‘I put on my brave suit and did a couple of top speed runs’

In 1971 it looked like the supercar wars were to get another contender. But the Monteverdi Hai remained a prototype

he Monteverdi Hai is one of those nearmythical supercars that leaves us in awe of the very thought of it. With a name that’s German for shark, this Swiss machine promised to charge into a world of Miuras and Panteras, sporting a 450bhp 7.o-litre Chrysler V8 amidships, only to remain a prototype just as it had whet the world’s appetite.

Thankfully, CAR’S Doug Blain was one of a tiny, lucky few to wangle a test drive. Although as his July 1971 feature explained, Peter Monteverdi changed his mind about the request just after Blain arrived in Basle, and Blain had to get Swiss-domiciled American journalist Carl Wagner to renegotiate with Monteverdi on his behalf. Motor, The only other UK magazine to attempt a test drive were only allowed a brief potter round the factory grounds, while Blain conducted a proper road test.

He found the cabin odd, the V8 intruding into passenger space inside a leather-clad bulge. Pedals were offset, but elsewhere it seemed well thought-out. ‘There’s more room than in a Europa or a Miura,’ Blain noted, and ‘visibility is not the problem one would expect’, thanks to extensive glazing. Its lines were the work of Trevor Fiore, who penned the Alpine A310 a few months later.

Unfortunately, the Hai wasn’t so scintillating on the road; Peter Monteverdi himself seemed keen to make excuses for it. ‘It is not for the dedicated driving enthusiast so much as for the man who would like a Miura but needs something less demanding,’ he claimed. Blain found it very wellplanted when negotiating Alpine roads, and the ride quality was, ‘a good compromise between insulation and seat-of-the-pants’.

Performance, however, was dramatic. ‘You get bags of power and torque from about 3000rpm upwards, and there is none of the usual let-up as you approach the redline at 5600rpm,’ he said. Blain managed 158.8mph – on a public road. ‘The steering is not particularly well-insulated from road shock. One does not feel tempted to chuck the Hai about.’

In conclusion, even Peter Monteverdi appeared to be having doubts. ‘Frankly I find it hard to sell,’ he admitted to Blain, its £12,950 price cited as a problem. By contrast, elsewhere in the issue, the new Porsche 914 was considered comically overpriced at £2800.

A combination of recession, Fissore factory strikes and ultimately the 1973 oil crisis really killed the Hai. Although Peter Monteverdi claimed to have sold 11, only two prototypes appear to have been built; he found a new company direction in luxury SUVS. However, in 1978 a new card game hit toyshop shelves that implanted the Hai into a generation’s consciousness – Top Trumps. With 6980cc and 450bhp, it created winning hands in the first Super Cars pack.