The Swiss Car That Dared to Challenge Ferrari: A Monteverdi 375L Confirmed for Concours of Elegance 2026

The Concours of Elegance is proud to announce that one of the rarest and most significant grand tourers in private ownership today will join this September’s gathering at Hampton Court Palace. This 1971 Monteverdi High Speed 375L, one of just nine right-hand-drive examples believed to have been built, and the only one currently on the road anywhere in the world, represents a remarkable chapter in the story of the European GT car.

To understand the significance of the 375L, a little history is required. Peter Monteverdi was a Swiss racing driver and Basel garage proprietor who, following a falling-out with Enzo Ferrari in 1965, resolved to build his own cars.

What emerged from Binningen was a grand tourer that married a 7.2-litre Chrysler V8 with hand-built Italian coachwork from Carrozzeria Fissore, producing a machine capable of over 150 mph that positioned itself, with considerable confidence, alongside the Ferrari Daytona and the Lamborghini Espada – at a price that exceeded both. Surviving factory records suggest just 66 examples of the 375L were ever completed.

Chassis 2037R is a matching-numbers car presented in its original colour, with unbroken provenance stretching back to its factory delivery in February 1971. The sole 375L officially delivered new to Australia, it passed through a small number of discerning owners before an eight-year, ground-up restoration – completed in 2018 – returned it comprehensively to as-new condition.

The results were immediately recognised on the international concours circuit: at the 2019 Quail, A Motorsports Gathering during Monterey week, the car won its class for Best Continental, European and Foreign Sports Car, and took the Robert J. Richards Best Continental Award for the automobile best representing post-war excellence.

It has since added further honours at Carmel, Noosa and Motorclassica in Melbourne. It presents today having covered fewer than 200 miles since the restoration was completed, and was featured in an extensive article in Classic & Sports Car magazine in September 2025.

That a car of such rarity – one of 66 built, one of nine in right-hand drive, and the sole survivor of its configuration currently on the road – should take its place on the lawns of Hampton Court Palace this September is a testament to the curatorial ambition that defines the Concours of Elegance. It is precisely the kind of discovery that the event exists to celebrate.

Concours of Elegance 2026 takes place at Hampton Court Palace from 4-6 September. Further announcements will follow in the coming months.