1965 Iso Grifo A3/C Stradale

Offered by RM Auctions | Paris, France | February 4, 2015

Photo – RM Auctions

Does this look like a Bizzarrini to you? It is. Kind of. Let’s start at the beginning: Giotto Bizzarrini left Ferrari after designing cars like the 250 GTO. He teamed up with Renzo Rivolta to design a followup to the Iso Rivolta GT. The car he came up with was the Iso Grifo A3/C. But at the same time, Rivolta was working with Bertone, who came up with the Grifo A3/L – which would become the Iso Grifo road car.

But Bizzarrini was designing his Grifo as a race car. And when Mr. Rivolta was trying to sell Grifo road cars, Bizzarrini was trying to drum up support for the race cars, which didn’t sit well with Rivolta. So they split. And Bizzarrini took his design and sold some as the Bizzarrini 5300 GT.

The car you see here was actually sold as an Iso Grifo A3/C in 1965. A few years later, after the two Italian men had parted ways, this car returned to Bizzarrini for updates and it was rebuilt to look more like a Bizzarrini 5300 GT (and given Bizzarrini badging). The engine is a 5.4-liter V-8 from a Corvette making more than 350 horsepower. It is mounted behind the driver, making this one of the first mid-engined cars.

Bizzarrini managed the construction of A3/Cs at Piero Drogo’s Carrozzeria Sports Cars where the early cars had riveted bodies. This is one of 20 riveted-aluminium cars. Combined production of the Iso A3/C and the Bizzarrini 5300 GT totaled to something between 100 and 150 cars, with Bizzarrinis making up the majority of them. This car was restored in 2010 and should sell for between $1,250,000-$1,850,000. Click here for more info and here for more from RM in Paris.

Update: Sold $1,186,220.