The Monteverdi Tiara is a luxury sedan produced by

Monteverdi Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string player. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is considere ...

from 1982 to 1983. It is based on the

Mercedes-Benz W126 The Mercedes-Benz W126 is a series of passenger cars made by Daimler-Benz AG. It was marketed as the second generation of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and manufactured in sedan/saloon (1979–1991) as well as coupé (1981–1990) models, succeed ...

generation S Class, with the main changes being a redesigned front and rear end. Only 3 cars were built during its production run.

Specifications

The basis of the Tiara was the long wheelbase version of the W126 Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan. In the case of the Tiara, Monteverdi carried over the entire drivetrain, as well as the interior, including doors and glazing of the base vehicle. The external changes were limited to a redesign of the front and the rear and on independent bumpers.

Body

The front end of the Tiara featured an angular design instead of the more streamlined design on the S Class. Monteverdi installed a vertical, heavily chrome-plated front grille with four round headlights. The grille was made of chrome-plated struts. The front fenders were also modified and the hood was redesigned to be smoother and smaller than the Mercedes-Benz. The shape of the headlights and their surrounds cited classic design elements of the High-375 series; however, some observers felt more reminiscent of the

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of the third series. At the rear end, the line of the trunk was also designed more angular. The tail lights were the same ones from the

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; in an attempt to create an association with the untrained observer to the recently presented

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. The bumpers were also new. Instead of the large plastic units of the base vehicle, Monteverdi used very narrow bumpers, which were bordered in chrome and reached into the car flanks.

Engines

For the engine, Monteverdi used the two largest engines available in the S-Class, the 3.8-liter and 5.0-liter eight-cylinder engines. They were used unchanged, and produced and respectively.

Interior

Although Peter Monteverdi had largely designed the interior of the car himself in the case of the Sierra introduced in 1977, the interior in the Tiara was mostly unchanged from the one in the S Class. It did feature a new steering wheel that wore the Monteverdi emblem. The Tiara featured the complete range of equipment found in the S Class, including air conditioning and some of its state-of-the-art systems such as ABS and airbag; it could be supplemented by Monteverdi-typical attributes such as a television and voice recorder on request.

Price

The Monteverdi Tiara was offered in 1982 at a price of 172,000 Swiss francs. a year later, the base price was 187,000 Swiss francs,Auto Katalog 1983/84 (Nr. 27), S. 131. making the Tiara nearly three times as expensive as a Sierra and twice as expensive as a corresponding Mercedes-Benz S-Class.

References

{{Monteverdi timeline 1967-1995 Monteverdi vehicles Sedans Cars introduced in 1982 Cars discontinued in 1983