The MBM Tourismo was a very low-production (likely only two were built) automobile sold by

Peter Monteverdi Peter Monteverdi (7 June 1934 – 4 July 1998) was a Swiss people, Swiss carmaker and creator of the car brand ''Monteverdi (car), Monteverdi''. At the beginning of his career, Monteverdi was a automobile salesperson, car salesman. His father ra ...

. Monteverdi's small company MBM (standing for Monteverdi Binningen Motors) mainly focused on competition, but a "few" sports cars were also produced. Monteverdi MBM Tourismo composite body prototype

Monteverdi MBM Tourismo composite body prototype

The car's body was bought from England, where a company called Heron Plastics had developed a

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened i ...

sports car called the Europa. It had a backbone chassis and coil sprung wishbone front suspension, with a

Triumph Herald The Triumph Herald is a small two-door car introduced by Standard-Triumph of Coventry in 1959 and made through to 1971. The body design was by the Italian stylist Giovanni Michelotti, and the car was offered in saloon, convertible, coupé, es ...

swing axle at the rear, although it is unknown what may have been different in the MBMs. The engine was a 997 cc Ford Anglia 105E unit, as was usual for the Heron as well.Lawrence, ''A to Z of Sports Cars'', p. 152 A 1961 MBM Tourismo currently resides in the Swiss Transport Museum in

Luzern Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. In 1960 an open two-seat

sports car A sports car is a type of automobile that is designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as Automobile handling, handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving, and Auto racing, racing capability. Sports cars originated in ...

called the MBM Sport meant for competition was shown. The little barchetta had a 1092 cc

O.S.C.A. O.S.C.A. (Officine Specializzate Costruzione Automobili—Fratelli Maserati S.p.A.) was an Italian manufacturer of racing and sports cars established 1947 in San Lazzaro di Savena, Bologna, by the Maserati brothers, and closed down in 1967. The ...

engine with , and was front-engined unlike the

Lotus Lotus or LOTUS may refer to: Plants * List of plants known as lotus, a list of various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly: **''Nelumbonaceae'', a single-genus family of aquatic flowering plants, consisting of just two species; ...

and

Elvas Elvas (), officially the City of Elvas (), is a Portuguese municipality, former episcopal city and frontier fortress of easternmost central Portugal, located in the district of Portalegre in Alentejo. It is situated about east of Lisbon, and ab ...

with which it was meant to compete. While offered for sale at (~US$95,000 in 2016), only the one car was built.

References

See also