Replicas of famous supercars are, in principle, commonplace. If there is more enthusiasm than money, why not build yourself a copy of an unattainable dream based on something available? Most often it turns out to be real [кринж](https://motor.ru/news/audi-laferrari-27-05-2022.htm), but sometimes craftsmen [выдают](https://motor.ru/news/mclaren-f1-porsche-986-sale-18-07-2021.htm) very plausible examples. However, with our today’s hero everything is much more complicated and interesting. But before you dive into this story, read [большой материал](https://motor.ru/stories/isdera-commenadore.htm) about Isdera Commendatore, in case you missed it. Otherwise you risk not understanding anything.
So, in 1993, Eberhard Schulz showed the world one of the brightest and most ambitious supercars of his time, the wow effect of which could only be matched by the Jaguar XJ220 and Vector W8. We are talking about the Isdera Commendatore 112i, which is also depicted on the cover. Due to a lack of funding, the project never took off, and the only completed copy remained in the ownership of Isdera – it found its first private owner only six years later, and in 2016 it returned to the company, where it underwent restoration to its original condition.
[Сroissant](https://www.carpassion.com/forum/thema/16517-imperator-commendatore-112i/page/3/#comment-1240304)
But in the summer of 2019, photographs of another Commendatore 112i surfaced on the Carpassion forum: the coupe, as if nothing had happened, was rolling along the German Autobahn, and the body was painted not in silver, but in taxi beige, and the numbers ES UK 112H immediately put connoisseurs on the spot to a dead end. The fact is that the letter H denotes historical cars that are 30 years old or more. As you understand, in 1989 there was no Commendatore and there could not have been. Mystic!
Oldenburger/nast-sonderfahrzeuge.de
A little later, on another forum, a photo of the same car appears somewhere in the alleys of the town of Oldenburg near Bremen – that is, they drive the mysterious Izder every day, as if it were an Opel! What kind of Pokemon is this? The situation was clarified by the small publication Core of Cars – its employees found the owner, arranged a photo shoot for the supercar, and even rode a little in the passenger seat. Alas, the article has now been removed from the site, but the Internet remembers everything – and the visual basis of this note is precisely the images of Core of Cars.
Kaare Byberg/Core Of Cars
So, the mysterious car is both Isdera and not. In the early nineties, the company managed to make two spatial frames: the same silver copy was assembled around one, but the second, almost finished, remained out of work – and for many years it worked as a sculpture, hanging on cables from the ceiling of the headquarters.
Kaare Byberg/Core Of Cars
Somewhere at the end of the 2000s, Eberhard Schulz was approached by a long-time fan of the brand, who owns at least a couple more cars – Imperator and Spyder. According to knowledgeable people, this fan works for a large German automobile company, and we can even guess the name: a similar shade of ivory is present in the Porsche palette… But this is just speculation, here are the facts.
Kaare Byberg/Core Of Cars
Schultz greeted the idea of building a second Commendatore with enthusiasm: he sold the frame, provided the original dies for the manufacture of body panels and provided all kinds of support. But it is important to note that the work was not carried out at the Isdera factory, but in the client’s personal garage – and for the most part with his own hands. The process lasted for the same six years that it took to create the first car, and everything was done with the highest quality and accuracy. Just not always in exact accordance with the original.
Kaare Byberg/Core Of Cars
No, no, in basic things the Commendatore 112i remained itself. The same shapes, the same layout, the same suspension schemes, the same six-liter V12 from Mercedes-Benz – and even the gearbox had to be custom-made again. After all, the M140 engine from the factory was combined only with an automatic transmission, and the Isdera company at one time bought the modified Getrag mechanics from tuners from RUF, having previously asked to add a sixth gear there.
Kaare Byberg/Core Of Cars
Kaare Byberg/Core Of Cars
But it was decided to improve many things – at least because in the 20 years that have passed since the debut of the original, progress has not stood still. The creator of the second car installed brakes from Porsche (another hint at the place of his work?), brought the exhaust pipes into the sills, modified the cooling and fuel system – and actually remade the interior. I can’t say that it turned out more beautiful or more elegant, but the owner is a gentleman, isn’t he? Eberhard Schulz decided not. When the story about the Commendatore double became widely publicized, he wrote an open letter, an excerpt from which we present here:
“Shortly after the project began, the owner informed me that he wanted to make some fundamental changes, since from his point of view many things could be done better. As far as I understand, he was going to build his own car, but at the same time steal the Isdera brand in order to somehow obtain registration.
Kaare Byberg/Core Of Cars
I informed the owner that I would no longer support his actions and completely disagree with his intentions. Such cars become legends because they are created with certain restrictions, be it time, money, technical conditions, required characteristics, and so on.
The result looks like a Commendatore, but this car never received my approval and, most importantly, was not built by Isdera or in collaboration with Isdera. However, even with these introductions, the company’s management invited the owner to talk about the car together, in order to pay tribute to his work in the garage and avoid misunderstandings regarding the origin. The owner immediately rejected the offer and began to insist that he had built a second Commendatore 112i, and an even better version.
Kaare Byberg/Core Of Cars
Of course, Isdera management and I came to the conclusion that this was a dead end and stopped communicating with the owner. Since the tube frame apparently had no identification number, the owner used VIN W09108215JWJ02015 from an Imperator 108i and was able to get the car registered. Since the original Imperator 108i was first registered on November 10, 1988, the car received the H-plates reserved for historic examples over 30 years old.
The ES-UK 112H was never built by Isdera and is not a restored Imperator 108i as the numbers say. We are making every effort necessary and available to remove this vehicle from the roads. Unfortunately, there has always been and will only be one Commendatore 112i in the world.”
Kaare Byberg/Core Of Cars
It would seem that everything is logical: offended by the lack of reverence, the creator renounces his brainchild. But there looms a much more pragmatic factor here, which is very difficult to ignore – the status of the one and only specimen. Do you remember that at the beginning of 2021 the original Commendatore was sold at auction for 1.1 million euros? And if at that time there were two officially recognized cars, would it be possible to reach such an amount? Same thing.
Be that as it may, the terrible punishments promised by Schultz in 2019 did not overtake the owner of the “fake” Commendatore. In mid-2021, after the auction, the supercar first caught the eye of racing blogger Misha Sharudin, and then was spotted at the Hockenheimring. True, the Isdera nameplates are no longer on the car – but we think that this is a small price to pay for the opportunity to continue driving for pleasure. Whether it’s a fake, a reproduction or a full-fledged copy, historians will decide in a few decades. /m
