Born out of a Mercedes-Benz concept car and a man's reluctance to let the said concept go to waste, the Isdera Imperator 108i is one of the quirkiest, rarest supercars from the 1980s. And it all starts with the name.

Isdera, the company founded by Eberhard Schulz in 1981, got its name from "Ingenieurburo fur Styling, Design, und Racing", which in English translates as "engineering company for styling, design, and racing." Having built his own supercar - the Erator GT, Schulz was no stranger to the world of engineering and his time and Porsche only sharpened those skills. So when Mercedes-Benz decided to shelve the CW311 concept Schulz himself designed in 1978, he took action.

Later on, the original engine was replaced by other units, with the most potent being a 6.0-liter V-8 that according to Car and Driver, allowed the Imperator to zap from zero to 60 mph in five seconds flat on to a top speed of 176 mph (283 kph). Power went from the engine to the rear wheels through a five-speed manual transmission from ZF.

Isdera Imperator 108i specifications

It wasn't all just about sheer grunt, though. Schulz designed the Imperator on a tubular steel spaceframe that supported the bonded fiberglass body. All for a weight of just 1,250 kilos (2,756 pounds), kept in check during deceleration by a set of ventilated disc brakes on all four corners.

Looks-wise, the Imperator is as attractive as any mid-engine supercar of its era, although at first it might look like a mix breed of various design cues. That's no small feat, not when back then, you had the likes of Lamborghini Countach, Ferrari F40, and Porsche 959 roaming the streets.

Despite remaining in production for about a decade, the Imperator was built in very low volumes, with some 30 units said to have left Isdera's workshop. The Imperator is one rare bird, there's no doubt about that, but one just popped up on Bonhams' auction pool and it's going under the hammer in Monaco at the "Les Grandes Marques a Monaco" event, where it is estimated to fetch as much as $830,000.

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