Peter Monteverdi (7 June 1934 – 4 July 1998) was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

carmaker and creator of the car brand ''

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 ...

''. At the beginning of his career, Monteverdi was a

car salesman An automobile salesperson is a retail salesperson who sells new or used cars. Unlike traditional retail sales, car sales are sometimes negotiable. Salesmen are employed by new car dealerships or used car dealerships. Car negotiation The pric ...

. His father ran a garage and truck business, which Peter used as his initial inspiration. He built his Monteverdi Special in 1952 using the remains of a wrecked 1949

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...

. It is now on display at the Swiss Transport Museum in

Lucerne 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 ...

. In 1957 he acquired the Swiss franchise for

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

, subsequently becoming Swiss importer for other international prestige brands including

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

and

Bentley Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of Luxury vehicle, luxury cars and Sport utility vehicle, SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Crickle ...

. In 1952, he started producing cars under his own name.

Formula One involvement

Peter Monteverdi was born in Binningen, in the northern Swiss canton of

Basel-Landschaft Canton of Basel-Landschaft or Basel-Country, informally known as Baselland or Baselbiet (; ; ; ; ), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts and its capital city is Liestal. It is traditional ...

. He engaged in the construction of

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

cars from the late 1950s to the early 1960s. In 1961, he built the first Swiss Formula One car, which bore the name MBM (''Monteverdi Basel Motoren''). He made a single Formula One appearance at the

1961 Solitude Grand Prix The 11th Solitude Grand Prix was a non-Championship motor race, run for cars complying with Formula One rules, held on 23 July 1961 at the Solitudering, near Stuttgart. The race was run over 25 laps of the circuit, and was won by Innes Ireland ...

, where he retired after two laps, and subsequently withdrew his entry for the

German Grand Prix The German Grand Prix () was a motor race that took place most years since 1926, with 75 races having been held. The race has been held at only three venues throughout its history: the Nürburgring in Rhineland-Palatinate, Hockenheimring in B ...

John Thompson, "The Formula One Record Book", Leslie Frewin Publishing, 1974. pp. 40-41 having been injured in a prior race. He subsequently retired from race driving. In 1989 Monteverdi bought the

Onyx Onyx is a typically black-and-white banded variety of agate, a silicate mineral. The bands can also be monochromatic with alternating light and dark bands. ''Sardonyx'' is a variety with red to brown bands alternated with black or white bands. ...

Formula One team after its original backer ran into financial difficulties. The team's best result was when

Stefan Johansson Stefan Nils Edwin Johansson (born 8 September 1956) is a Swedish former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One between and . In endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing, Johansson won the 24 Hours of Le Mans ...

finished in third place at the

1989 Portuguese Grand Prix The 1989 Portuguese Grand Prix (formally the XXIII Grande Prémio de Portugal) was a Formula One motor race held at the Autódromo do Estoril in Estoril, Portugal on 24 September 1989. It was the thirteenth race of the 1989 Formula One World Champ ...

. However, the involvement proved unsustainable and was terminated during the following season. A legacy was the Monteverdi Hai 650 F1 sportscar, of which supposedly six copies were sold until 1994.

Death

Monteverdi died from cancer on 4 July 1998 in Binningen, in his apartment directly above his own car-assembly workshop. He was 64.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

( key)

Non-championship results

( key)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Monteverdi, Peter 1934 births 1998 deaths Deaths from cancer in Switzerland 20th-century Swiss businesspeople Swiss motorsport people Swiss racing drivers Swiss Formula One drivers Formula One team owners Formula One team principals Sports car racing team owners Automotive businesspeople European founders of automobile manufacturers