GTP Cool Wall: 1984-1993 Isdera Imperator 108i

1984-1993 Isdera Imperator 108i

  • Total voters
    87
  • Poll closed .
White & Nerdy

White & Nerdy

4,209
United States
Wasilla, AK
1984-1993 Isdera Imperator 108i nominated by SomePlayaDude

800px-Isdera_imperator_1.jpg


Stats:
Production: 1984-1993
Style: 2-door coupe
Engine: M117.963 304 ci/4,973 cc naturally aspirated OHC V8 (rated 237 HP & 297 lb-ft), M117.968 339 ci/5,547 cc naturally aspirated OHC V8 (rated 295 HP & 336 lb-ft), 339 ci/5,547 cc naturally aspirated DOHC V8 (rated 390 HP & 387 lb-ft), 364 ci/5,956 cc naturally aspirated DOHC V8 (rated 404 HP & 420 lb-ft)
Transmission: 5-speed manual
Layout: Mid-engine, Rear-drive​

Many of the engine specs are guesses drawn from not-particularly-helpful Wikipedia articles on the apparent donor cars and their engines, or are from automobile-catalog.com. So if my specs differ from those mentioned in the nomination, it's because the nomination's specs were incomplete and my sources contradicted the ones there were. Also according to automobile-catalog.com, production of this car continued until 2001, but as Isdera went bust in 1993, that had to be under different management, and those model years were not included in the nomination.
 
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Gullwing doors, a damn periscope and all other things that only crazy Mercedes would do to a super car (or a former engineer with them that is), not to count the fact the 6l had 32 valve cylinder head. It was fast for it's day, you hp mongering cave men shouldn't be fooled by the low hp numbers. I'm torn between cool and sz. Also to be clear this started out as a MB but it's not really one it's an Isdera, I don't really care to see a Shelby or is it mustang fight nor a Dino or is it a Ferrari.

It's an Isdera.
 
I'll hold off judgement in case i might get biased. Love Isdera, but it's kind of a pity that the Countach took all it might've done.

The Commendatore was in the 'i was gonna nominate', but i chose this because the Commendatore was in NFS 2, and i don't want people putting cool because they raced it against Ferrari F50s then.

And what inspired me to nominate this:


 
I don't know what to think..

I hate it, I find it offensive to look at, half the car looks like an after thought and just everything about it rubs me the wrong way.

Yet I don't feel strongly towards cool or uncool.. I can see it from both perspectives and it's really messing with me - especially since it doesn't justify a "Meh" either.

I think I'll just have to not vote on this one..
 
Meh. Funky looks, decent engines for the time, but it's just another late 80's bizarro concept car come to life in very limited production form. It sort of looks like a German facelift of a Countach, and that sounds uncool, if anything.
 
Does anyone else get the impression that it's doing that squint smile? You know that one smile that's so unrealistically happy that it causes your cheeks to close your eyes slightly?

(0:05 of that video)
 
The Stig Farmer
What the hell is this?

I don't have a problem with its polling but... what is it¿ Will I ever know...¿
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It's a Mercedes concept car* that they couldn't be arsed making, so they passed it off to the in-house design company that came up with it. They built 30 of them in 10 years, with different V8s as Mercedes development of the M117 continued, before realising no-one wanted it and then they canned it.

One of the only ways to make a supercar less cool is to make it a limited production supercar - and the only supercar less cool than that is a concept supercar. This is both.

*And the image is in fact the Mercedes CW311 concept, not the Isdera Imperator 108i
 
Uncool. The 80's weren't cool, and the 80's in Germany were even less cool. However, it has gull wing doors and unique doors also add something to a car for me.
 
I might be in the minority but I love 80s car design.

This car in particular just looks epic to me, and especially today it has that "wow" factor that no modern Ferrari or Lamborghini can match.

Sub-Zero.
 
The name is epic, the looks mental and it has plenty of punch behind it. Should be an easy cool but...somehow its relative obscurity just means that it isn't notable enough.
A meh, unfortunately.
 
A supercar for hipsters. But it has gullwing doors, so I can't justify a SU vote.
 
Soda01
I might be in the minority but I love 80s car design.
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It was designed in the 70s. The 1978 Mercedes CW311 concept car - which is what's actually shown in the picture in the opening post - is what became the Isdera.
 

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