The Supercar That Almost Was: Cizeta V16T
Sadly, some supercar makers don’t stay with us. Cizeta is one of those brands. Cizeta translates to CZ in Italian, which comes from the creators Claudio Zampolli and Giorgio Moroder. Zampolli cut his teeth with engineering positions within Lamborghini, and Moroder was… a music composer (yeah, not the most usual of pairings).
The run of cars lasted only three years. However, amazing things happened in that time. It’s one of the first V16 supercars, and it also was essentially a preview of what the Lamborghini Diablo would end up looking like. That’s because the lines were penned by Marcello Gandini, whose previous design you may recognize: the Lamborghini Countach. Chrysler’s takeover of Lamborghini meant Marcello’s design never received approval, and when he was approached by Zampolli, the unused design became the V16T.
V16 is a bit misleading. The car was actually powered by two flat-plane crank V8s mounted side-by-side, which meant the Cizeta was close to six feet in girth from left to right. A set of gears and a transaxle set between those two engines powered just the back wheels. Only seven were ultimately made, and this is one of three that are right hand drive. Have a wad of cash burning in your pocket? It’s for sale for an undisclosed sum.
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Via [Car and Classic]
