Book VI · Apocrypha Entry 43 of 55
Monteverdi Hai 450 SS
Swiss, Hemi-powered, and named “shark” in German
Peter Monteverdi built a mid-engined supercar in Basel with a 426 Hemi behind the driver and called it the Shark. Almost nobody has ever seen one.
- Book
- Book VI — Apocrypha
- Marque
- Monteverdi
- Model
- Hai 450 SS
- Years
- 1970
- Origin
- Switzerland
- Namesake
- Shark
- Binomial
- Carcharodon helveticus
- Verdict
- DENIED — cartilaginous
Sigil generated from the entry's own name. Every coil, hue and scale in this plate is a function of the string “monteverdi-hai”, and of nothing else.
Hai is German for shark, and the Monteverdi Hai 450 SS is one of the most obscure supercars ever built: a Swiss mid-engined coupé with a Chrysler 426 Hemi, shown in 1970, produced in numbers that can be counted on the fingers of one hand with some fingers left over.
Sharks and snakes are both apex-adjacent, both misunderstood, both used as shorthand for menace by people who have met neither. But a shark is a cartilaginous fish and the phylogenetic distance is roughly the same as for the stingray — around four hundred and fifty million years.
Denied. Recorded because a Swiss Hemi supercar named Shark deserves to be recorded somewhere, and the Ophidiary has room.
Switzerland built a shark and put an American engine in it and then, essentially, stopped.
Questions people actually ask
What is the Monteverdi Hai?
A mid-engined Swiss supercar of 1970 built by Peter Monteverdi in Basel, powered by a Chrysler 426 Hemi V8. Only a very small number were made. “Hai” is German for shark.
Provenance of claims
This is a satire with a research habit. Every load-bearing statement above is listed here and labelled, so you can tell which sentences would survive a librarian.
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Documented
The Monteverdi Hai 450 SS was a Swiss mid-engined car using a Chrysler 426 Hemi, shown in 1970.
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Documented
Hai is German for shark.