In the late ‘80s, Claudio Zampollini, an automotive engineer with years-long experience at Lamborghini, dared to dream a dream: to create the world’s most luxurious and unique supercar. That supercar would become, a few years later, the Cizeta V16T.
July is autoevolution’s Italian Month, and we’re celebrating with the finest the country has had to offer in terms of automotive design and performance, two-wheelers of all shapes and sizes, superyachts, you name it. The Cizeta is up there in Italy’s Hall of Fame (*not a real thing), the most unique, insane and beautiful dream ever dreamed by independent parties, who funneled their own money into the project.
Ironically, the first ever Cizeta prototype and the only car to wear the original Cizeta-Moroder badge emerged briefly on the market earlier this week. RM Sotheby’s listed it as for sale by the original owner (that would be none other than famed music producer and co-founder Giorgio Moroder, aka the “Father of Disco”), as part of the RM Sotheby’s 2021 Pebble Beach lot. The listing is no longer live, but a cached version of it is available here.
As you can see, no pricing is offered for the prototype, which is now fully functional and road-legal after undergoing extensive restoration in 2018 at Canepa Design. But one can only imagine it would not have been for the faint of heart, either way.
Photo: Facebook / We Are Curated
To this day, Cizeta remains one of the rarest, most elusive and impressive supercars ever built. With its Lamborghini-inspired sharp edges (typical of those times), its true V16 engine, impressive specs, and the fact that only 10 of these cars were made on Italian soil, including the prototype mentioned above, they surface on the collector market only very rarely. When they do, they usually change hands for incredible amounts.
If only for this, the Cizeta was a success for Zampollini. He and Moroder started the company with help from designer Marcello Gandini, whose previous credits include the Lamborghini Countach, the Lancia Stratos and several Maserati. The engine was also Lamborghini-inspired: the layout was from the Miura, while actual parts were sourced from the Urraco 90° DOHC flat-plane V8.
The resulting V16, mounted transversely (hence the T in the name of the car) in the central rear position, produced 540 hp and took the Cizeta from 0 to 60 mph (97 kph) in under 4 seconds, and to a top speed of 204 mph (328 kph). The prototype was introduced in 1989 at the Los Angeles and Geneva Motor Shows, with the first production cars being produced between 1991 and 1995. Well, technically, you can still order a Cizeta through the Cizeta USA website, but reports online note that not a single unit has been made since 2003.
As promised, the interior was just as outstanding as the exterior and the performance. It was all decked in real leather, with standard AC and high-end audio. The prototype, for instance, came in pearl white exterior over a cherry red interior – a most striking combination that hasn’t gone out of style, or become less striking, even after all these years. The Cizeta rolled on the widest Pirelli available at the time (245/40 front and 334/35 rear) and had Brembo brakes and was, in short, striking to look at and impressive when driven.
Photo: Patrick Ernzen for RM Sotheby's
Shortly after the prototype was unveiled, Zampollini and Moroder had a falling out, which ended their joint venture. Zampollini got to keep the company (Cizeta is named after his initials, C-Ci and Z-Zeta), and Moroder got to keep the prototype that bore his name. Zampollini’s initial goal was a bold one, that of producing one car per month, at a starting price of $650,000 per unit. In the end, only 10 vehicles were assembled in Modena, Italy, including Moroder’s example, and two more units in the U.S., after Zampollini relocated to Los Angeles. Purists tend to disregard those two in the final tally of Cizetas.
A total of 10 vehicles seems unimpressive, but for Zampollini, it represented his dream come true: he wanted to build his own supercar and he wanted it to stand out. The Cizeta V16T is all these things: it represents the car Zampollini wanted to build and, thanks to its unique, dramatic style, it definitely stands out.
If Italian automotive quality means a very unique blend of style, performance and a definite dose of outrageousness, the Cizeta is definitely it. As it turns out, even for the most passionate and richest collectors, the Cizeta – or, at the very least, the Cizeta-Moroder prototype – remains an elusive unicorn.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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