page_title: Neri and Bonacini
section_title: Lamborghini and the 400GT Monza
hierarchical_section_title: Neri and Bonacini / Road cars / Lamborghini and the 400GT Monza
caption_attribution_description: 1966 Lamborghini 400 GT Monza
context_page_description: Neri and Bonacini, also known as Nembo, was a small carrozzeria and mechanic shop based in Modena, Italy, active from the late 1950s to around 1967. Founded and run by Giorgio Neri and Luciano Bonacini, the shop worked on and produced bodies for Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati road and race cars, both in an official capacity for those manufacturers and for private owners. Their best known projects are the Ferrari 250 GT-based Nembo spiders and the Lamborghini 400GT Monza. Neri and Bonacini also designed a car under their own name, the Neri and Bonacini Studio GT Due Litri. Two prototypes of this car were made between 1966-1968 but it never entered series production. The shop closed around 1967 when Bonacini went to work for De Tomaso and Neri started his own shop, Motors-World-Machines.
  The nickname of the firm, "Nembo," was invented by Tom Meade because it was a convenient contraction of the proprietors' names and because it evoked the Nembo Kid, an Italian comic book version of Superman.
context_section_description: Neri and Bonacini were contracted by Lamborghini in 1963 to build the chassis for the first Lamborghini prototype, the 350 GTV. This chassis was constructed from square and round section steel tubing and was relatively light and rigid by contemporary standards. Once Lamborghini began series production of the 350 GT, Neri and Bonacini continued to supply chassis, which were then bodied by Carrozzeria Touring. As production increased, this task was contracted instead to the firm of Marchesi.
  Through this pre-existing relationship with Lamborghini, Neri and Bonacini were commissioned to create a one-off two-seater sports car based on a 350 GT chassis (number 01030) and a 400 GT V-12 engine. Possibly built for an unknown American client to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the car was completed in August 1966 and named the 400 GT Monza. The aluminum body was hand built in the Neri and Bonacini shop and went through many revisions during the fabrication process. The final result shows visual similarities to other Italian sports cars such as the Bizzarrini 5300 GT and the Lamborghini Miura, with a long hood and Kamm tail.
  The 400 GT Monza never raced at Le Mans, possibly due to homologation problems. It was displayed at the 1967 Barcelona Motor Show on the Lamborghini importer Amato's stand. A wealthy Spaniard purchased it at the show and the 400GT Monza remained in his family until 2005, when it was sold at Bonhams' December 2005 auction in London for £177,500 GBP.
caption: 1966 Lamborghini 400 GT Monza
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