Photo: AutoScout24 / Michael Fröhlich
If you’re the kind of collector whose soft spot is custom vehicles that come with an interesting story, this one has both. And then some.
Widely known as the Sbarro Unikat, this strange vehicle started out as a 1977 Rolls-Royce Camargue. The donor vehicle may have gone down in history as the ugliest model to ever come out of the prestigious marque, but the Unikat aims to compensate for that with its modifications, its one-off status, and an incredibly fascinating story.
It was commissioned by King Hassan II of Morocco as his personal falcon-hunting vehicle. When you’re a king, any car will simply not do: only something as fancy as a Rolls-Royce will. So, in order to be able to go out with his fellow hunters and their falcons, Hassan II got Swiss coachbuilder Sbarro to build him this: a Rolls-Royce off-roader designed for falconry, with the same plush amenities of a Rolls-Royce, and all the distinctive marks of the royal house. It looks strange, in an unexpected but cool way.
The Unikat sits higher than the original Camargue, thanks to bulky, wide tires and new suspension. The roof has been cut off and replaced with a removable top, and the doors have been removed altogether and entry reshaped – and decked in shiny chrome. The windshield folds down and a grab rail is available, because let’s not forget that this is a hunting barge first and foremost.
The interior is surprisingly elegant, especially given its designed purpose. The open cabin features four seats in butterscotch leather, with blue seat belts, blue carpets, and blue stained burl wood dashboard. Some of the logos have been replaced with the seal of the royal house, just in case anyone missed the fact that this was a very special, custom build. The listing includes no mention of engine modifications, but there’s a side exhaust in one of the photos and the single note that the car makes 209 hp. The odo shows just 36,000 km (22,369 miles), so not much falcon hunting was done in it.
This is the second time that the Unikat is offered for public sale, the first time being in 2016, when it failed to find a new owner. And here’s the part where it’s a steal: like the first time, it’s listed for €248,000, which is $261,000 at the current exchange rate. The seller is the same, too: the eccentric collector and car designer Michael Fröhlich, he who penned the PG Elektrus and drew the ire of the auto industry with his 50th birthday party gift to himself – a collection of 50 vehicles from 1950, all of them expensive and hard to come by, left rotting in the woods as a form of art.
It was commissioned by King Hassan II of Morocco as his personal falcon-hunting vehicle. When you’re a king, any car will simply not do: only something as fancy as a Rolls-Royce will. So, in order to be able to go out with his fellow hunters and their falcons, Hassan II got Swiss coachbuilder Sbarro to build him this: a Rolls-Royce off-roader designed for falconry, with the same plush amenities of a Rolls-Royce, and all the distinctive marks of the royal house. It looks strange, in an unexpected but cool way.
The Unikat sits higher than the original Camargue, thanks to bulky, wide tires and new suspension. The roof has been cut off and replaced with a removable top, and the doors have been removed altogether and entry reshaped – and decked in shiny chrome. The windshield folds down and a grab rail is available, because let’s not forget that this is a hunting barge first and foremost.
The interior is surprisingly elegant, especially given its designed purpose. The open cabin features four seats in butterscotch leather, with blue seat belts, blue carpets, and blue stained burl wood dashboard. Some of the logos have been replaced with the seal of the royal house, just in case anyone missed the fact that this was a very special, custom build. The listing includes no mention of engine modifications, but there’s a side exhaust in one of the photos and the single note that the car makes 209 hp. The odo shows just 36,000 km (22,369 miles), so not much falcon hunting was done in it.
This is the second time that the Unikat is offered for public sale, the first time being in 2016, when it failed to find a new owner. And here’s the part where it’s a steal: like the first time, it’s listed for €248,000, which is $261,000 at the current exchange rate. The seller is the same, too: the eccentric collector and car designer Michael Fröhlich, he who penned the PG Elektrus and drew the ire of the auto industry with his 50th birthday party gift to himself – a collection of 50 vehicles from 1950, all of them expensive and hard to come by, left rotting in the woods as a form of art.
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