The Isdera Commendatore 112i is a concept car conceived and developed by the German low volume automobile manufacturerIsdera. Introduced at the 1993 Frankfurt Motor Show, the 112i had a compact and sleek aerodynamic body work and was to be a successor to the Imperator 108i but the lack of financial reserves led the company into bankruptcy and only one prototype was completed. A second car was built in 1999 and was sold to a Swiss businessman.
History and development
After the Imperator 108i had ended production in 1993, Isdera was working on the development of a new model. In 1989, the first clay models took shape and development work was carried out through 1993. The new car called the Commendatore 112i was named in honour of Enzo Ferrari. Commendatore means Knight Commander in Italian language. The sleek design drew inspiration from the famous Group C race cars. Eberhard Schultz, the company's founder, engaged engineers and technicians from Mercedes-Benz with approval from the company in the development of the car. The 112i had a 6-speed manual transmission built by Getrag—transferring power to the rear wheels—which was shared with the Porsche 911 Turbo, the ABS brakes and the suspension system were shared with the Porsche 928 while the head lamps were shared with the Porsche 968. The car has handbuilt body work on a tubular steel spaceframe chassis and has 18-inch gold BBS alloy wheels wrapped in tyres measuring 255/35 ZR18 at the front and 295/35 ZR19 at the rear. The large side intakes help cool the engine. The engine was a 6.0-litre Mercedes-Benz M120 V12 unit. It was especially modified to cope with the manual transmission. The modifications included an in-house developed flywheel and a Bosch ECU. The engine generated a maximum power output of at 5,200 rpm and of torque at 3,800 rpm. The 112i had advanced technologies at the time, including gull-wing doors, a gull-wing engine cover for easier access to the engine, a velocity sensitive chassis which lowered the car by at high speeds, an active suspension system and an electronically controlled airbrake. The 112i retained the periscope rear view mirror from the Imperator 108i instead of conventional side view mirrors. It has a flat underbody and the windshield wiper from a bullet train for improved aerodynamics. The long tail of the car also improved airflow over it. The airbrake raised in an upright position while braking acting as a wind deflector to help slow the car down. The car had a drag coefficient of when tested in the Mercedes-Benz wind tunnel. The interior of the car was mostly custom made and contained two tone blue and black leather upholstery along with RECARO leather sports seats. The car had wide door sills which housed the two fuel tanks. The dials and other instrumentation were from Mercedes-Benz and the speedometer read up to. Isdera planned a limited production run of the 112i like its predecessor and quoted that each car would take six months to complete. The car was not functional when it was introduced. The development of the car reportedly cost a total of €4,000,000. This combined with the ongoing economic recession pushed the company into bankruptcy shortly after the car's introduction. The company was then bought by Swiss investors under whom Schultz completed the car in order to make it driveable on the road. Six years later, another fully functional car was produced based on the Commendatore 112i and was called the "Silver Arrow". On the exterior, the car had conventional side view mirrors and had silver five-spoke Mercedes-Benz alloy wheels instead of the gold BBS units. The engine was a 6.9-litre Mercedes M120 V12 unit, which generated a total of. Interestingly, there was no Isdera badging on the car and it had Mercedes-Benz badging instead. The Silver Arrow was unveiled at the 1999 Frankfurt Motor Show.
Performance
The 112i was claimed to accelerate to in 4.7 seconds and having a top speed of. The Silver Arrow was claimed to have a top speed of during testing.
Later use
The Silver Arrow was bought by Swiss businessman Albert Klöti at a price of €1,500,000. Albert kept the car for 5 years after offering it on eBayfor sale for US$3,000,000 in 2005. The car failed to sell after which it was sold again in 2010. The original Commendatore 112i was kept by Isdera and makes appearances at motor shows.
