Autocostruzioni SD

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Autofficina Salvatore Diomante
Autocostruzioni SD
legal form Corporation
founding 1968
Seat Nichelino , Italy
management Salvatore Diomante
Branch Body shop

Autocostruzioni SD (initially: Autofficina Salvatore Diomante ) is an Italian body shop that produces prototypes and small series, rebuilds series vehicles and restores classic automobiles. In the classic scene , the company is primarily known as Diomante . The company is considered a specialist in bizzarrini .

Company history

Autocostruzioni SD was founded in 1968 by Salvatore Diomante. The founder's initials can be found in the company name.

Born in Sicily, Salvatore Diomante has worked in the automotive industry since the 1950s. After working for the Turin-based coachbuilders Armandonico and Carel , he and Licinio Bonifaci founded the company Carbondio , which completed the bodies of various cars for small series manufacturers such as Giannini , Intermeccanica and Scioneri . In addition, Carbondio built several prototypes.

Since 1966, Carbondio was closely associated with Bizzarrini. Salvatore Diomante gradually took over the production management at Bizzarrini, at the same time Carbondio completed the completion of many Bizzarrini GT 5300s and also built the series copies of the P 538 . The work processes at Bizzarrini in Livorno and at Carbondio in Turin have recently merged.

When Bizzarrini went bankrupt in 1968, the end came for Carbondio. Salvatore Diomante took over the entire material from Automobili Bizzarrini in the insolvency proceedings, including all spare parts and several unfinished chassis. While Carbondio was being dissolved, Diomante established the company Autofficina Salvatore Diomante in Livorno in 1968 , which operated in Bizzarrini's former factory and continued the production of Bizzarrini sports cars on a very small scale for about a year and a half. In 1969 Diomante renamed the company Autocostruzioni SD and relocated it to the Turin suburb of Moncalieri ; a few years later the company moved to Nichelino , where it is still based.

In the early 1970s, Giotto Bizzarrini developed several other sports car concepts as a consultant for Autocostruzioni SD, but these did not find any investors and were not implemented. In 1973 Diomante shifted the focus of his company to the maintenance and support of Bizzarrini sports cars. Because of his involvement in the construction of many cars, Diomante is considered the most experienced Bizzarrini specialist. Because of this, and because of its ability to access the original material, it soon became the preferred contact point for owners of classic Bizzarrini. In addition to looking after real Bizzarrini, SD also manufactured replicas of the brand's classic racing cars for at least two decades, the documentation of which is not always unequivocal. That is why Diomante's role in the classic scene is viewed critically.

Since the mid-1970s, the company expanded into numerous other areas. SD produced extended limousines in small series, and prototypes and conversions of series models were also created. Another business area is the restoration of classic sports cars.

Fields of activity

Bizzarrini

"Baby-Bizzarrini" 1900 GT Europe
SD replica of a Bizzarrini P 538 from 1976

In 1968, Carbondio and Autocostruzioni SD also built all of the Bizzarrini 1900 GT Europa , which Giotto Bizzarrini and Salvatore Diomante had developed for General Motors and which is regarded as the conceptual forerunner of the Opel GT . In 1970, SD produced all copies of the AMC AMX / 3 designed by Giotto Bizzarini , which was sometimes also referred to as the Bizzarrini Sciabola .

Since Bizzarrini's bankruptcy at the end of 1968, Autocostruzioni SD has been waiting and restoring Bizzarrini models. This applies above all to the GT 5300 sports car. The company manufactures body parts based on original templates and has an extensive spare parts warehouse. SD is one of the most experienced specialist companies in this field.

A special feature is the Bizzarrini P 538 racing car . Salvatore Diomante played a key role in the creation of the four or five original vehicles from 1966 onwards. His company Carbondio built at least one competition vehicle, designed the body for chassis 004 ( Duca d'Aosta ) in 1967 and converted chassis 003 into the Bizzarrini Manta in 1968 on behalf of Giorgio Giugiaro . In the classic car scene, there is broad consensus that Diomante also produced at least half a dozen replicas of the P 538 in the 1970s and 1980s, most of which Giotto Bizzarrini recognized as original vehicles regardless of their late completion. The authenticity is usually justified by the fact that technical components were installed in them that Bizzarrini had manufactured before the bankruptcy in 1968. Initially this referred to complete chassis, later the originality referred to frame parts or components that Diomante reproduced with "original tools" according to Bizzarrini's plans. The first four replicas are externally and technically largely identical to the original model; later vehicles sometimes differ significantly from this and use, for example, non-brand technology from De Tomaso or Porsche . This applies in particular to the so-called Morelli cars that were built in the second half of the 1970s.

Limousines

In the 1970s and 1980s, SD built extended versions of various Italian sedans in small series.

Fiat 131 Diplomatic

From 1976 long versions of the Fiat 131 were created , which were sold under the names Diplomatic or Allungata . The rear doors were extended. The cars were primarily used as taxis.

Maserati sedan Diomante

In 1986 SD presented a long limousine based on the Maserati Quattroporte III , which was intended as a mobile conference room. The wheelbase was lengthened by 650 mm; at the same time the roof line was raised by 20 mm. The front and rear doors remained unchanged. SD added spacer plates in the middle. The interior has been redesigned. The right front seat can be rotated 180 degrees so that the front passenger can face the passengers in the rear seats. SD implemented an idea that the designer Giorgio Giugiaro had already shown a decade earlier in the Maserati Medici show car . The seat covers and wooden inlays differ from the standard model. Foldable desk surfaces are embedded in the sides of the rear doors. Maserati adopted this idea for the production version of the Royale , which replaced the Quattroporte III in 1986. Other special features of the limousine were a video system and a stereo system that were installed on the back of the front seats. Diomante built "a handful" of these sedans; their price was 210 million lire.

Conversions

Lamborghini

Combination body for the Lamborghini LM002

Diomante designed several conversions of Lamborghini's LM002 off-road vehicle on behalf of Saudi Arabian customers . This includes a two-door pickup version with a long loading area and a combination version. The station wagon has a raised roof and an extended rear overhang. Behind the rear axle there are three U-shaped benches that offer space for a total of three passengers, so that the car, including the driver and front passenger, can carry a total of eight people. At 3100 kg, the curb weight is about half a ton more than that of the standard LM002. This model was commissioned by the Sultan of Brunei . Bernd Pischetsrieder , then Chairman of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Group , later took over the car and registered it in Germany in his name in 2004.

Rolls Royce

There are also conversions based on various Rolls-Royce models. Over the years, Diomante has extended several Silver Spirit to varying degrees. The long limousines received an upgraded interior with televisions and a minibar. At least two Silver Spirit with a standard wheelbase were converted into four-door convertibles for Arab customers. On behalf of the Italian publisher Dino Fabbri, SD built a convertible version of the Rolls-Royce Camargue in the early 1980s , which was also alienated by some external details - including the taillights of the Audi 80 B2 .

Prototype construction

Bugatti EB110

Since the company was founded, prototype construction has been a key business area of SD.In the 1990s, SD created the prototypes of the De Tomaso Bigua , which was later produced in small series as Qvale Mangusta , as well as the De Tomaso Guarà and the De Tomaso Pantera Concept 2000 Diomante also designed and built the prototype of the Bugatti EB110 .

restoration

Diomante restores classic automobiles on behalf of customers. The processed vehicles include pre-war cars such as the Bugatti T57 or a Fiat 514 , but above all exclusive sports cars from the second half of the 20th century. One focus of the restoration work is on Ferrari ( 342 America , Dino 246 and 365 GTB / 4 "Daytona" ), but Lamborghinis and De Tomasos have also been repeatedly rebuilt at Diomante.

literature

Web links

Commons : Autocostruzioni SD  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alessandro Sannia: Enciclopedia dei carrozzieri italiani , Società Editrice Il Cammello, 2017, ISBN 978-8896796412 , p. 161.
  2. ↑ a b Alessandro Sannia: Enciclopedia dei carrozzieri italiani, Società Editrice Il Cammello, 2017, ISBN 978-8896796412 , p. 510.
  3. ↑ Wolfgang Blaube : X Files . Presentation and development history of the AMC AMX / 3. In: Oldtimer Markt , No. 4, April 2011, ISSN 0939-9704, p. 42 ff.
  4. ^ Philippe Olczyk: Bizzarrini & Diomante. The Official History , 3rd edition 2017, ISBN 978-84-697-6659-0 , p. 320 ff.
  5. ^ Gianni Cancellieri: Maserati. All the cars . Giorgio Nada Editore, Vimodrone 2015, ISBN 978-88-7911-609-1 , p. 231.
  6. ↑ Description and illustration of the Quattroporte III sedan from SD on the website maserati-alfieri.co.uk (accessed December 8, 2019).
  7. ^ Description of Diomante's LM 002 Kombi on the website www.lambocars.com (accessed on November 8, 2019).
  8. ↑ Oliver Lauter: Sultan's Favorite. www.autobild.de, September 30, 2009, accessed December 8, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Illustration of a yellow painted and a white SD conversion on the website www.1000sel.com (accessed on December 8, 2019).
  10. ↑ Description of the Diomante-Camargue on the website www.carandclassic.com (accessed December 8, 2019).
  11. ↑ Alessandro Sannia: Enciclopedia dei carrozzieri italiani , Società Editrice Il Cammello, 2017, ISBN 978-8896796412 , p. 511.