The forgotten tale of the LMX Sirex

It all started in the sixties, when Giovanni Mandelli and Michel Liprandi decided to make a dream come true. Milan-born Giovanni Mandelli was the director of a famous toy shop in Galleria Manzoni, in Milan’s city centre, while Michel Liprandi, who was born in France with Argentinian roots, was an engineer specialised in fiberglass cars who, although pretty much unknown to the general public, had already collaborated with famous car manufacturers such as Abarth, De Tomaso, OSCA and Panhard. Mandelli and Liprandi met in a nightclub in Milan, soon became friends, and decided to build their own grand tourer. 

After setting out the general guidelines, they founded LMX Automobile Srl, where LMX stood for Linea Moderna Executive. At first, as a tribute to the city, they chose a winged dragon – halfway between AGIP’s fire-breathing dog and Sforza’s grass snake – as their logo. The Sirex was a heap of innovative technical solutions, starting with the chassis designed by Liprandi and based on a project by Gioachino Colombo.

The sketches for the bodywork of the Sirex were brought to life by car designer Franco Scaglione, who was already famous for having designed many masterpieces such as the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale, the Maserati Tipo 64 Birdcage and the Lamborghini 350 GTV. He came up with a streamlined car, where the soft curves of the Stradale turned into the sharper lines of the Intermeccanica Indra, which was designed later, in 1972. The model was built by Eurostyle in Turin, an industrial body shop run by Ivo Barison that created unique models and prototypes for wealthy customers.

The Sirex followed the finest motoring tradition, thus combining aesthetic peculiarities with reliable mechanical components, outstanding performance, and low costs. It featured a 2.3 L V6 engine borrowed from the Ford Taunus RS and a four-speed manual transmission. Weighing less than a tonne – the ultra-light chassis weighed just 74 kg – the Sirex could easily reach speeds of up to 200 km/h. Upon request, some models could also feature a French Constantin supercharger, which increased the horsepower from 126hp to 180hp. This was later replaced with a May-Bosch turbocharger, bringing the horsepower to a staggering 210hp. This had been fine-tuned by Swiss engineer Michael May, a former racing driver, famous for his work on the Ferrari 158, the victorious single-seater in the 1964 Formula 1 championship.

Since there was no official stand, the Sirex was presented in the exhibition hall of the 1968 Turin Motor Show. Over the next four years, LMX produced around thirty models – two of which were spiders. In 1973, despite its moderate success – pros: it looked great and the power-to-weight ratio was good; cons: it cost as much as a Dino 206 GT – the company ended up in liquidation. The remaining twenty chassis were purchased by SAMAS, a company from Ricca, Diano d’Alba, which specialised in customised off-road vehicles. They completed the cars – which all boasted the May-Bosch turbocharger and different interiors – and then placed them on the Swiss market under the name Sirex LMS.

This sad tale ended with Liprandi and Mandelli returning to their previous activities and SAMAS losing interest in continuing the production. Of the fifty LMX Sirex sold in Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and Spain, little more than half are still out there today, in the safe hands of passionate collectors.

Renato Montalbano, one of these collectors, at the inauguration of the exhibition dedicated to the fable of this Italian fastback – on show at MAUTO in Turin until 20 November – said: “Through these cars, this exhibition aims at remembering people. Yes, because the story of the LMX is above all a story of a bunch of exceptionally professional people who, despite having given life to an adventure characterised by genius, courage and great entrepreneurial spirit, ended up being as forgotten as the cars they created”.