1961 Intermeccanica-Puch (IMP)

Product no.: AC 05000

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The Small Beginnings

 

Intermeccanica-Puch (IMP) is an automobile manufacturer founded by the Canadian engineer Frank Reisner with its company Intermeccanica and the Austrian Johann Puch. The first products that IMP offered were vehicle tuning parts. They produced their first independent vehicle in 1960.

 

In 1961 both founders started with the construction of a small Coupé in Turin. Frank Reisner imported the air-/fan-cooled two-cylinder, four-stroke flat-twin engine, with 645 ccm from the Austrian car manufacturer Steyr-Puch and brought it to a performance of 40 hp at 5500 rpm. The engine was surrounded by a tiny two-seater, two door coupé, which was constructed by the Italian company Coma in Turin. The Coupé was similar to the Abarth-Zagato-chassis. The top speed was estimated at an astonishing 150 km/h. In total only 10 vehicles were built until 1962. In 1961 the vehicle took part in a 2,5 hour-race on the Nürburgring, and it won the race in the 500 ccm-class.

 

In 1962 Intermeccanica turned the construction to big road sports cars with American engines. At first the vehicles were released under various names, later they were sold under its own name, which were partly produced in close cooperation with Bitter and Opel. The later models of Intermeccanica were predecessors of Bitter CD. The production of the sports car lasted until 1974.

 

Because of economic reasons, in 1975 the company moved to San Bernardino and produced many replicas. Today, Intermeccanica is famous for high-quality replicas of famous vintage sports cars such as the Porsche 550 Spyder.

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