The special VW 1600 Super Sport from Lombardi
10/08/2013
In 1970, Francis Lombardi presented a sports car based on the VW 1600 in Turin - briefly mentioned in AR 47/1970 - which he called the Lombardi VW 1600 Super Sport.
Visually, the wedge-shaped sports car was related to the Lombardi Grand Prix 850 , but it had a much more angular appearance. The rear end was high, as the Volkswagen engine had to be housed underneath.
According to the technical specifications issued at the time, the four-cylinder boxer engine produced 85 hp at 5,500 rpm.
The sports car measured 3.93 meters in length, was 1.65 meters wide and 1.125 meters high. Like the Grand Prix, the VW 1600 SS also had folding headlights, although these rotated like those on the Opel GT, and was designed strictly for two people.
Nothing ever came of series production, as Lombardi was unable to reduce the cost per unit to a level that would have allowed it to compete with other available sports cars. As a result, the Lombardi VW 1600 SS remained a one-off, the whereabouts of which are unknown, at least to us.
Pictures of the Lombardi VW 1600 SS can be found in the Zwischengas archive.
