Hooniverse Weekend Edition – The Cizeta V16T via Passione Automobile

Jim Brennan

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Hooniverse seems to be getting more popular everyday. As proof, we received an e-mail from a Mr. Roeland Frère, who is one of the founders of a new Italian Web Site called Passione Automobile. One of their first pieces is an in-depth article on the Cizeta V16T Supercar.

According to their website:

PASSIONE AUTOMOBILE is a site intended to celebrate Italian sports cars. Each week, PASSIONE AUTOMOBILE will publish an article that covers one the beautiful moments of the history of the automobile, giving voice to those people that were its direct protagonists. You will find in our archive exclusive documents and historical pictures, which you will unlikely find somewhere else. That is precisely what we want to share with you as enthusiasts.
We shall follow closely the main motoring events in Italy, we visit museums and collections, documenting all with detailed articles and high quality pictures. Finally, we will also occasionally go outside the Italian borders and cover other brands and manufacturers and events.


The staff compromises of founders Roeland Frère and Frank Cooreman, photographer Antonio Ferroni, and journalist Paul Eugène Frère. Obviously this little blog is based in Italy, the epicenter of the Supercar World. Now, one of their first articles is all about the Cizeta V16T, and the opening paragraph reads as follows:

It is already more than 20 years ago that Claudio Zampolli made it to the cover of many car magazines with his V16T. And happily so, he didn’t stick to just a prototype, but the Cizeta went into production. However, after the construction of eight units, the company at the via Bazzini in Modena closed down. Zampolli left for the United States, where he finished the ninth car a few years ago. An advance of 100,000 US dollars is all it takes to restart the handcraft production facilities. No longer in Italian Modena though, but in California.


This is a very detailed and well researched article, and this is but one of two parts. So why not take a look at the article here, and let me know what you think.

Images Sources: Concept Carz, Lambocars.Com, Sport-Cars.Org, and Passione Automobile.

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Jim Brennan

Jim Brennan

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  1. Biff Beltsander Avatar
    Biff Beltsander

    Before anybody comments that it looks like a Diablo.
    The guy that designed this car worked on the the Diablo.
    I've heard that he in fact made this car because he felt that the Diablo was not all it could be at the time.

    Reply
    1. tonyola Avatar
      tonyola

      The Cizeta was based on a proposed Countach replacement developed in the 1980s by Marcello Gandini, a Bertone designer who also created the Countach and Miura along with several Maseratis and other Italian cars. When Chrysler purchased Lamborghini, they insisted that the styling be softened and smoothed out, which resulted in the Diablo. The original Gandini design became the Cizeta.

      Reply
  2. slr5000 Avatar
    slr5000

    I was in complete awe of this car as a little kid. Pre-internet, 16 cylinders and a turbo suggested it was not only the fastest car ever, but also that it could fly.

    Reply
  3. P161911 Avatar
    P161911

    I remember the Car & Driver article on this back when the car came out. There was some problem with the test car and the "test drive" consisted of coasting the car down a mountain in Italy. A V-16? Pop up headlights? I'm not falling for this. It was in the April issue, I assumed the car was an elaborate C&D April Fools Joke. That one article and nothing else was ever heard about the car again for many years. Only years later did I learn the car was real. I even thought Polyphony had been duped when it ended up in one of the early Gran Turismo games.

    Reply
  4. BlackIce_GTS Avatar
    BlackIce_GTS

    I was thinking, "100K$ down payment?, I would absolutely consider this over half a 458 Italia (2/5ths?)." But according to the website, the full price is 649K$. The spyder is 849K$. Would I rather have 3/5ths of a Veyron? I'm not so sure anymore.
    —
    As for Passione Automobile, I'm looking forward to future articles, but they may be competing against the meticulous articles at QV500.com. I mean, in future. QV doesn't have anything on Cizeta.

    Reply
    1. Manic_King Avatar
      Manic_King

      Or You can get Veyron for $750- 800k from auction with less than 10k miles I suppose. Less obscure but much higher quality.

      Reply
    2. BlackIce_GTS Avatar
      BlackIce_GTS

      >poof<?
      Ah, there you are.
      Really, all I need to exceed my capabilities is (probably substantially less than)50K$ for a Caterham. Any cash on top of that is money I'm paying strictly for awesomeness. If I had 850K$ ready to blow on one car, I would still consider ordering a V16T (Well, I don't want the Spyder, so it'd be one of those and something else). If it was in the price range of a 911 Turbo, Gallardo, or 458 Italia, I'd hardly even consider anything else.
      The point, sort of, is that I don't care if it's capabilities are 20 years out of date for a supercar, it's still as awesome as anything on the market today.

      Reply
  5. Thrashy Avatar
    Thrashy

    Any relation to the late, great Paul Frère?

    Reply
  6. utility trailer Avatar
    utility trailer

    Blogger’s brilliant Efforts are really appreciable. Anyone can easily understand the thoughts. Also I like the conclusions made on this topic which is really very informative.

    Reply
  7. SION Avatar
    SION

    UPDATE ON CIZETA WEBSITE http://WWW.CIZETAAUTOMOBILE.COM

    Reply