OBC
Mantorp (1974)

Why it matters

The Mantorp was conceived as a safety-minded sports car, built around a sandwich structure of rigid polyurethane foam between glass-fibre-reinforced plastic skins, a technique already shown by a German plastics firm's 1967 prototype. Its design came from Gugelot Design, the studio of Hans Gugelot. It is remembered as an ambitious Swedish idea that reached a presented prototype and a brochure.

How rare is it?

Six separate kinds of rarity – never combined into one number.

Each kind of rarity is rated separately and never combined.

History

The idea came from Ottmar Beckmann, who set up OBC in Sweden to produce a new safety sports car, named after the Mantorp racing circuit. In 1974 the car was presented with a brochure that described a range of four models named after racing circuits (Mantorp, Nürburgring, Le Mans and Indianapolis), using BMW M10 four-cylinder and six-cylinder engines with BMW suspension and brakes, and even anti-lock brakes.

A prototype was shown to the press, although the presented car differed from the brochure sketch and, according to the source, never received an engine. The municipality of Klippan is said to have agreed to build a factory promising work for 100 people building five cars a day, but the plan was not carried out and the Mantorp stayed a prototype project.

Technical specifications

Engine

Transmission & drivetrain

Chassis, body & dimensions

Performance

“Not yet verified” means no source has been checked for that value yet. Nothing is estimated to fill a gap.

Sources

Each number links to the exact facts it supports.

1. 1
   En bil designet til verdens tre bedste salgsargumenter: OBC Mantorp Level D ViaRETRO, via Internet Archive · 2014-08-05

   • grundstenen var BMW's fine M10-maskine

   Accessed 2026-11-13