Isdera was founded in 1982 by the automotive designer, Eberhard Schulz, whose career had begun at Porsche having initially impressed with his hand-built prototype, the Erator GTE.

While working for Porsche, Schulz continued to develop his own second concept car in his spare time, envisaged to mimic the design of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL.

In the early 1970s, Schulz departed Porsche and joined forces with the tuner, Rainer Buchmann, to form B&B GmbH & Co Auto KG, where the pair pioneered development of the attractive CW311.

To generate publicity, the legendary Mercedes-Benz “three-pointed star” was fitted to the grille of the car.

In 1982, Schulz parted ways with B&B to create Isdera, focusing on small-scale production vehicles, design and engineering services.

Two years later the company introduced the Imperator 108i, based on the original CW311 project.

Just 30 examples would be produced over the following nine years with various design changes and V-8 engines sourced from Merced...