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A gem of German engineering is being auctioned at RM Sotheby's: the Isdera Commendatore 112i super sports car from 1993.
Photo: Rémi Dargegen / RM Sothebys
Under the hammer:
The Isdera Commendatore 112i from 1993, with almost 10,500 kilometers on the clock.
Why bid?
Quite simply - because it couldn't be more exclusive.
The Isdera Commendatore 112i is a handcrafted super sports car, whose creator Eberhard Schulz obtained the best components available at the time and composed them into a vehicle that is still amazing today.
The engine, a twelve-cylinder unit of the type M 120, comes from Mercedes.
It developed 408 hp from a displacement of six liters and originally powered the S-Class.
The engine is also, in various expansion stages, in exotic full-throttle types such as the Italian Pagani Zonda, the German Lotec Sirius - or the Isdera Commendatore 112i by Eberhard Schulz.
Axles and headlights come from Porsche, the transmission from Getrag and the electronically controlled chassis was developed by Bilstein.
Schulz, born in 1940, worked for Porsche from 1971, at tuner BB from 1978 and founded his own company in 1982, the "Engineering Office for Styling, Design and Racing", or Isdera for short.
He took on development work for car manufacturers and designed his own sports cars, including a small series of 30 Isdera Imperator 108i from 1984.
In order to outdo this rather radical sports car with a V8 engine, Schulz went a few steps further when designing the successor model.
He designed the twelve-cylinder Isdera Commendatore 112i.
The name was a tribute to Enzo Ferrari, who was respectfully called "il Commendatore".
Around the purchased technical components, Schulz formed a filigree tubular space frame on which a sleek body made of fiberglass-reinforced plastic sat.
The car and, above all, the aerodynamics were optimized for use in the Le Mans 24-hour race from the very first sketches.
Schulz therefore did without conventional exterior mirrors and instead put a periscope on the car's roof through which the driver could look back.
In addition, the chassis could be lowered by seven centimeters at high speeds.
Both should bring advantages on the long full-throttle section at Le Mans - the legendary Hunaudières straight.
But the Isdera Commendatore never got under the wheels.
Because the Japanese donors, from whom a large part of the Isdera capital came, cut the payments in the early 1990s.
And so the Isdera Commendatore 112i did not roll into the starting line at Le Mans an der Sarthe in 1993, but only to a stand at the IAA in Frankfurt am Main.
There the hip flask with the double doors and a mono wiper from the Japanese high-speed train Shinkansen was one of the stars of the fair.
In addition to impressive driving data such as a top speed of 342 km / h and a sprint from 0 to 100 km / h in 4.1 seconds, a price was communicated: 800,000 marks.
The Swiss Albert Klöti bought the one-off at the time.
He also released the car in 1997 for the Playstation game "Need for Speed II", which gave the car cult status in video game circles.
In 1999 the Isdera Commendatore could be seen again at the IAA, but with conventional light alloy rims and conventional exterior mirrors.
In between, Klöti, the only private owner of the car to date, offered the unique specimen for 1.5 million euros on the Internet sales platform Ebay, but apparently without success.
In 2016, the newly formed Isdera AG, which is now based in Saarwellingen, bought the car back.
The Isdera Commendatore 112i was then returned to its original condition from 1993, i.e. with BBS wheels and a periscope rearview mirror on the roof.
Surcharge!
The auction house RM Sotheby's is auctioning the Isdera Commendatore 112i (Lot 121) on February 13th during an online auction in Paris.
A price of at least 400,000 euros is expected.
The buyer can look forward to a rarity in almost new condition.
And also on the first exit.
Sotheby's points out that the car must be picked up in Reutlingen.
Icon: The mirror
