The Isdera Spyder was the first car produced under the Isdera name. It appeared in 1983, a year after Eberhard Schulz founded his engineering office in Leonberg, and it remained in the range until 1992, when the Imperator 108i took over as the company’s main model.
Isdera Spyder at a glance
| Maker | Isdera, Leonberg, Germany |
|---|---|
| Production | 1982–1992 in Isdera’s own model list |
| Public debut | 1983 |
| Designed by | Eberhard Schulz |
| Company founded | 1982 |
| Registered as GmbH | 30 November 1983 |
| Company logo | an eagle on a blue background |
| Successor | Imperator 108i, from 1984 |
| Company today | Isdera AG, based in St. Ingbert since 2024 |
| Status | Isdera AG entered provisional insolvency on 11 April 2025 |
The German Wikipedia article on the Spyder itself is very short, so this page is based on the German Wikipedia article on the company and its list of models; it is based on one source and gives no technical figures.
History of the Isdera Spyder
Schulz before Isdera
Eberhard Schulz worked as a developer at Porsche and presented his first sports car of his own, the Erator GTE, as early as 1969, using proven production parts from Porsche and Mercedes-Benz. In 1978, working with the Frankfurt company B&B Automobiltechnik, he had his breakthrough with the CW 311 study, the car that later became the basis of the Imperator. With that experience behind him, Schulz founded his own engineering office in 1982 and registered it as a GmbH on 30 November 1983. He chose an eagle on a blue background as the company logo.
Place in the range
The Spyder was the first of the company’s cars to be shown, debuting in 1983. Isdera’s own list of developments gives it a production span of 1982 to 1992, with the Imperator 108i following from 1983 to 2001 — the company counts the Imperator from the CW 311 project — and the Commendatore 112i arriving in 1993. The Spyder therefore sat at the bottom of a very small range: a low-volume sports car from a workshop that built its cars by hand, before the larger V8-engined Imperator established the company’s reputation.
The company afterwards
Isdera went on to show the Autobahnkurier 116i in 2006 and, at Auto China in Beijing in 2018, the Commendatore GT, a fully electric 2+2 coupé with two motors of 300 kW each, a 100 kWh battery and 800-volt technology. The company moved its headquarters to St. Ingbert in 2024. On 11 April 2025 the Amtsgericht Saarbrücken opened provisional insolvency proceedings over the assets of Isdera AG.
Design and features
- The first Isdera: the car that launched Eberhard Schulz’s own brand in 1983.
- Hand-built: produced in small numbers by a small engineering office rather than a large factory.
- Schulz’s design language: the starting point for the shape later developed into the Imperator 108i.
- A short model life: listed from 1982 to 1992, before the Imperator took over.
Isdera Spyder versions
- Spyder (1982–1992): the original model, listed throughout the company’s first decade.
The Spyder was followed by the Imperator 108i and, later, the one-off Commendatore 112i. More cars are in the Isdera collection.
Video: Isdera Spyder 033i
Video by xbowracing on YouTube.
Sources
- Isdera, German Wikipedia: company history, model timeline, later cars
