Isdera Imperator 108i

The Isdera Imperator 108i is a low-volume German sports car produced from 1984 to 1993. The Imperator 108i was born out of the Mercedes-Benz CW311 concept car from 1978, which Eberhard Schulz, who at the time worked as a design engineer for Porsche, designed in his free time. Mercedes-Benz had no interest in putting the CW311 into production, so Schulz established his own engineering company, Isdera, to produce the car under his own brand.

Specifications and performance
Implementing a fiberglass body upon a tubular steel spaceframe, the Isdera Imperator 108i was comparable to the exotic sports cars of its day. Little was changed from the original Mercedes-Benz show car with the most noticeable changes being the replacement of the pop-up headlights with two fixed units and more conventional tail lights sourced from Mercedes-Benz. The original Imperator 108i featured a 5.0 L Mercedes-Benz M117 V8 engine which gave the vehicle a top speed of 176 mph and a 0-60 mph acceleration time of 5.0 seconds. As Mercedes-Benz developed more powerful V8 engines, they were used in the Imperator 108i. Later engines included a 5.6 L Mercedes-Benz M117 V8, a 5.6 L AMG V8 and a 6.0 L AMG V8 which saw an eventual increase of power from 300 hp to 390 hp, with both AMG engines featuring advanced 32-valve cylinder heads.

Unusually, the Imperator 108i featured a rear-view periscope in place of conventional rear view mirrors which gave the driver the rear view, creating a bulge on the roof. It also featured gullwing doors.

Inside, the car featured a luxurious interior and sourced many interior components from the Porsche 928.

Model year changes
In 1991, the car received a face-lift which saw the return of the pop-up headlamps from the 1978 show car and a more curvaceous body shape, additional vents at the front near the doors, NACA duct on the front in place of three vents, redesigned front grille and repositioning of turning indicators from the front grille to the bottom of the headlamps along with optional wing mirrors. Around 17 cars were produced with the face lift design.

Production
Production ended in 1993 with a total of thirty examples produced, two of which were exported to Japan.