Cizeta Moroder V16T 1:1 Scale Resin Prototype Styling Model

It was down to the deisre of Italian composer Giorgio Moroder to have his own V16 engined supercar that led to a colabboration with ex Lamborghini tengineer and test driver Claudio Zampolli with the suitable outrageous styling by Marcello Gandini.

You might think this looks a lot like a Lamborghini Diabolo, and you’d be right. Key team members from the development and of course Gandini himself who penned the Diabolo came together to produce, well a competitor. The love of Lamborghinis was shared between Moroder and Zampolli to the extent that they formed Cizeta. Quite a big step going up against the already established Lamborghini with something quite similar in profile to their Diabolo.

The Cizeta did make it to production of course, but the styling prototype was still in the early days of development. This wood and resin mock-up has no functioning drivetrain or parts.

It is a rather fantastic looking piece and a potential way to Cizeta ownership relatively cheaply. The cars were extremely expensive which is probably why so few were ever built.

 

The partnership wasn’t to last sadly, Moroder was frustrated at the slow progress in the build and with the powerplant too, which also took time to make. He wanted the car body to be made from fibreglass and the engine to be an off the shelf unit from BMW, purely to get things moving.

This however was not what Zampolli had in his vision for his supercar and this reluctance to compromise on these things led to a parting of the two. The prototype styling model bears the name along with the first full prototype Cizeta – Moroder, the white car built in 1990. All customer cars were simply badged as Cizeta V16T.

This prototype comes from a time when things took a physical form and were used to show potential investors, the press or to the general public. The skill and talents used to create it are slowly disappearing as the old clay modelling techniques are used less and less. This wood and resin piece is an oddity and a collectable thing in its own right.

Either you’re a huge Cizeta fan or have a suitable museum to put it in.

The prototype went for sale on Car & Classic’s auction site. Unfortunately, I missed it, so I have no idea what it sold for. It’s largely worthless to most, but it’s priceless and it’s so unique and utterly useless.

Just as well I’d missed the sale, or I’d have probably wanted to buy it.

Thanks to Car & Classic for the images,

Simon

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