The world is full of startup companies that have started to produce supercar, but have never succeeded.
For some we heard, for some we did not. The Magnate brand belongs to this last group, but we would definitely like this rare prototype we see to be successful. The information is very stingy, however, it seems that we are looking at a renewed attempt to revive the Bizzarrini brand.
Magnate P708 Barchetta
The Italian supercar manufacturer was a brief flash in the pan in the 1960s, spearheaded by former Ferrari and Alfa Romeo engineer Giotto Bizzarrini. The company was closed at the turn of the seventh decade, but about ten years ago, the British brand Galmer Engineering revealed their plans to revive this brand with a new supercar.
The idea was based on the revival of the original Bizzarrini P538 model in its modern form. The design required a carbon body on a tubular chassis, with the seven-liter V8 engine of the Corvette Z06 car, good for 505 hp.
Magnate P708 Barchetta
It may not sound like much of today, but at that time the model was in the ranking with the Ferrari F430 (483 hp), the Lamborghini Gallardo (513 hp) and the Ford GT (550 hp) lines, if it came out on the market.
Despite the blessings of its name and the history it represents, the project failed to move beyond the prototype phase. In the end, he got a new name Magnate P708, which did not go any better.
Either way, a decade later, the first prototype will go to the auction.
Magnate P708 Barchetta
RM Sotheby’s House estimates that the car will be sold at a price that can be stopped between €300,000 and €500,000 at the Retromobile event that will be held in Paris next February. Those who really miss the Bizzarrini marque will also find a pair of originals from 1968 up for auction at the same event: a 1900 GT Europa (expected to reach between €250,000 and €300,000) and a 5300 GT Strada (estimated value estimated value €800,000 to €1 million). Though the originals wear European plates and the new prototype Montana ones, we wouldn’t be surprised if they all come from the same collection.
Magnate P708 Barchetta
