If Pagani Made Restomods…

Now obviously we love restaurants, but the thing is, they do tend to be the work of men and women in sheds. Welcome to Villa Chimera. This is definitely not a shed. Dreamt up by charismatic Italian former WRC driver Luca Betti, Chimera has risen as rapidly as the thrilling Lancia 037s the company manufactures. Ciao Luca. Ciao Jason. How are you? I'm good. Nice to see you again. Small confession. It's lovely to see you too. When I first met you, what was it? A couple of years ago? Two, three years ago? I think so. I hate this guy. He's a handsome Italian. Really? Former rally champion. Not really. And now you bring me here. I mean, I like what you've done with the place. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We are in Villa Chimera, the place where we host all our friends like you and all our customers and people that come to visit us. And it's a special place because it is a 16th century Italian noble villa, aristocratic one. And it has a wonderful garden. And of course, we fix here our quarter with all our administrative, commercial staff. And then in Torino, we build the car. But this house effectively has an incredible charm. And you will see all the history that during the century, it was built down inside and effectively is a nice place to live. Shall we have a look? With pleasure. Have you heard of a TV programme called Through the Keyhole? Oh, no. No? I'll tell you about it when we go inside. I can participate immediately. Yeah, yeah. Well, let's do it. I'm not sure what Keith Lemon would make of this place in the heart of the northern Italian province of Piedmont. It's bang tidy on the outside and drips with history inside. When Top Gear first visited Chimera back in June 2021, things were rather different. It has come a long way in a short space of time. Having lit up the European rally scene, Luca had been keeping a close eye on the emerging restomod world. The brilliant Chimera 037 was the result. But the car itself is just part of the bigger picture, a wonderfully Italian one. So in this room was also the king Carlo Emanuele III that was making a bottle very nearby here and he came to sleep for a night and then he won the bottle. And this, you know, is something that every time I read, I think that it is a proper way also for me that after all my battles in the rally and the races, I came here, I take a rest and then I started with the project Chimera. And now this villa maybe have a good luck for all the people that come here. Noble families, Italian kings, it's all going on in here. I hope you're taking notes. There'll be a short test at the end. More recently, Villa Chimera's story overlapped with Italian automotive and football royalty. And one of the former owners, I believe, was the main lawyer for the Agnelli family. And of course, we know Agnelli, they own Fiat, Ford, Ferrari, the great Gianni Agnelli is one of the great patrician figures of Italian history in the 20th century. They also owned Juventus. Yeah, I know what you guys are like about your football. I'm a fan of Juventus. So yeah, I like them too. And I don't even like football that much. But yeah, so in the Del Piero era in the 1990s, they came and signed contracts on this desk. I don't know if it's really he signed here, but effectively the legend is that considering this house, this villa was owned by an important Italian lawyer, Avvocato Chiusano, that was the lawyer of the Avvocato Agnelli. So it's a very important person. And together they always come here because effectively the Avvocato Chiusano was the president of the Juventus. And they come together here and they were in this football court looking at the young players. And the legends say that some of the most important was Del Piero and the other good players. So I don't know if it's true or not, but it's a nice story to tell you that. It's true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true, it's true. Of course, of course. This is for the camera, we're picking it up, picking it up. It took Luca years of patient negotiation to acquire this place, and he's a sensitive custodian. But despite its ornate furniture, remarkable library and stunning grounds, Villa Chimera isn't just a living museum. Ambitious and exciting plans are afoot. So Luca, the place is obviously beautiful and very historic, but you have plans for it, don't you? You're not just going to use it as a nice house. Yeah, yeah. Effectively, at the beginning, I just arrived here because I was interested in the farm part where I fixed my headquarter. But at the end, of course, being always all the day here, I started to think that it would be a great place to host the people that love the cars. And the generic opinion is that Italy is famous for cars, just for the Motor Valley, for Emilia-Romagna. But here in Piemonte, we have a huge tradition with all the designers, car manufacturers, coachbuilders. And so I think that our land is absolutely open to host all the passionate people for cars that can arrive here and find a unique place where to stay and share the passion with us. The house is absolutely stunning. But your HQ is over there, isn't it? Yeah, exactly. We are just nearby here, have our headquarter of Chimera Automobiles. Should we go over and have a look? Of course. Are you OK with dog? Yeah, I love dogs. Yeah. Big dog, yeah? How big? Yeah. German Shepherd. Lovely German Shepherd. Come on. Oh, it turns out they're just a pair of big pussycats, really. But they are keeping a watchful eye over the other bit of Villa Chimera, the business HQ that sits behind some intimidating iron gates and a proper grand design style series of converted outbuildings. OK, here we are in our place that once was just a farm. And effectively, we did the same restomod approach, you know, because we basically kept the old structure of the house. And we are great thanks to the modern materials and also the new technology we can add. So these were just old farm buildings originally? It was just a farm. So you have to imagine that when I arrived here, there was the animal here, just a gravel on the floor. And effectively, I started to think about how to restore, putting together some modern elements like these big glasses. And I'm very proud also about the elevation of these glasses, you know, so a sort of screen that go up like in a James Bond movie. I was just going to say, it's a bit, not that you're not a James Bond villain. Villain. OK, yeah, more Iron Man, more Iron Man. Sometimes I'm inspired by Tony Stark. And it's effectively something that I love that go up, you know, and you enter in my previous life. So in all my trophies, all the races I did. So there is a lot of heritage that I take with me here. You did all right, didn't you? Yeah. Yeah, this is the proof. I spent half time, half part of my life going up and down in the hills and in the mountain of the race I competed. So I get with me all the heritage I have, all the races, all the adventure, the victory, the losing I did in my life. And it is quite. They don't give you cups for losing though, do they? No, not exactly. All right. So the O37, before we go into the configurator room, what is it about that car? I mean, I adore that car and I grew up watching Group B, so I kind of get it. But what does it mean for you being an Italian in Lancia and the O37? I think this car represents an Italian proudness, a typical regional of our land, Piemonte, a proudness because Lancia was our Ferrari in the 80s. And it was a car that won a battle, a sort of incredible challenge against the Audi team. And of course, it's something that I was looking to take care of and celebrate as our roots in rally, in our land, in our automotive world. And where did you start? And the idea to do a restomod of the O37, take me back to the roots of the idea. Well, I have to be honest that I was starting to see what around happens. And of course, the word of restomod started to arrive with the huge model of the Porsche and Alfa Romeo with Alcaholic. So I started to think that it was possible to do also something with a cool Italian car. And looking at the Beta Monte Carlo and the story of a small, poor car that became a queen, the last queen that won a WRC event with two-wheel drive, I say that's the right car because it's also in my blood, the rally, so it was perfect. And it was quite natural, you know, that I started with this project. The O37, for those who don't know, I mean, wasn't it originally going to be an Abarth? Yeah, because at the time, Abarth was managing all the Lancia's activities. And effectively, it was the first car, groupie car, that Lancia decided to build. And thanks to this victory, because it was not so sure that Lancia continued the program in the rally, then the old Martini Racing Legend era became a reality. And so I love this car, you know, I really love this Evo 37 that we did in honor to the 037. And at the very start, I remember I visited one of the very early premises back in, I think, 20, 21, yes, at the very early time, pretty early on. Yeah. And so the car uses a bit of the wonderful Beta Monte Carlo. Yeah. So the front section, is that correct? Yeah, we do the same thing that was done by Lancia in the 80s. So the process, the approach is completely the same. So we cut the front and the back of the car and we keep the central shell of the Beta Monte Carlo. And on it, we build all the two frame chassis that give torsion correct and a very good performance to the car. What are these then, Luca, are these Clans cars? Yeah. And if you can see, every car has a name. This is Esmeralda, Luisa, Victoria. So basically, it's a story that we created with our customer. And so the connection is so close and the customisation and everything, all the details that at the end, the cars became like humans. And so we decided to give the name of a female like a daughter. Fair enough. I mean, that's the thing with this car, one of the great geniuses of it, I think, is that you feel it, you really, it feels more like, I know it might sound silly, but it is almost like a human being. And I think that with a lot of classic Italian cars, that's why we love them, because they have obvious personalities. Of course, of course. I think that exactly as you are just told, in this car, there is a lot of human passion. There is a lot of human aspect that maybe in the other commercial world of automotive, there is less because there is more commercial reason, other kind of approach. And this permit us to just make by heart what we are doing. And thank you for getting my car ready as well. I love this color. So this one, what's the story with this beauty here? She is Victoria. Oh, hello, Victoria. She is from Switzerland because the owner is from Switzerland and is a very friend. But I say one of the person that permit us was one of the first five clients that we leave when the car was still not built. And so it was a big step of trust and passion to get in this project with us. Chimera has sold just 37 cars, plus seven of the Martini liveried one that Top Gear recently tested. But like Singer before it, there's more to come. This is one of the world's elite automotive clubs. So what's next? Oh, we have a lot of next. Effectively, Chimera is not just a car. And this is very important. I'm very happy that when we go on the fair, on the event, people look at our car and recognize it. I mean, it's not a Lancia. They come and they say, oh, look at the Chimera. So this is very important for me because we have a long term vision for our future. And of course, we already announced that we will have the Evo 38, so the version of four wheel drive of a car that never had a beard. Lancia had begun work on that car, hadn't they? Yeah, it was a sort of first testing that they did. And then, of course, for commercial reasons, they decided to skip on the Delta, you know. And so the Evo 38, it is a great evolution of our Evo 37. But then there is more. We are already showing something about the K39. So not just an Evo, K represents a proper Chimera car. And this permit us to come back after my previous racing career to the racing world. And this car will be built first for a challenge at the Pikes Peak, the glorious climb hill in the US. But then it will be a special car, a sort of hyper restomod based on a great chassis, so with a very nice technology. And this is a sort of the first milestone that we want to have to arrive to be a serious brand, an Italian brand that takes the car automotive philosophy that, in my opinion, sometimes is lost at our days and get in the center the human approach, the passion approach for cars. Can I ask you something? The rise of the restomod, I try to explain to people why I think there is a big audience out there that is responding to a very analog experience, quite raw. You yourself, you know, when you drive the car, it's noisy. Of course. And there's sensation of vibration. You're dealing with these guys. These guys, they're obviously well-heeled. They have money to spend. Are they bored with modern hypercars? Well, it's absolutely a good question, and I believe that the restomod could represent for the automotive industry and the automotive world a possibility to celebrate what effectively the passion for cars gives to all the people that approach this car. And of course, I think that in the future also to the transition that is actually is ongoing, there will be two kinds of approach for the car's market. One will be, of course, the utility and the daily use of the car, probably, and I don't exclude this. And the other one would be the passionate. So I think that now the restomod permit to the people to have something that touch again and not influenced by the new technology, but something that could represent an art of the people, the humans, that is getting in an automotive vehicle. Yeah, yeah. Lucas, it's been great seeing you again. And, you know, as you remember, when I saw you when it was back over near Turin, I remember the facility was quite small. We were at the beginning. You were at the very beginning. So thank you for bringing me to this wonderful place. Thank you to you. It was absolutely a pleasure. Can I come back and stay when you, you know, I have to watch the dog, if you will.