Dr. Norbert McNamara's one time 450SS Hai

One little story about build quality: On some 375 Ls, there is a rubber strip on the bumper. It wasn't from any purveyor of automotive parts, but from the staircase banister at "Rheinbrücke", a departement store in Basel, where Monteverdi remembered having seen it and made sure to get it (for free, probably) for his workshop. It had just the right dimensions...

 

Why does this not surprise me? All these small car manufacturers were the same. They were just making do. And maybe that stuff was really good or maybe he did get it for free. He must have been a calvinist after all.It is what I think makes up part of the charm . All these stories.I love each one.
All these cars were flawed one way or another, they had to be because there was no development budget and frankly people did not build them for eternity.
So even as an owner you sort of made do.you were the test driver.
I once had to take my dad's interceptor to west bromwich just after the factory had closed and he told me "never let the car out of your sight".
I saw they had taken a perfectly good client's car apart because they had lost the wiring diagram for convertibles , all this just to redo another client's car.
the Maserati stories were no different, but the hybrid marques were particularly prone.
I still have to smile thinking about whoever now owns my grifo 7 litri and thinks about which cretin put ina 396 Chevy and not a 427. It was original maybe some one had figured it was the revvier engine and was testing it? Or maybe it was just lying about or came from a crashed
Canam racer?
Why did it have a Muncie and not the much better ZF?
Usually you can find out what happened, and that is what adds to car's panache.
I'm more into talbot Lagos and lagondas now so forgive me crashing your Monteverdi hai
Thread here.
All the best and merry xmas

 

as flawed as they were, I think he could be proud of them. I understand how the first Hai could be heavily flawed, first prototypes often are flawed, that's why they build them, to wring them out and correct the flaws in production. My only question on the front engined ones is : why so much wood? When I looked at the dashboard it looked like a wooden architect's model of a modern building was glued to the dash?

I have set to see a Palm Beach and want to see that as my last question about Monteverdis--then I will have seen one of each model.

It's too bad as he ended his career he went to modifying already existing cars.

 

Is the ZF better? IMO a world class Muncie is just as good and much cheaper.

 

Simple. It's a five speed and I live in Europe. Nothing against a Muncie though.

 

Getting back to the question in the first post about the accident damage. According to the feature article in "Sports Car International" (July 2001), Monteverdi sold the Hai prototype to Karl-Heinz Schuberth, who sold it to Gunther Sharf. To quote "As some mechanics had previously damaged it during a joy ride, Sharf planned to restore it in his shop. However, he never got around to it. In 1979, Sharf sold it to McNamara.... and shortly after its purchase, took it to Fissore's for restoration. They then exported it to the USA in 1982." No details about the extent of the damage.

About the ZF gearbox. The article in "Road Test" magazine (August 1971) says that a journalist testing the car "managed to make a snappy downshift from 5th to 2nd. He wanted 4th. And 8,000 rpm is over the odds for a pushrod V8. Looking straight down on the lever you find gears I-III-V in the push-forward positions. R-II-IV to the rear. Nor is I opposite R. Only the backwards H-pattern of II through V falls where the hand might hope. III is a direct drive with the top ratios being slightly overdrive. This means that it goes like a bat to some 125mph, then moves more smoothly to a near 170mph maximum, so you don't want to downshift inattentively from such speeds."

 

I presume karl-Heinz is maybe a dealer or the other gentleman you mention is to. Still it would be interesting to know a round about figure of what the first buyer paid for it since it was damaged goods as it were. Dr. McNamara must have approached Fissore about the time their business was disappearing.

I think the fact it was an American engine might have held down its value for a long time (being mentally put in a class with cars like DeTomaso) but the surge of values in Iso Grifos seems to indicate that a mass production cast iron block cast iron heads pushrod V8 is not the detriment to value it once was.

And the low production of the Hai (was it 11? 12? 13?) makes it more valuable as well. There was a good spread on the Hai when it was new in a Swiss magazine, outside pages, good printing. Maybe in England's CAR too, though in those days they printed on cheap paper.

 

Look at that rear suspension and the height of that roll centre. We have a De Dion setup with a very bent tube ... plus the chassis looks like part of a building frame was used.

Very crude car and not at all comparable to a GT40 IMO.
Pete

 

[
one would expect a minimum of knowledge when someone takes over a what was no doubt a special piece of kit.
The zf box ( as used on the here much toutEd gt 40 ) comes either as a dogleg first or with 5 th to the top right and first top left.Always spring loaded to the middle gears.

I don 't know if you have ever driven a car equipped with either type but it is very difficult to
Miss a gear. Under racing conditions as in my m6b it would be near impossible, because you'd have to really ram it in.

On a more pedestrian level as in the khamsin, I can only say it is a bit notchy when cold, but otherwise a very nice precise gearbox, very useable, never missed a beat.

On the Muncie and even Chrysler 4 speeders as I once had in a challenger you always end up wanting another gear when you are on European roads.













One would QUOTE=Miltonian;141950864]Getting back to the question in the first post about the accident damage. According to the feature article in "Sports Car International" (July 2001), Monteverdi sold the Hai prototype to Karl-Heinz Schuberth, who sold it to Gunther Sharf. To quote "As some mechanics had previously damaged it during a joy ride, Sharf planned to restore it in his shop. However, he never got around to it. In 1979, Sharf sold it to McNamara.... and shortly after its purchase, took it to Fissore's for restoration. They then exported it to the USA in 1982." No details about the extent of the damage.

About the ZF gearbox. The article in "Road Test" magazine (August 1971) says that a journalist testing the car "managed to make a snappy downshift from 5th to 2nd. He wanted 4th. And 8,000 rpm is over the odds for a pushrod V8. Looking straight down on the lever you find gears I-III-V in the push-forward positions. R-II-IV to the rear. Nor is I opposite R. Only the backwards H-pattern of II through V falls where the hand might hope. III is a direct drive with the top ratios being slightly overdrive. This means that it goes like a bat to some 125mph, then moves more smoothly to a near 170mph maximum, so you don't want to downshift inattentively from such speeds."[/QUOTE]

 

I think too low a build count can hurt value 100 seems right. I know a lot of people don't want to mess with Monterverdi's because the clubs are not well organized, parts difficult to come by and very little information available.

 

Anybody know if the ex-McNamara Hai will remain in the U.S. following the recent sale at Monterrey? (hammer price ~$575K I believe). I saw this car while at Fantasy Junction and my impression was that photos do it NO justice - a beautiful, striking machine! Ergonomics might have been imperfect but what's to worry there?! Here's an image from 2009 -
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Here is a professional shot Mr.Tom Mittler had done of Dr. McNamara's #297.

Courtesy of Mr. Tom Mittler's Estate.
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Here a couple of Hai Pics. Would love to hear any stories about Norbert's purchase of his Bizzarrini 297.
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only came across this now. saw the picture of the mcnamara bizzarini. i think i wrote about this before but i saw a bizzarini belonging to him in the late 70's in brussels at the main d'Ieteren workshop in the rue van der kinderen.i was a kid then but much involved in cars.
claude dubois' shop selling detomaso and i think lad a was just a bit further on. he showed me a lot of shelby projects in the back once.
anyway the bizzarini belonged to mc namara they told me. it was a soft gold sand kind of colour and had a screaming eagle's sticker on the rear. it had US army italy plates. i was quite familiar with these because my father sort of worked Nato and so on.it was the first time i saw a bizzarini. there were quite a few isos in belgium at the time and i later bought quite a few bits from the dealer who was somewhere north of brussels in the flemish part.
roland d'ieteren now has quite a large collection of wonderful cars of course
p

 

Monteverdi Hai Brochure
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I had the honor of working for Col. Norbert McNamara from the mid 1980's until the mid 1990's when I sold my business. My company, Showpiece (Modesto, CA), provided auto preservation services, show preparation and presentation as well as logistical matters for his entire collection. I prepared and presented many of his cars at Pebble Beach, including the Hai in 1989. Col. McNamara had great trust in me and allowed me to drive most all of his cars, including the Hai.
Fun driving story; We once presented both the Hai and one of his AST 2500 at the palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. After the event we drove the cars in a caravan to a home in the Presidio for a reception. I drove the ATS 2500 GT and an employee drove the Hai. Let me tell you driving cars like this in S.F. traffic took nerves of steel. The situation turned to panic when Norbert rushed a yellow light leaving both the ATS and Hai behind at the red light. He drove away not the least concerned, perhaps not even conscious of the fact that we were following him and didn't know the route to the reception. My driver and I found parking near the intersection to wait about an hour before Norb came looking for us.
He was a colorful man indeed and I miss him and Sabra immensely.
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Dr. Norbert McNamara was my uncle. My dad sister was Sabra and they had 38 cars that they had collected while he was stationed in Germany. He had them shipped back to the US when they moved back to California. They sent my grandmother pics of the car and when she passed I got them and have them in my possession and Sabra also gave me a copy of Road and Track that did a article on Norbert McNamara ATS that he showed on Pepple Beach. Norb and Sabra both loved cars and were very good people real down to earth. I will always have a place in my heart for both of them. Travis Sparks