SBARRO DESIGN

Sbarro is a small Swiss high-performance replica and sports car company founded by Franco Sbarro in 1971.

Born to Presicce, small town Salento, the first Sbarro offered was a replica of the Lola T70, powered by a 5.4-litre Chevrolet V8. Since then, the company has produced small-series replicas of a variety of models including the BMW 328, Ford GT40, Bugatti Royale and Mercedes-Benz 540K.

Other significant models have included the mid-engine Tiger (powered by a 6.3-liter Mercedes-Benz V8), the Stash (offered as a 2+2 coupé or convertible), and the wedge-shaped Challenge of the 1980s, based on a Porsche 911 chassis. Sbarro also collaborated with Pierre Cardin for a mid-engined, turbocharged version of the Stash released in Paris 1975.^[1] While the 109 kW (148 PS; 146 hp), 1.8-litre Volkswagen K70 engine provided impressive performance for the time, Cardin’s special interior with its striping, special upholstery, and zip-fastened pockets was the main attraction.^[2] All Sbarros have been extremely limited production vehicles – for instance, only five Stash seem to have been built, even though at least three engines, two bodystyles, and the Pierre Cardin special edition were on offer.^[3]

Another series of project cars of the early 1980s sold to private customers are the Super Twelve and Super Eight. The 1982 Super Twelve had the bodywork of a squared-off hatchback, albeit with unusually broad fenders and lots of other hints at potency. The mid-mounted engine was a twelve-cylinder unit constructed from two Kawasaki Z1300 six-cylinder motorcycle engines.^[4] The 1984 Super Eight featured largely the same bodywork, but received the marginally more sane eight-cylinder engine from the Ferrari 308.^[4]

Sbarro has also built dozens of concept cars and custom high-performance vehicles for private customers. Some of the more recent concepts are the Christelle, Millennium Coupe, and Picasso (2001), GT12 (2000) and GT1 (1999). Some of these feature hubless wheels, a Sbarro concept.

At the Geneva Motor Show on 3 March 2011, Sbarro unveiled the Evoluzione concept car. Sbarro’s concept car had a 1.8-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine from Audi. It output 134 kW of power. The Evoluzione was built without normal production car constraints, as the rear exposes the entire rear suspension set-up as well as the engine. Overall, the design took 25 students just 13 weeks to complete.