The "Monteverdi Sahara"

Original Monteverdi Sahara Sales Brochure

April 77 Four Wheeler Magazine Article

August 79 Pickup, Van &4WD Magazine Article

    The Sahara was one of several modified Scouts sold in Europe by at least two custom builders. No, they didn't buy stuff from IH at the end in 1980, these were done in the mid-70's and later. They did buy complete Scouts and sometimes just partial Scouts off the assembly line. Parts are still around in Europe. The vehicles are in demand by the Scout collectors over there, just as the CVI and Midas conversions are desirable over here.  Peter Monteverdi was a builder of some rather exotic custom luxury/performance cars before he discovered 4WD's and applied his talents there. The Sahara was his basic conversion of the Scout II as I remember--new grille, not sure what else, nothing too dramatic as I recall. I'm not sure if it retained the IH drivetrain or not, but I'd expect this to have a relatively stock IH drivetrain.  He also had a model called the Safari that was much more dramatic. This started with a Scout frame and body tub. He cut the belt-line down to about 2" above the door handles, and installed a top with large windows that looks much like a Range Rover's. The front end sheet metal was new and lower. It started with the front bumper from a BMW 530i that continued down the sides as a large, black, rub-strip. There was an air dam below the bumper and an egg crate grill with dual headlights above.  The height of the grille was about the same as the little dual headlights--it looked a something like an early Chevy LUV. The hood sloped upward slightly from this height and was probably 3 or 4" lower than a Scout's. There was a kick-up at the rear so that the rear of the hood partially hid the windshield wipers. It appears he used his own windshield frame and the top was not removable. Front seats were from BMW. The dash was considerably modified, being lowered with a large instrument pod installed.  The drivetrain was a 318 or 360" Chrysler (a 3.3L diesel was reportedly also offered and one article refers to the 440" engine as available too), fitted with an 8 quart oil pan to help with cooling when cruising the autobahn at 170 Km/Hr. A Chrysler 727 was the standard transmission, with a German ZF 4 speed optional. The Dana 20, Dana 44 axles (Power-Lok rear, manual locking front), and Scout suspension and brakes were used.  The whole vehicle reminded me a lot of the Range Rover in appearance, although from side, the Scout body tub was apparent.  I've got a photo copy of a PV4 Magazine article on the Safari. It was the July issue, but I don't know the year. It mentions the Range Rover has been the only European SUV available in the US for the past 6 years, so I think that would make it about 1976 if anyone has access to a file of these.

12/16/98