Isdera

Origins of Isdera

Isdera was founded in 1969 by Eberhard Schulz, a gifted German automobile designer and engineer who had previously worked at the Sbarro design studio in Switzerland. The company name is an acronym derived from 'Ingenieurbüro für Styling, Design und Racing' — an engineering office for styling, design, and racing — accurately describing the breadth of Schulz's ambitions. Based initially in Stuttgart and later in Kayh, near Herrenberg in Baden-Württemberg, Isdera operated as a tiny design studio with an outsized vision: to create supercars of the highest quality using the finest components available.

Schulz's approach to supercar construction was uncompromisingly artisanal: each Isdera was built essentially by hand, using Mercedes-Benz engines and mechanical components as the foundation for bodies and chassis of his own design. The CW311, conceived in 1969 and developed through the 1970s as a concept before limited production in the 1980s, established the Isdera template — gullwing doors, a mid-mounted or rear-mounted Mercedes V8 engine, and a dramatic, aerodynamically efficient body that combined German engineering rigour with inspired styling. The CW311 designation reflected Schulz's systematic approach: 'CW' for drag coefficient (Cw in German), '311' for 3+1 seating and a goal of 1 drag coefficient unit.

Production of Isdera cars was always extremely limited — the Imperator 108i, produced from 1984 to 1993, used a 5.0-litre Mercedes V8 producing approximately 390 horsepower and was built in fewer than 30 examples. A successor, the Commendatore 112i, used a 6.0-litre V12 Mercedes engine producing over 400 horsepower and was built in even smaller numbers. Isdera represents perhaps the ultimate expression of the small-scale German automotive atelier tradition — a one-man vision executed with extraordinary technical and aesthetic ambition.

Key Milestones

Notable Models

Isdera's output was small in number but extraordinary in ambition — each model representing a complete, uncompromising vision of what a handcrafted German supercar could achieve.

Technology & Engineering

Isdera's engineering philosophy combined the proven excellence of Mercedes-Benz mechanical components with bespoke chassis and body engineering of the highest quality — producing vehicles of exceptional performance and refinement.

• Mercedes-Benz powertrain integration — using the finest production V8 and V12 engines from Mercedes-Benz, properly engineered and calibrated for supercar performance rather than simply dropped into a body, ensuring reliability and refinement alongside exceptional power
• Gullwing door engineering — Isdera's signature opening style required precise hinge geometry and structural engineering to function reliably while maintaining the body rigidity required for supercar handling dynamics
• Periscope rear vision system — the Imperator's innovative replacement of conventional door mirrors with a periscope system reduced aerodynamic drag while maintaining rearward visibility, a practical engineering solution to an aesthetic and aerodynamic problem
• Handcrafted aluminium coachwork — each Isdera body was shaped and assembled by hand from aluminium, allowing panel work of exceptional quality and enabling the precise execution of Schulz's complex aerodynamic forms

Isdera in Azerbaijan

Isdera vehicles have no presence in Azerbaijan or, indeed, in most countries — with fewer than 30 Imperators and a handful of Commendatores built in total, the brand's entire production could be accommodated in a single large garage. Surviving Isderas are held almost exclusively in specialist collections in Germany and a small number of European private museums.

For Azerbaijani automotive enthusiasts, Isdera represents the most exclusive expression of German supercar engineering — a reminder that extraordinary automobiles can emerge from the vision of a single determined individual, and that the quality of a vehicle is not determined by the size of its manufacturer. Isdera's cars stand alongside the great handcrafted supercars of any nation as evidence of what is possible when engineering skill and artistic vision are applied without constraint.

Why Isdera Matters

• Ultimate artisanal German supercar: Isdera represents the tradition of the small German automotive atelier taken to its logical extreme — a single designer-engineer creating supercars of world-class quality using the finest available components, without the compromises imposed by volume production.
• Mercedes engineering elevated: By selecting Mercedes-Benz V8 and V12 engines as the mechanical foundation for his cars, Schulz demonstrated how production-based components can be elevated through exceptional chassis and body engineering into vehicles of truly extraordinary character.
• Gullwing design heritage: Isdera's consistent use of gullwing doors connected the marque to one of the most celebrated design features in German automotive history — the Mercedes-Benz 300SL — while applying the concept to more extreme supercar architecture.
• Purity of vision: Unlike most automotive manufacturers, Isdera was never subject to the commercial pressures, committee decisions, or engineering compromises that shape volume production cars. Every aspect of every Isdera reflected the unfiltered vision of its creator — a quality that makes these cars uniquely authentic expressions of automotive ambition.