A 540-horsepower V16 supercar, and what it's paired with isn't a track record — it's a disco single. On December 5, 1988, the Cizeta-Moroder V16T made its debut in Los Angeles, with Jay Leno hosting and a soundtrack written specifically for the occasion by Giorgio Moroder: "A Car Is Born." This wasn't a marketing gimmick — it's how the car came into being in the first place. From day one, it was as much a musician's creation as it was an engineer's.
The other half of the story belongs to Claudio Zampolli, a former Lamborghini engineer. After Chrysler acquired Lamborghini and softened the lines of the upcoming Diablo, designer Marcello Gandini walked away, handing his uncompromised original drawings to Zampolli. Combined with Moroder's funding and name recognition, the two pieced together this behemoth — a body three inches wider than a Ferrari Testarossa. Under the hood sits a 6.0-liter naturally aspirated V16, mounted transversely behind the cabin, with 64 valves and a five-speed manual gearbox producing 540 horsepower at 8,000 rpm. A spec sheet like that, in 1988, was itself an act of defiance against market logic.
The pearl-white car in front of us, Chassis 001, is the only one to officially wear the dual "Cizeta-Moroder" badge. Moroder later withdrew from the production program, and the nine cars built afterward carried only the single "Cizeta" name. As a result, this prototype retains details absent from the production versions: larger side air intakes, additional spoiler grooves, a diagonal crease along the lower body, uniquely shaped side mirrors, and a fully custom red leather interior. These aren't just color variations — they're a glimpse of the same design before it was standardized into spec.
It carries a fatally romantic flaw — it lacks a standard 17-digit VIN and cannot be legally registered for road use. This car is destined only to be seen, collected, and auctioned — never to actually drive on public streets. Moroder himself held onto the car for decades before commissioning Canepa Design for a mechanical restoration, reinforcing the insulation around the fuel tank and overhauling its intricate mechanical systems. More recently, the car's exterior underwent over $13,000 USD in refinement work by Rex Nguyen, aiming to fully restore it to its 1988 debut appearance. In 2024, it appeared on the lawn at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, and now it's headed to RM Sotheby's Monterey auction.
Whoever wins the bid gets more than just the car. The lot comes with a set of limited digital assets: a four-track EP produced by Moroder, along with 3D renderings created by digital artist Jeremy Ian Thomas. A car that will never hit the road, paired with music that never quite finishes playing — perhaps the most honest contradiction in this entire auction.
This article does not include specific auction dates or estimated prices. Please refer to RM Sotheby's official announcements for accurate information.
