One-off Cizeta-Moroder V16T prototype heads to Monterey auction

The estimate reaches $1.8 million

The prototype is due to cross the block at RM Sotheby’s Monterey sale, which runs from 13 to 15 August 2026. The auction house estimates it at $1.4–1.8 million and lists the accompanying registration document as a US title.

The same car last changed hands at RM Sotheby’s Arizona sale in January 2022, when it sold for $1,363,500.

“Only” refers to the prototype and its badge, not the entire production run

Chassis 001 is the original running prototype and show car. It is also the only example officially badged Cizeta-Moroder. After Giorgio Moroder and Claudio Zampolli ended their partnership, Moroder’s name was removed and the customer cars were sold simply as Cizeta V16Ts.

RM Sotheby’s states that nine production cars were completed in addition to the prototype, giving a total of ten V16Ts. Production figures for low-volume, hand-built cars can vary between sources, but the auction house is explicit in counting nine customer cars plus chassis 001.

The Cizeta name comes from the Italian pronunciation of founder Claudio Zampolli’s initials, C and Z. A former Lamborghini test and development engineer, Zampolli moved to Los Angeles in the 1980s and established a successful business servicing exotic cars. Composer and record producer Giorgio Moroder became the investor behind his ambition to build a supercar of his own.

The V16 sits transversely behind the cabin

The defining technical feature is the naturally aspirated 5,995cc V16 mounted transversely behind the passenger compartment — the source of the T in the model name. Power reaches the rear wheels through a five-speed manual transaxle.

The all-aluminium, 64-valve engine uses eight overhead camshafts and was rated at 540 hp, or approximately 403 kW, at 8,000 rpm, with 400 lb ft, or 542 Nm, at 6,000 rpm.

The block is cast as a single piece, but the engine has two crankshafts. One sits on each side, and gearing combines their output through a single shaft feeding a longitudinally mounted ZF transaxle. Two Bosch K-Jetronic V8 fuel-injection systems supply the engine, but its firing order is that of a genuine V16. Describing it simply as two V8s joined together therefore misses an important part of the design.

Most of the performance figures remained projections

In 1989, Car and Driver listed the prototype’s estimated kerb weight at 3,750 lb, or 1,701 kg, and its width at 80.8 inches, or 2,052 mm. The magazine estimated 0–60 mph in 4.2 seconds and a top speed of 204 mph, or 328 km/h.

Those were not independently measured results. Car and Driver calculated the speed figures from the selected gear ratios, the 4.11:1 final drive, the proposed 8,500 rpm limit and the manufacturer’s stated output.

The Cizeta was about three inches, or 76 mm, wider than a contemporary Ferrari Testarossa. Marcello Gandini’s styling contributed to its imposing stance, but the transverse V16 and its transmission also demanded considerable space ahead of the rear axle.

The V16T uses a tubular steel spaceframe clothed in aluminium bodywork. Unequal-length double wishbones locate the wheels at both ends. At the rear, twin spring-and-damper units are mounted around ten inches inboard of the wheels and operated by bell cranks and linkages, reducing the mass carried directly at the wheel assemblies.

Gandini designed the car, but the Diablo connection remains open to interpretation

The Cizeta-Moroder was styled by Marcello Gandini, whose work also includes the Lamborghini Miura and Countach and the Lancia Stratos. Its wedge-shaped body and several details inevitably recall early ideas associated with the Lamborghini Diablo.

A widely repeated account claims that Gandini developed the Cizeta from an early Diablo proposal rejected or extensively altered after Chrysler took control of Lamborghini. RM Sotheby’s confirms Gandini’s authorship but does not establish that the Cizeta body was transferred unchanged from the Lamborghini project. The connection is therefore better treated as an interpretation of the model’s design history than as an undisputed fact.

The prototype differs from the production cars in several visible respects. It has larger side air intakes with more strakes, a diagonal crease in the lower bodywork, and different indicators, fog lamps and door mirrors. Its dashboard, centre tunnel, steering wheel, door panels and seats are also unique.

Moroder kept the car until 2022

The prototype made its public debut in Los Angeles on 5 December 1988. Jay Leno hosted the presentation, for which Moroder composed a piece titled “A Car Is Born”. The car was subsequently displayed at the Los Angeles and Geneva motor shows in 1989.

Moroder retained chassis 001 after its show duties ended and kept it until 2022. Canepa Design carried out a full mechanical restoration in 2018, adding heat shielding around the fuel tanks and addressing shortcomings associated with the car’s prototype status. Canepa then tested the completed car before returning it to roadworthy condition.

The present owner commissioned more than $13,000 of additional mechanical and cosmetic work in 2024. That year, the car also appeared at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in the special class for wedge-shaped concept cars and prototypes.

The sale includes a one-of-one NFT package containing an exclusive four-track Giorgio Moroder EP, a digital artwork, a three-dimensional scan of the car and digitised provenance documents. Its financial value is impossible to assess with confidence, but it adds another documented layer to the car’s unusual history.

The absence of a 17-digit VIN does not prove a worldwide road ban

RM Sotheby’s notes that the prototype does not have a 17-digit VIN. At the same time, the catalogue lists a US title and describes chassis 001 as a fully functioning prototype whose roadworthiness was restored by Canepa.

The lack of a modern-format VIN may make registration and insurance difficult, or impossible, in some jurisdictions. The outcome will depend on local law, the supplied documentation and any procedures available for individually approved or historic vehicles.

A European bidder should therefore confirm registration eligibility in the intended country before buying. A US title does not guarantee registration in the European Union or remove the need to comply with import, tax and technical requirements.

Provenance matters more than outright performance

The Cizeta-Moroder V16T set no independently verified speed record and never approached its intended production volume. The significance of chassis 001 lies elsewhere: it is the original prototype, the only car with the double-barrelled badge, Giorgio Moroder’s personal example for more than three decades and the starting point for one of the very few post-war V16-powered cars to enter production.

That combination separates it from every other Cizeta V16T. The successful bidder will not merely be buying a 403 kW engine or a Gandini shape, but the central surviving artefact of an unsuccessful yet technically extraordinary supercar project.