Isdera sports car from the designer of Porsche and Mercedes will go under the hammer (30 photos)

One of only 13 Isdera Imperator 108i produced is expected to fetch up to a million dollars.





In mid-August, RM Sotheby’s auction will recall one of the half-forgotten pages of the history of the German amateur auto industry: the Isdera Imperator 108i sports car, developed by the former Mercedes-Benz designer as a kind of continuation of the iconic 300 SL, will be put up for sale. The rarest coupe has traveled less than two thousand km in three decades.

The Isdera brand was founded in 1984 by designer Eberhard Schulz, who had already worked for Porsche and Mercedes-Benz. He got his first job in Zuffenhausen by arriving for an interview in a car of his own design, built in his home garage. Schulz's official career lasted from 1971 to 1978, after which the designer went freelance to realize his own creative potential.

Together with Rainer Buchmann from the engineering firm B&B, he designed a mid-engine coupe with gull-wing doors and a wedge-shaped design, essentially a development of the conceptual Mercedes-Benz C-111 series, which Mercedes itself refused to continue. The project was called the Mercedes-Benz CW311, and today it is considered the only prototype with a three-pointed star created without the company's participation. The fact is that Schulz was given semi-official permission to use the brand in Stuttgart.

Isdera Imperator 108i is a production version of the CW311. In order to release a sports car, Eberhard Schulz created his own company. The coupe is based on a spatial tubular frame with fiberglass panels, and 8-cylinder engines from the same Mercedes-Benz are used as power units. During the production of the Imperator 108i, their volume increased from 5 to 6 liters, and if the first cars were equipped with engines with a power output of about 250 horsepower, then by the end of the biography of the "Emperor" the power exceeded 400 hp.

Production volumes were extremely small. The model remained on the market until 2001, but only about 30 copies were assembled. About half of them are the so-called Series II with modified aerodynamics, "pop-up" headlights and an exhaust pipe located in front of the rear wheels.

The copy put up for sale is one of those. It was assembled in 1991 for a customer from Japan, but the car managed to change many owners and countries, having been, for example, to Germany and Great Britain. The auction house notes that, despite the very modest mileage, the sports car was regularly serviced and carefully maintained in working condition. According to the sellers, the Isdera Imperator 108i will be a highlight of any car collection.