Neri e Bonacini

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Neri e Bonacini was an Italian car body manufacturer from Modena , who produced a few sensational bodies for Italian sports cars in the 1960s. The cars from Neri e Bonacini were mostly given the model designation Nembo .

Company history

The Neri and Bonacini company was founded in Modena in 1960 by Giorgio Neri and Luciano Bonacini. Both had worked as technicians at Maserati in previous years . Initially, the company functioned as a workshop in which mainly technical components for automobiles were manufactured. Neri and Bonacini made some frames for Ferrari ; The frame for the 350 GTV , Lamborghini's first sports car, was also created here. In the early days there was a close connection to the Carrozzeria Sports Cars by Piero Drogo . Neri and Bonacini were involved in the manufacture of the legendary Ferrari 250 GT SWB Breadvan , which was designed by Giotto Bizzarrini for the Scuderia Serenissima and dressed by Piero Drogo; Neri and Bonacini contributed the technical components.

In 1966 the company transformed into a body manufacturer. Neri and Bonacini made some beautiful special bodies on chassis from Ferrari , Lamborghini and Iso Rivolta . Most of the cars were known as Nembo , a made-up word made up of the first syllables of the founders' last names. In a further development step, Neri and Bonacini finally presented a self-developed car that was produced in three copies. The American Tom Meade, a young Californian whose designs were characterized by extreme proportions and who some time later manufactured his own vehicles under the name Thomassima, had mostly contributed to the design of the bodies.

In 1967 Neri e Bonacini ceased operations. Luciano Bonacini moved to de Tomaso .

The vehicles

The Nembo Ferraris

Replica of a Nembo Spyder from 1990, chassis number 5805GT

In the 1960s, it was common practice among Ferrari drivers to replace aging factory bodies of older vehicles with newly designed bodies. This resulted in a profitable business model for some smaller Italian body manufacturers. Neri e Bonacini built a coupé and at least two outwardly similar Spyder based on older Ferrari chassis from 1965 to 1967 in collaboration with Carrozzeria Sports Cars . The vehicles called Nembo each had plexiglass covers for the headlights and a deep, elliptical radiator opening. What they all had in common was the clearly noticeable swing of the hips over the rear wheels. Tom Meade , among others, was involved in the design of the Nembo Spyder and the Nembo GT .

Belong to the Nembo Ferraris

Rumors of a third Spyder, which were built on the chassis of a Ferrari 250 GT 2 + 2 and are said to have been delivered to Lebanon, remain unconfirmed.

Around 1990 another Spyder was finally built, which used the chassis of a right-hand drive 330 GT 2 + 2 (No. 5808GT), which was manufactured in 1964 . It was built on behalf of a British customer in Giorgio Neri's workshop in Modena and was stylistically based on the two original Spyders.

The Lamborghini 400 Monza

The Lamborghini 400 GT Monza

In the same year, a hatchback coupe based on the Lamborghini 400 GT was created . The car was named Lamborghini 400 Monza. It remained a one-off. It still exists today and was auctioned in Switzerland in 2009.

The Nembo 7 litri

Another unique piece was the Nembo 7 Litri from 1967, a hatchback coupé based on the Bizzarrini GT Corsa 5300 . The car had a seven-liter eight-cylinder and thus anticipated a development that Iso Rivolta was to implement itself a year later on the Iso Grifo , a sister vehicle of the Bizzarrini.

The Neri & Bonacini Studio GT Due Litri

Neri & Bonacini Studio GT Due Litri

In 1967 the first (and only) in-house development of the plant, the Studio GT 2 Litri, was created . It was a small sports car with pop-up headlights, hatchback and front engine, which had a chassis developed in-house and was powered by a four-cylinder Lancia Flavia . The waistline was low and slightly curved. It swung up over the rear wheels and then merged into the sloping C-pillar . A few years later , AMC took up this design element for the AMC Matador Coupé. The Studio GT was produced in three copies, all of which acted as prototypes. Series production was planned, but did not materialize because Bonacini left the company before the studio was completed.

literature

  • Georg Amtmann and Halwart Schrader : Italian sports cars . Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-613-01988-4 (listed there under the name Nembo).
  • Matthias Braun, Ernst Fischer, Manfred Steinert, Alexander Franc Storz: Ferrari road and racing cars since 1996 . 1st edition Stuttgart 2006 (Motorbuch Verlag). ISBN 978-3-613-02651-3

Web links

Commons : Neri & Bonacini  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alessandro Sannia: Enciclopedia dei carrozzieri italiani , Società Editrice Il Cammello, Torino, 2017, ISBN 978-8896796412 , p. 46.
  2. ↑ History of Carrozzeria Sports Cars on the website www.coachbuild.com (accessed on January 29, 2019).
  3. ↑ Description of the Nembo Spyder No. 5805 GT on the occasion of its auction on March 29, 2017 on the website www.classicdriver.com (accessed on February 2, 2019).
  4. ↑ On the Nembo Ferraris cf. Braun / Fischer / Steinert / Storz. Ferrari. Road and racing sports cars since 1946 , p. 207.