Peter Monteverdi’s eponymous car marque might have been tiny, but he was certainly never afraid of taking on the giants – and perhaps the Monteverdi model that best demonstrates its founder’s self-belief is the fabulous Safari. The 4-door prototype of the Monteverdi Safari pictured here recently roamed its way into the showroom of Swiss dealer Andreas Wüest, having started life in 1979 as one of the more extensively equipped off-roaders created by Monteverdi for people who considered Land Rover’s attempt at luxury, the Range Rover, to be not quite luxury enough.
As fans of the Swiss marque will know, the Safari was based on an existing SUV – the International Harvester Scout – that was re-bodied by Italian coachbuilder Fissore, which first worked with Monteverdi on its High Speed coupe of 1968. While there are undeniable similarities between the Safari and the Range Rover, the Monteverdi product was easily distinguishable and, despite every one being a truly unique, coachbuilt car, they carried remarkably competitive price tags: at launch, the ‘basic’ two-door Safari cost Sfr 39,000 on the domestic market, just Sfr 5,000 more than the British Leyland effort… read more >
