Subaru and Ford.

Production in Basel ceased in 1984 and the factory was converted into a museum, which still houses the Monteverdi Car Collection today.

The Lamborghini and Monteverdi marques were both born out of a disagreement with the notoriously difficult Enzo Ferrari. Like Ferruccio Lamborghini, Peter Monteverdi had humble beginnings, getting his hands dirty with tractors but eventually rising to take on the most prestigious sports car manufacturer of the time. 

Peter Monteverdi was born in Binningen, Switzerland in 1934 and started his automotive career as an apprentice mechanic with tractor manufacturer Vevey. He then went on to finish his training at the Swiss commercial vehicle manufacturer Saurer in Arbon. 

Monteverdi 375L

Newsletter