Sbarro Challenge History

The Challenge debuted at the 1985 Geneva Motor Show as the most complex car Sbarro had attempted to take into limited production. Challenge I used a bespoke tubular-steel spaceframe, racing-derived double-wishbone suspension at all four corners, and a turbocharged Mercedes-Benz 5.0-litre V8 producing a claimed 380 PS (280 kW), with torque distributed to all four wheels via a Jeep Cherokee transfer case. Quoted top speed was 310 km/h.

For 1986, Sbarro exhibited the Challenge 2+2, which revised the car to accommodate two rear seats and switched from the bespoke AWD drivetrain to Porsche 930 underpinnings — a turbocharged 3.0-litre flat-six producing 300 hp driving the rear wheels through a five-speed manual. This Porsche-based architecture continued into the Challenge III shown in 1987.

Franco Sbarro announced a production run of ten; his son Fabian later documented that eight were actually completed across the three-year series, making the Challenge the closest Sbarro ever came to a genuine limited-production road car outside the 328 Replica programme.