Technical specification Monteverdi 375/4:

Lamborghini never really considered a 4-door car, but focused on fast sportscars and 2+2 sportscars such as the 400 GT 2+2 and the Espada. Based on a Espada S2 from 1970 (serial number 8224), Pietro Frua designed the first and only 4 door sports saloon for Lamborghini (except for the recently launched Estoque Concept in 2008). The spectacular car was launched on the 57. Salone internazionale dell´Automobile in Turin as the Frua Faena or Lamborghini 400 GT2 Espada 4P. It’s a stunning looking car with a lot of details of the donor car Espada, such as the rear side and interior. The front of the Faena is however completely new and pretty modern for it’s time with with twin headlights each mounted in a pop-up unit. Why the car wasn’t a success isn’t clear. Probably because it didn’t fit in Lamborghini’s strategy (same as for the Ferrari Pinin 2 years later). Pietro Frua was a bit disappointed because he wanted to build this beautiful four door car in smaller numbers for special clients. It remained at only one prototype car as seen on the picture here.

Technical specification Lamborghini Faena:

A car that looked like directly from the set of Startrek, in 1976 launched at the London Motor Show. Just 2 years later than the must more traditional Series 1 Lagonda. Both press and public were very enthusiastic and orders started pouring in. It however took Aston Martin another one and a half years to start delivering the UFO Lagonda to its first owners. The new and innovative digital LED dashboard and touch pad controls were the main reason for this postponed delivery. Development cost for the electronics alone on the Lagonda came to four times as much as the budget for the whole car. The first cars got the full monthy of all car-of-the-future electronics and controls, but the innovative steering wheel controls and gas plasma display were abandoned in 1980. The car was ready for USA delivery in 1982. The design of this car is of a ‘hate it or love it’ type, there are no in-betweens. It was fast enough, luxurious and hugly expensive in 1980 e.g. more expensive than the in-period Ferrari 400 or a Maserati Kyalami.

Technical specification Aston Martin Lagonda Series 2:

The de Tomaso Deauville early series 2 entered the market somewhere in 1975, but wasn’t officially launched as such. It gradually evolved into a new version during the years, a typical way of working for small car production companies. The early second series still had a leather and velours interior but with normal headrests, still the full leather interior was an option. Also the de Tomaso Deauvillle kept the standard airconditioning, power steering and electric windows. The Ghia badges on the side panels were removed in favour of ventilation louvres for better engine cooling. It still featured the sleek chrome bumpers but the rectangle de Tomaso Logo in the grille .
The early 2nd series Deauville was produced roughly between 1975 and 1977 and can be recognised with the last 4 serial number digits between #1400 and #1498. Before the late Series 2 closed the final chapter.

Technical specification de Tomaso Deauville early Series 2:

The de Tomaso Deauville late series 2 entered the market somewhere in 1978. Again it wasn’t officially launched as such, but gradually evolved into this new version. The late second series started with the same interior as the early 2nd series, but from 1980 posh full leather interior with electric seats as option. The same interior also featured in period Maserati Quattroportes, Bi-Turbos, and the Bitter SC. Other extras were the digital clock, central door locking and electric side mirrors. The main change of the last series of the Deauville was that the engine was moved about 10 centimeters towards the passenger cabine in order to achive a better weight distribution. The ventilation louvres were maintained for better engine cooling, but the car also got twin cooling vents. The rectangle de Tomaso Logo in the grille was replaced by a large Isis symbol resembling the letter T. From 1980 the de Tomaso also got the robust thicker chrome bumpers with black plastic caps.
The late 2nd series Deauville was produced roughly from 1978 to production end in 1985 and can be recognised with the last 4 serial number digits between #2000 and #2164 (last car produced).

Technical specification de Tomaso Deauville late Series 2:

After the somewhat unexpected success formula of mounting a huge engine into an S-Class with the Mercedes 300 SEL 6.3, Mercedes did the same exercise with the recently launched W116. However the launch of the big lumped car was posponed a while because of the raging oil crisis. In 1974 the ‘regular’ Mercedes 450 SEL was awarded Car of the Year and at the same time the 6.9 was launched at the Geneva Motor Show, delivery started in 1975. The 6.9 was the most innovative (first Mercedes with hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension system and first car ever to get ABS) and most expensive. It cost in 1976 almost 8 times the price of a basic Volkswagen Golf and lined up near the most prestigious cars such as Ferrari, Bentley and Rolls Royce. The top speed was claimed by Mercedes on 225 KM/h, but journalists testing the 6.9 reported top speeds of 241 KM/h. By production closing in 1980 Mercedes had managed to build and sell more than 7,000 units of this magnificent car, a real tour the force considering the crazy era it was sold in.

Technical specification Mercedes 450 SEL 6.9:

Before BMW was adopted into the big league of luxus salloons and well before the first 7-series, they started the game in 1968 with the E3-model or “new Six”. This was BMW’s first attempt on challenging Mercedes-Benz’s S-class with a large, but much sportier car. The E3 was launch with a 2500 and 2800 engine, but near production end the top of the line was introduced with longer wheel based and fuel injected 3,2 Liter engine. As you see it’s 100 cc less than 3.3 liter, but that’s because it replaced the none injected 3.3L version (3.299 cc) and I guess BMW didn’t want to call the new fuel injected flagship one less than its predecessor. All the L cars had besides the long wheel base also a richer and more luxurious equipements with leather, alloy wheels and more chrome work than the regular E3 BMWs. Production of the E3 seized in 1977, when the first 7-Series was launched. With more than 190,000 units produced it was a fairly successful car. Less than 1% of all produced cars was a 3.3Li, which makes this version an exclusive and disirable BMW.

Technical specification BMW 3.3 Li:

After Alejandro de Tomaso took over control of Maserati, he almost instantly started working on a new Quattroporte. Italdesign had presented two show cars in 1974 and 1976 called the Medici I and II, based on these two cars the new Quattroporte was penned down by Giorgetto Giugiaro. At the 1977 Turin Motor Show the new Quattroporte was first shown to the public and delivery started in 1979 with two models: the 4200 and 4900. The 4200 which actually had a 4.1 litre engine was phased out later in the car’s life cycle. The Quattroporte III (called 4porte in the first years) was an artistocratic and very luxurious car with lavish full leather seats (from SALT Turin), meters of wood and lots of other extras such as airconditioning. The chassis was based on the other Quattro-Porte baring the name of Maserati’s new owner: the de Tomaso Deauville. In 1986 the last Quattroporte III’s were slightly redesigned, upgraded and called Royale. Production seized in 1990 with more than 2,000 units produced.

Technical specification Maserati Quattroporte III: