---
title: Monteverdi · HICONIUM
description: "Switzerland’s only grand-touring house — Peter Monteverdi’s Basel-built GTs, Fissore tailoring over Chrysler’s 440 Magnum."
canonical_url: https://hiconium.dev/manufacturers/monteverdi
image: https://hiconium.dev/og/marque/monteverdi.png
---

> HICONIUM · Index: https://hiconium.dev/llms.txt · Every page: append `.md` or send `Accept: text/markdown`.
> Path: [Home](https://hiconium.dev/) › [Manufacturers](https://hiconium.dev/manufacturers) › Monteverdi
> On this page: [Every Monteverdi on file](#every-monteverdi-on-file) · [Switzerland's only grand-touring house.](#switzerlands-only-grand-touring-house) · [A bloodline, not a list.](#a-bloodline-not-a-list) · [Sovereign sourcing](#sovereign-sourcing) · [Effortless over exotic](#effortless-over-exotic) · [One man's marque](#one-mans-marque)

[Manufacturers  /  Monteverdi](https://hiconium.dev/manufacturers)

# Monteverdi

Binningen, Switzerland · est. 1967

Switzerland's only grand-touring house.

Peter Monteverdi sold Ferraris in Basel until Enzo demanded prepayment for a hundred cars. The dealer's answer was his own marque: Swiss-built chassis, Italian coachwork, Chrysler's 440 Magnum — grand tourers assembled in Binningen for a decade.

| Label | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Models | 0 |
| Top value | — |
| Period | 1967– |

[Explore models](https://hiconium.dev/manufacturers/monteverdi#essential) [Manufacturer profile](https://hiconium.dev/manufacturers/monteverdi#house-profile)

Complete catalogue

## Every Monteverdi on file

0 models · 0 families

No car matches those filters.

The house

## Switzerland's only grand-touring house.

| Label | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Founded | 1967 |
|  | Automobile Monteverdi, Binningen bei Basel — Peter Monteverdi, racing driver and importer, shows the High Speed 375 S at Frankfurt that September. |

| Label | Value |
| --- | --- |
| The Ferrari break | 1963 |
|  | Enzo Ferrari's demand that his Swiss dealer prepay one hundred cars ends the relationship — and seeds the ambition to build without Modena. |

| Label | Value |
| --- | --- |
| The formula | Swiss · Italian · American |
|  | Square-tube frames from Stahlbau Muttenz, bodies by Frua and then Fissore, Chrysler's 7.2-litre 440 Magnum — about 375 SAE horsepower, hence the name. |

| Label | Value |
| --- | --- |
| 375 L | 66 documented |
|  | The Fissore long-wheelbase 2+2 of 1969–1976; serial-number research counts 66, though 'about 100' persists in the books. Auto Motor und Sport clocked 229 km/h in 1972. |

| Label | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Production ends | 1982 |
|  | After the oil shock the house pivots to the Safari off-roaders and coachbuilt conversions; the museum cars now stand in the Swiss Museum of Transport, Lucerne. |

Selected milestones

### A bloodline, not a list.

1. 1963

  The break with Maranello

  Peter Monteverdi refuses Enzo Ferrari's hundred-car prepayment; the Basel dealership loses Ferrari and gains a purpose.
2. 1967

  Frankfurt debut

  The High Speed 375 S appears with Frua coachwork and Chrysler power — Switzerland has a grand-touring marque of its own.
3. 1969

  Fissore and the 375 L

  After a royalty dispute ends the Frua contract, Fissore draws the squarer 2+2 that becomes the house's defining car.
4. 1972

  229 km/h, measured

  Auto Motor und Sport verifies the 375 L at Jensen-beating pace — 0 to 100 in 8.2 seconds from 7.2 unstressed litres.
5. 1976

  The High Speed bows out

  Emissions-strangled engines and the oil shock end the GT line; the Safari carries the badge into the off-road decade.
6. 1982

  Binningen falls silent

  Car production ends; Peter Monteverdi turns his works into a museum, whose collection later moves to Lucerne's Verkehrshaus.

What defines Monteverdi

### Sovereign sourcing

Chassis from Muttenz, bodies from Turin, engines from Detroit — a small country's marque built from the best of three.

### Effortless over exotic

The 440 Magnum asked nothing of its owner — grand touring measured in unstressed litres, not valve adjustments.

### One man's marque

Every Monteverdi decision — design, engineering, even the museum — passed through Peter Monteverdi's hands alone.