Autosalon Geneva : Monteverdi Sierra Convertible

Genver / Geneva Autosalon 1977

Monteverdi Sierra spotted in the Middle East

A very cool spot on Facebook today:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/MonteverdiAutomobiles/permalink/10156734777763326/

It does look worrisome indeed but according to the supporting information it's a daily driver. Wow. All the specific Monteverdi bodyparts seems to plastered with filler. As far as I can Judge the Original Dodge Aspen door panels looks to be in a better state (meaning less rusty).

But what caught my attention was the Monteverdi emblem which got moved from the C-pillar towards the front fender. Although very difficult to see I suspected it is similar as ours. And our emblem is slightly different then the ones used on later models. More about this specific detail in this blog:

https://monteverdisierra.blogspot.com/2018/03/lautomobile-de-precision-press-show-car.html

As said, it's almost impossible to verify this minor detail. My guess is only based on the fact there is more metal spacing above and below the word Monteverdi. The black stripes might have been painted blue along as it's a very rough paint job.

Next the car has the unusual chrome trim which only a very few had. Just like the "2nd" produced MV Sierra which was presented as a pair on the Geneva autosalon. The 2nd produced Sierra was light blue though with a tan interior. I suspect it might have been repainted dark blue. It also has the same rims as our 1st produced Sierra. Which happened to be delivered in the Middle East as well. Potentially they have been sold as a pair.

I'm curious to learn more history about this car. Watch this space.

Monteverdi Key Fob / Schlüsselanhänger

A very nice item I have purchased. An Original Monteverdi keyfob (Schlüsselanhänger) in new state. In fact I have bought two of them. Slightly expensive but worth it in my opinion. I can't read it properly but it does look like they are manufactured by J.M.E.A in Milano. In any case I can't find anything about that manufacturer. Anyone?

HV Models - Nr. 10 - 1:43

Yes, at least one model car has been produced:

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/1114791-hv-models-10-monterverdi-sierra#

I'm actually not into scale models but for once I will make an exception. Let the hunt begin.

Apparently one got sold recently via:

https://veiling.catawiki.be/kavels/21277383-hv-mod-1-43-monteverdi-sierra-made-in-england

It was offered by the guy/company who bought the Monteverdi collection from the museum in Binningen (in fact I do happen to know him). So it would have been cool to have bought this one from the official collection, but unfortunately it's sold already for € 26,- (only just a few weeks ago, sigh!). In case the buyer reads this blog and want to resell it, I'm interested to hear from you. Or if someone has one I'm all ears.

Supporting auction information and photo's:

Monteverdi Collection

This auction sells models from the modelcar collection of motorvehicle pioneer and lover Peter Monteverdi! His collection consists of more than 10.000 models! He collected mostly 1:43 models, but also has some other varying scales. The collection varies from different manufacturers, Marques and more. He collected them throughout his career, from the 1950's until the 1990's. Most models date from this time period. This collection was exposed for more than 40 years in the Monteverdi museum in Basel,Switzerland. When you are buying a piece from this collection, you are buying a piece of history! 

Goed - Zonder originele verpakking

Aantal items:	1
Merk:	HV MOD
Schaal:	1:43
Merk/Model Type:	Monteverdi Sierra
Aanvullende Informatie:	Made in England
Model:	Sportauto
Kleur:	Goud (Could it be our car, which is golden-brown!)
Materiaal:	Wit metaal
Staat:	Goed
Verpakking:	Zonder originele verpakking

Turns out there was also an auction for 2 Sierra convertibles, sold together for € 46,-

https://veiling.catawiki.nl/kavels/21428513-hmv-1-43-2-x-monteverdi-sierra-convertible-made-in-england

I have tried to find out more about the manufacturer HV Models, but I got stuck as there is little to no information available about them.

3-1-2019: Update, I found these additional details about this model car

Top Trumps - Quartet

Not much happening lately but I bought this playing card :-)

More brochures!

Last saturday I visited Remco at www.autolit.eu Something I was intending to do for a longer time as I was very curious regarding his archive. And it was massive! He recently had obtained a large batch of brochures and I was informed it did include Monteverdi stuff as well but so far he did not had the time to properly archive and index it. Here a quick layout of some of the Monteverdi brochures on his desk.

Clearly I got a bit greedy but in the end I decided only to go for the Monteverdi Sierra material. I was very happy to see he had the Original Safari/Sierra brochure in a very good condition. That was the main one I was after. It's already scanned and available as a PDF in the download folder, see link:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Ny2RnvTY_xyAqqvYuV0N7WUYWYsYSVJC


But the biggest surprise was a very large full color leaflet about the Sierra. So I bought these 2 together for a decent price. Now also available in the download folder:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qrjo6v7lsUaQk0QT5QpsUQltJIR7SmXE

RDW - Dutch road registration

Time for a retrospective update to keep the storyline complete. Two weeks ago I had the appointment with the Dutch Road registration (www.rdw.nl) to get the car on Dutch plates.

One of the guys was so kind to support me with a trailer and assisted the journey towards the RDW. So onwards we went:

 And unloaded at the RDW:

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect but apparently they have some kind of formal roadmap they follow, meaning weighting, measuring, ID-checks, paper checks etc.

The first thing was to do a weight check. So we pushed it on the weigh bridge. Then the official noticed the interior was missing. So his first remark was that we had to come back again with the interior to perform an accurate weighting. I was slightly annoyed by this. If I had would have known beforehand … At the spot I was hoping he simply could have reused the weight of a normal Dodge Aspen it would be not an issue. But no, it could not be done. In fact if the weight was mentioned on the UK registration papers he would have reused that information. But since the British had done a sloppy job and left that field empty it was not a possibility.

Next he started measuring the wheel base and some other bits. No issue there.

Since I had mentioned the car was based on a Dodge Aspen he wanted more confirmation about the car. In the end we ended searching the car on Google to identify it was Monteverdi Sierra. I was asked about the badges to further confirm it was a Sierra. These were already secured and removed when we bought the car so they could not fall off. And of course I had these stored at home. Sigh.

Only the Monteverdi badge was still firmly on the bonnet of the car. Also further identity checking of the chassis ID and engine ID was acted difficult upon. I informed the guy that Monteverdi no longer exists and produced very low volumes and very little information was available. So far the only information I got from the Club was it's color and that it was delivered in Arabia. But he turned it around, I had to do more research and come up with proof that it was matching or at least demonstrate that I had done my utmost best to conform it's identity. If I was unable to obtain more information they would accept though what I was able to supply. The British papers had added W8 in front of the chassis ID, not sure why or where this is coming from? The Chassis ID label is only having 9153.

Since the car did had the interior removed he could not even qualify it as a 4 seater. It's another true story.

Furthermore the state of the car was not deemed sufficient to get registration plates. Although I had checked beforehand and confirmed that a technical check was not part of the registration they still had a formality check/procedure that required specific criteria needs to be met. Again, if I would have known that beforehand. He claimed that the car was missing sufficient structure and being incomplete to become registered as a car. Meaning the chassis (carrying parts), floorpanels and interior had to be firmed up. I was told this specific requirement was put in place to avoid rotten bodies parked outside become registered again.

Accordingly I was informed that I had made the right first steps for this project. Still this meant a lot of extra hassle to get it officially registered.

In fact if we did not had started all this dismanteling in advance chances were very likely that it would have got officially registered. The guy who assisted me had a Fiat 130 Berlina in a very similar state, if not worse, but he left it intact and got it registered on Dutch license plates succesfully.

So with this paper I was sent home … more work to do ...

Monteverdi Macho 2.8 V6

This car was presented on the 1980 Geneva autosalon. It's a one-off prototype based on a Ford Granada with a 2.8 V6 and a Turbo added to it. Reason for showing this photo is simply because of the Sierra sedan and the Sierra stationwagon in the background.

They also build a one-off 4 door sedan which was labelled Macho

Revue Swiss Classics - Peter Monteverdi

A very good article in German from a Swiss magazine. Only a minimal reference to the Sierra but overall a very good and complete picture about Monteverdi. Now available in the download folder.

Monteverdi Sierra for sale in Czech

These photo's I spotted already a while ago and are listed on the following website:

https://galerie.autorevue.cz/showphoto.php?photo=58144&cat=&ids=

Based on the website and comments I guess these photo's have been taken somewhere in Czech in 2011. Judging on the rustholes in the rear panel it has been likely outside for a long time.

And last week I caught the following advert on autoscout:

https://www.autoscout24.de/angebote/oldtimer-monteverdi-sierra-benzin-blau-3ea4af72-67f7-3910-e053-e350040a05d3

A blue restored body with beige interior is offered for sale in Czech, so it's very likely the same car. According to this the car is from 8-1977. I have reached out to them and requested more photo's and the VIN.

Turns out this one has VIN 9155, so a very early one, potentially the 3rd one produced. And by the looks of it this one has been verified with the Monteverdi Museum already (judging on the letter headings).

And some additional photo's:

Also this one has this specific square box in the trunk:

The interior is available as well and restored. It does come with the engine and gearbox but apparently the drivetrain chassis is lost???

Curious to see where it will go.

Monteverdi Sierra article

In the Monteverdi FB group the following post was placed:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/MonteverdiAutomobiles/permalink/10156502243898326/

Seems like a copy and paste from this quality article:

https://www.allpar.com/cars/adopted/misc/monteverdi-sierra.html

Which also states a number of 20 had been build (including the two convertibles).

Monteverdi transportation

A very cool photo with one Sierra on top:

Monteverdi Production numbers

The Monteverdi book does have a page with a good overview of the production numbers:

According to this ca 35 Sierra's has been produced, 5 Sierra Convertibles and 1 Station Wagon.

As for the Sierra convertibles I'm only aware of 2 - The red and the silver one.

Also the number of 35 Sierra's seems to be optimistic in my opinion. They do mention "ca" for good reasons as the exact number is not known.

The German Wikipedia is more accurate in my  opinion. They do mention ca 20 Sierra's has been produced. Accordingly they do state that apparently another small batch has been produced by Fissore. To my knowledge they have been only produced by Wenger (the bodywork). Furthermore they also clearly state that exact number of Sierra's is not known. Another source claims it's somewhere between 20 and 50. Perhaps this is where the averge number of 35 comes from in the book?


GERMAN WIKIPEDIA Excerpt (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monteverdi_Sierra):

Die Produktion

Die Sierra-Modelle wurden, wie bei Monteverdi üblich, nicht im Hause produziert, sondern von externen Karosseriebetrieben in Auftragsarbeit in Handarbeit hergestellt. Etwa 20 Exemplare wurden von dem Basler Karosseriebauunternehmen Wenger Carrosserie/Fahrzeugbau hergestellt.^[13] Daneben dürften eine Reihe weiterer Fahrzeuge bei Fissore aufgebaut worden sein.^[14]

Wie viele Sierra-Limousinen zwischen 1977 und 1982 hergestellt wurden, ist unbekannt. Die Markenchronik von Gloor und Wagner behauptet, dass dem Sierra „voller kommerzieller Erfolg beschieden“ war und der Umsatz nach Vorstellung des Sierra „gewaltig anstieg“.^[15] Genaue Zahlen nennt das Werk allerdings nicht. Die Schätzungen zum Produktionsumfang gehen weit auseinander. Sie liegen zwischen 20 und 50 Exemplaren. In mehreren Veröffentlichungen wird darauf hingewiesen, dass vor allem die mangelhafte Verarbeitungsqualität des Sierra einen größeren Erfolg des Fahrzeugs verhindert habe.^[16]

30 Jahre nach Produktionsende ist die Existenz von etwa einem halben Dutzend Sierra-Limousinen belegt. In einem Verkaufsprospekt von 1977 werden drei dunkle Sierras nebeneinander vor dem Basler Hotel Euler abgebildet. Eines dieser Autos - ein dunkelblaues Auto mit cremefarbenem Interieur - diente Peter Monteverdi eine Zeitlang als persönliches Fahrzeug, das unter anderem an Monteverdis Feriensitz in Florida stand. Das Auto war einige Jahre im Besitz eines amerikanischen Sammlers, der es 2006 in den Orient verkaufte. Ein weiteres Fahrzeug mit grüner Lackierung und bordeaux-farbenem Interieur befand sich in den ersten Jahren des 21. Jahrhunderts ohne Zulassung in Wien.^[17] Ein silbernes Auto stand 2006 im süddeutschen Raum zum Verkauf. Der Sierra mit der Fahrgestell-Nummer 9159 in blau-metallic mit cremefarbigem Leder (eine von wenigen Sierra-Limousinen mit Kurbelfenstern) war 2009 im Kreis Wolfenbüttel (Niedersachsen/Deutschland) zugelassen.

Reference point 14:

↑ Nach Darstellung Wengers beschäftigte sich sein Unternehmen in erster Linie mit Karosseriereparaturen. Als die Produktionskapazitäten bei Fissore wegen der hohen Nachfrage nach Safari-Modellen ausgelastet waren, stellte Wenger nach eigener Darstellung auch einzelne Komplettfahrzeuge her. Zum Ganzen vgl. Swiss Car Classics Nr. 20, S. 40. 


In any case, we believe our Sierra is one of the first produced and was the showcase example. It has VIN 9153. I did find out an old Sierra advert from 2002 on Autoscout:

https://web.archive.org/web/20020613121028/http:/www.autoscout24.ch:80/search/detail.asp?id=197213&language=ger&mediacode=&sc=CHF

And as you can see it's first registration date is March 1980 and it has VIN 9173

I suspect this might be one of the very last produced. If so the number 20 is pretty much accurate but does include the Convertibles and Station Wagon as well. I don't anticipate much more have been build after 1980. In fact the Dodge Aspen has only been produced from 1976-1980.