Sbarro Super Twelve : only 3,10 meters, 800 kg, but powered by a V12 .
This engine is made by Sbarro with two Kawasaki 6 cylinders. It displaces 2,4 liters and makes 240 chevaux.
The Super Twelve was unveiled at the Geneva Autoshow in march 1982. Until then, Franco Sbarro was famous because of his BMW 328 replica and some original cars as all-wheel drive Wind-Hound and Wind-Hawk or the coupé Stash. All Sbarro's cars were big on the whole. But unlike them, the Super Twelve is a supermini, the smallest supercar made in the eighties. The car is a concentrated sports-car : twelve cylinders, 240-bhp, 3,10 m and 800 kg : any advance ?

The Super Twelve shares the same sizes as the Austin Mini, unlike the width : 1,75 m compared to 1,40 m for the Mini. 35 cm wider with no shame ! The straight-line-designed front give place to a bulbous rear : the result is an agressive look reinforced by the Andréini's paint. The lateral air intakes, as on the two-years later Ferrari Testarossa, indicate the transversal mid-engine. The car rolls on Gotti alloy wheels (15in front, 16in rear) fitted with Pirelli P7. The grille is typical of Sbarro's eighties cars. The body-colored rear lights are perfectly integrated for a smooth rear design only broken by the four exhausts and a ten-wholes aluminium sheet.

The rear glass is pillarless, as the Citroën AX. Open it, remove the leather engine cover and you find a splendid in-line 12 cylinders. This engine is a bit particular : it's made by the combination of two Kawasaki 1300 cm3 6 cyl. bike engines. Each one retains his manual 5-speeds gearbox. So there are two gearboxes but only one gear lever. Each engine drives one rear wheel. If there is a mecanical problem, the car can be powered by only one engine. This 12 cylinders kicks out 240-bhp. With only 800 kg, the ratio weight/power is just 3,3 kg/bhp (4,3 kg/bhp for the contemporain Lamborghini Countach LP500 !!). The Super Twelve is given for 5 s from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph). Max speed is a little deceiving, but 200 km/h (125 mph) all the same.

Only one Super Twelve was built by Sbarro. But with his special engine, it is a hard-drive car. Not easy, even for fine drivers ! That's why Sbarro built a new version, powered by a more conventional engine, the Super Eight unveiled in Geneva in march 1984.

The engine, from Ferrari, is a 3,0 l 260-bhp V8. The (Ferrari) gearbox is a 5-speed manual one. The Super Eight's paint is more classic, but the two cars share the same body, except details as wheels, passenger's rear view mirror... The Super Eight appears more docile than the wild Super Twelve. And it is !

These two cars associate design and hight-tech engineering, and place Franco Sbarro at the top of the carmakers.