Rare Lamborghini look-a-like made more intriguing as it was made by people who came from Lamborghini

This is the Cizeta-Moroder V16T – it’s a car that looks like a Lamborghini, sounds like a Lamborghini, but isn’t a Lamborghini.

That resemblance isn’t accidental – it’s because this car was made by people who used to work at Lambo before breaking away on their own.

There’s no doubt that it bears more than a passing resemblance to the cars made by their former employee.

That’s what makes this rare oddity so interesting.

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You could consider the Cizeta Moroder V16T as something of a cousin to the Lamborghini Diablo, and – as the name suggests – it boasts a massive V16 engine.

It was the brainchild of Italian automotive engineer Claudio Zampolli, who worked for Lamborghini before setting himself up in the late 1980s.

After running a successful servicing business, he managed to put together a crack squad to take on the supercar world.

The V16T was designed by Marcello Gandini, and – as we’ve mentioned – it looks more than a bit like the Diablo.

Gandini had tried to sell this particular design before, but it hadn’t been taken up.

When he brought it to Cizeta, they decided it was worth a shot.

Much of the team that worked on this vehicle were ex-Lambo employees, including chief engineer Oliviero Perazzi and colleagues Achille Bevini and Ionose Bronzatti.

Giancarlo Guerra, famous for coach-making the Ferrari 250 GTO, was also present.

It’s hard to see how this wasn’t a success, given the amount of expertise within the organization.

However, the Cizeta-Moroder V16T is one of the great unrealized dreams of automotive history.

The Cizeta-Moroder V16T has strong musical influences

In case you’re wondering, the name Cizeta comes from the Italian pronunciation of his initials, and – yes – the Moroder portion comes from the involvement of legendary music producer Giorgio Moroder.

Musicians and cars go together like bread and butter, with many successful recording artists clipping about in some seriously powerful and heavily customized machines.

Jamiroquai frontman Jay Kay is crazy for cars, and Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason also boasts a huge collection that includes the ‘world’s most expensive car’.

Moroder got involved with Cizeta after he brought his Countach in for a service at Zampolli’s garage, and the pair hit it off.

Ultimately, this car was the only car ever made with the Cizeta-Moroder badge, and the prototype remained in Moroder’s possession for years after he pulled out of the project, eventually being sold in 2022.

A rare oddity in automotive history

In the end, this car never made it to production, and only eight cars including the prototype that stayed with Moroder were made before the factory was shuttered and moved.

After that, three more cars were made in 1999 and 2003, but – as you can probably guess – there wasn’t a massive amount of interest.

Ultimately, it’s a tale of unrealized potential, and a lesson in brand awareness – even if you have the entire team behind some of the most desirable cars of all time, it doesn’t guarantee that you’re going to be a success without the marque that matters.

Still,  it’s a super cool car, isn’t it?