The Monteverdi Safari—
A Swiss Take on the SUV

(Restomod) Picture the Monteverdi Safari not as a response to market demand, but as the realization of a connoisseur’s imagination. The Safari stands at the intersection of the bespoke and the bold.

Origins in Audacity
The story begins in the 1970s, when Peter Monteverdi discovered a gap in the market, observing that while the luxury sedan business was well established, few had ventured to merge true four-wheel-drive capability with genuine opulence. With the Safari, he envisioned “a luxury 4×4 avant la lettre.” The idea: take a strong, proven chassis with ability and dress it with elegance. The Scout’s ladder-frame, live axles, and 4WD capability provided the necessary backbone, while Carrozzeria Fissore—an Italian coachbuilder based in Savigliano, Italy—designed the lines and materials: quad headlights, a sharply squared profile, and generous cabin space. The Safari was larger than the latest Range Rover on the market, and decidedly more powerful.

The standard engine was a Chrysler 5.2 L V8—with optional 5.7 L or even the formidable 7.2 L Chrysler V8, capable of over 200 km/h. This performance was married with features rarely seen in off-roaders of the day: an automatic transmission, electric windows, full leather trim, and air-conditioning. In short: an SUV for the discerning few.

Rarity by Design
In an age when volume equaled success, Monteverdi quietly built cars as if they were watches. Each Safari emerged not from an assembly line, but from a sequence of craftsmen including Swiss engineers, Italian panel beaters, and American steelworkers. Production was not limited by ambition, it was curbed only by intent.

Monteverdi never wished to conquer the market; his desire was to refine it. His Binningen workshop outside Basel could turn out only a few dozen cars per year, each hand-assembled, test-driven, and adjusted with instrument-like precision. The Safari’s underpinnings arrived from the United States in the form of the robust International Harvester Scout chassis. This was shipped to Savigliano, Italy, where Carrozzeria Fissore clothed it in precise, tailored metal. Finally, in Switzerland, the body and soul of the automobile were united.

Such a dance was costly. By the late 1970s, a Monteverdi Safari cost more than a Range Rover and far more than most sedans wearing familiar badges. Its clientele were connoisseurs, not commuters—people who chose leather colors and dashboard veneers as they might commission a suit or a timepiece. Then came the oil crisis. The world turned its back on large V8s, and the Safari, unapologetically opulent, became a whisper of excess. Monteverdi built 200 pieces, perhaps fewer; exact figures have dissolved into myth. Yet that very scarcity completes the Safari’s aura.

Today, each surviving SUV feels less like a car and more like an edition, a numbered print from a forgotten atelier. Not a product of scarcity, but a deliberate expression of selective creation.

Design, Materiality, and Identity
While the styling cues echoed Monteverdi’s other vehicles, the Safari possessed a distinctive presence: muscular yet refined. The chrome, the squared surfaces, and the door trims all spoke of luxury.

Inside, discerning drivers found a full leather interior, power steering, electric windows, an automatic gearbox, and generous seating for five, plus luggage. This was a rare combination as was the frame: a sturdily built ladder chassis with leaf springs front and rear, disc brakes up front, drums at the rear, a dual-range transfer case, and selectable four-wheel drive. The Safari’s Swiss identity was ever-present: precision in execution, restraint in branding, and small-batch exclusivity. Such sophistication in an off-road vehicle of the time was more than unusual.
Legacy and Rarity

Exact production numbers remain unclear, although most estimates place total output in the low hundreds—making the Safari one of Monteverdi’s most successful models within its niche. Well-preserved examples—such as a 1978 model showing fewer than 20,000 km and a complete service history—have reportedly commanded between roughly USD $101,000 and $123,000 at auction, underscoring both the model’s rarity and its enduring collector appeal.

Moreover, an interesting footnote: Monteverdi later built a four-door version of the Range Rover (before the British company itself offered one) via a coach-modified route. The Safari thus sits at a pivotal moment: Monteverdi made his mark just as the luxury 4×4 was being defined.

The Lifestyle Proposition
From a Maison Ë-style perspective, the Safari offers rich narratives: the alpine escape, the jet-set European estate, a discreet yet powerful arrival in a mountain resort, followed perhaps by a drive along forest trails to a chalet high above the valley. It is an object that marries country-rugged capability with urban elegance.

The  Safari is not just a car: it is a statement that demands both refinement and freedom. In the 1970s and early ’80s, this was rare. Today, with luxury SUVs now ubiquitous, the Safari stands out as a precursor to a category that—back then—was still finding its identity.