Tag Archives: iso

Iso Grifo A3/L Spider

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1964 Iso Grifo A3/L Spider Prototype by Bertone

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Los Angeles, California | October 2024

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Iso Grifo A3/L was designed by Giotto Bizzarrini for Renzo Rivolta. Styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro at Bertone, the A3/L coupe had an aggressive, muscular stance. They even developed an alloy-bodied race car, the incredibly sleek A3/C. This was the convertible variant of the road car – the lone drop-top prototype.

It says it has a “Corvette engine” – later Grifos got a 5.4-liter Chevrolet 327 V8. So who knows I guess (but it sounds like it’s a 427). Buy it and surprise yourself. This car was initially shown at the 1964 Geneva Motor Show and was later sold to an American. It came into its current collection in 1980 and has been hidden away since.

By 1965 things had soured between Bizzarrini and Rivolta, with the former going on to produce the Bizzarrini A3/C, and Rivolta selling the Iso Grifo GL. This car has an estimate of $700,000-$1,000,000. More info can be found here.

Grifo Targa

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1970 Iso Grifo Series I Targa

Offered by Bring a Trailer | December 2024

Photo – Bring a Trailer

The Iso Grifo is perhaps the most muscular of all of the Italian/American hybrid muscle cars. Sure, it’s a two-door coupe and a sports car. But it has angry lines and big American V8s. That’s a muscle car.

The Grifo has an interesting history, as discussed here, and went on sale in 1965. This is one of 330 Series I cars built, just 14 of which were targas. Power is from a 5.7-liter Chevrolet V8 rated at 300 horsepower.

It was cosmetically overhauled in Europe in the early 2000s and received mechanic work in the years following its importation to the U.S. These are very rare big-dollar cars. You can read more about it here.

Update: Sold $550,000.

Iso Fidia

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1973 Iso Fidia

Offered by Bonhams | Greenwich, Connecticut | June 4, 2023

Photo – Bonhams

Here is a rare 1960s European four-door sedan in the vein of the Monteverdi 375/4, Maserati Quattroporte, and Aston Martin Lagonda. Iso was no Maserati or Aston Martin (even in the ’60s). It was more on par with Monteverdi as a small-batch car manufacturer.

The Fidia sedan was sold between 1967 and 1975, and in that time, just 192 were produced. Each one had styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro at Ghia and was powered by an American V8. In this case, it’s a 5.8-liter Ford V8 rated at 330 horsepower. A GM unit was also available on earlier cars. Only 35 had the 351 Cleveland.

This car has been on static display for the last 10 years and will require work before it is roadworthy. But I feel like saying that a 50-year-old exotic Italian sedan from a cottage industry manufacturer “requires work” is somewhat a given. The pre-sale estimate here is $25,000-$40,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $17,920.

Iso Rivolta GTZ

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2021 Iso Rivolta GTZ

Offered by Mecum | Kissimmee, Florida | January 6-16, 2022

Photo – Mecum

Iso is a name that goes back to some pretty sleek sports cars (or proto-supercars) of the 1960s and 1970s. They also produced what I’ve always considered to be Italian muscle cars, in addition to the original Isetta. The brand was revived in 2017 in collaboration with Zagato to introduce a Vision Gran Turismo prototype.

That led to a project dubbed the GT Zagato, or GTZ. The Rivolta family is still behind the cars, which are designed and built by Zagato. It’s based on a C7 Corvette Z06, but has a completely unique carbon-fiber body and shares no exterior bits with the Corvette, glass included. The supercharged 6.2-liter Z06 V8 makes 660 horsepower, enough to propel this very A3/C-esque design to 185 mph.

These are technically still in production, I guess, and in the last year they’ve built 19 of them. This is apparently the only one imported and registered in the U.S. Click here for more info and here for more from Mecum.

Update: Not sold, high bid of $700,000.

One-Off Iso Truck

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1966 Iso Centomila

Offered by Finarte | Online | November 29, 2021

Photo – Finarte

This may look like a Haflinger built by a refrigerator company but… oh wait, that’s sort of exactly what it is. When Iso Rivolta shifted from appliance to motorcycle manufacture after WWII, they also expanded into other territories, including microcars and sports cars.

So why not give off-road vehicles a go? This was the only one built, and it’s powered by a Fiat inline-twin sourced from a 500 Giardiniera. Apparently Iso sent it to Fiat for evaluation, and they liked it and wanted to take over, but Renzo Rivolta refused.

So the little truck returned to Iso, where it was used as a service truck. It’s the only one like it, and it’s expected to sell for between $21,500-$32,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $25,057.

Iso Grifo GL

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1968 Iso Grifo GL Series I

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Elkhart, Indiana | October 23-24, 2020

Photo – Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Grifo GL is a Bertone-styled Italian muscle car. It was designed by Giotto Bizzarrini and styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro. It was introduced in 1963, and a racing variant, the Grifo A3/C, debuted alongside

The grand touring Grifo was slightly restyled before entering production as the Grifo GL. Meanwhile, Bizzarrini got irritated, took the A3/C, and went and produced it as the Bizzarrini 5300 GT.

The Grifo GL road car soldiered on under the Iso marque. Early examples were powered by 5.4-liter V8 from a 327 Corvette that made 350 horsepower. That’s what this car originally had. But later Grifos received a 7.0-liter Corvette 427 V8 advertised at 435 horsepower. It’s what this car currently has under that mean hood with a very serious-looking vent.

This car received a six-digit restoration in 2005 and is now offered at no reserve. Check out more about it here and more from RM here.

Update: Sold $500,000.

May 2018 Auction Highlights, Pt. II

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We’ll pick up where we left off last time, with Silverstone Auctions’ May Sale. We didn’t get to feature anything from this half of their sale, but the top seller was $362,726 paid for this 1966 Iso Grifo GL 350. Everything else can be found here.

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

Now let’s backtrack to the beginning of the month and head to Auburn, Indiana, for RM Sotheby’s Spring Sale. The Terraplane Utility Coupe we featured failed to meet its reserve. As is customary at mid-western classic car auctions, a 2006 Ford GT was the top seller, bringing $297,000. Complete results can be found here.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Next up, Brightwells and their dual Classic & Vintage/Modern Classic sale. The top sale was this 1969 Jaguar E-Type Series II Coupe for $88,666.

Photo – Brightwells

The Fleur de Lys Minibus we featured failed to sell but you can check out everything else that did, here.

Let’s go to Mecum’s huge Indy sale. The top sale was another Ford GT, this time a near-brand new 2017 model. It sold for $1,815,000.

Photo – Mecum

Now let’s go through the feature cars. First, the Diamond T Woody sold for $30,800. Another truck, a previously-featured ’41 Ford Pickup, sold here for $37,400. We had a couple of other previous features cross the block too, including: Brumos Porsche 911 GT3 (not sold), 1906 Packard ($286,000… finally!), Stutz Speedway Four ($71,500), Kurtis KK4000 Indy Car ($291,500).

The Continental Mk II (another previous feature) and Pontiac El Catalina Prototype both failed to sell. Find more results here.

Finally, we have Historics at Brooklands. We featured three cars from this sale and two failed to sell including the Bedford Pickup and the ultra-rare Lister Storm. The Rolls-Royce Camargue brought $99,318. The top sale was this $118,881 1990 Lister Jaguar XJS V12 Coupe. Click here for complete results.

Photo – Historics at Brooklands

January 2018 Auction Highlights

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We’ll start off January’s first results rundown with Bonhams’ final sale from December, their London Olympia sale. The top sale was this 1964 Aston Martin DB5 for $619,297.

Photo – Bonhams

Both of our feature cars from this sale sold, with the Bristol 411 bringing $58,459 and the TVR 2500 $33,845. Click here for more results.

Mecum held the first sale of 2018 (in Kissimmee, Florida). A number of our feature cars sold, beginning with two previously-featured wagons: a 1948 Buick that brought $29,700 and a 1969 Dodge Coronet 500 that sold for $19,800. The Plymouth Pickup sold for $36,300, the Dodge $55,000, and the ’72 International Pickup $26,400.

The top sale was this 2015 Ferrari LaFerrari for $3,410,000.

Photo – Mecum

Cars that didn’t sell included some pickups, like the Mercury, Ford, and Chevrolet. The Buehrig Carriage Roof Coupe we featured a while ago also failed to sell here. The Brumos Porsche 911 GT3 didn’t find a new owner in Kissimmee, after nearly a year of trying. The ZR1 Corvette and the Ruf BTR were also no-sales. More can be found here.

Next up, Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale. We featured a few of their “Reserve” cars – all of which failed to sell: the Talbot-Lago, Rolls-Royce Phantom III, a previously-featured Plymouth Concept Car, and a previously-featured Shelby Cobra Dragonsnake.

Meanwhile, the top sale was a charity car: a 2017 Ford GT. It brought $2,500,000. Click here for more results.

Photo – Barrett-Jackson

On to RM Sotheby’s in Arizona. Every car we featured from this sale sold, including both Alfa Romeos, with the Boano Speciale bringing $1,270,000 and the oldest surviving Alfa Romeo in the world, $445,000. Both Fords also sold, with the Model K selling for $252,000 and the Brewster-Ford $89,600. The top seller was this 1966 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C for $2,947,500.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Rolls-Royce Phantom III from this sale did sell, bringing $593,500. And the beautiful Ferrari 212 Inter brought $1,187,500. Click here for complete results.

And finally, for this rundown, Gooding & Company in Scottsdale. The top sale was the Ferrari 275 GTB Speciale we featured. It sold for $8,085,000. The Bristol 402 we featured failed to sell, as did the Bugatti Type 29/30.

We’ll award Most Interesting to this 1963 Iso Grifo A3/L Prototype that brought $1,760,000.

Photo – Gooding & Company

The Kaiser Dragon we featured sold for $37,400 and the D.B. HBR5 $47,300. Click here for more results and to see the cars that are still for sale.

Iso Rivolta

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1967 Iso Rivolta IR 300 Coupe

Offered by Bonhams | Paris, France | February 4, 2016

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

The Iso Rivolta is, obviously, a very good-looking coupe built by Iso between 1962 and 1970. The IR Coupe was offered in two forms, the 300 and the 340. It was the first car the company introduced after their famous Isetta, marking the move from microcars to powerful tourers, sports cars, and sedans.

The engine is a 5.4-liter V-8 from Chevrolet making 300 horsepower. Top speed is 135 mph. The styling was done at Bertone by Giorgetto Giugiaro and the chassis was was designed by Bizzarrini. It’s an Italian-American sedan. And a mean-looking one at that.

This car was restored two years ago and has spent its whole life in Italy. This was Iso’s best-selling model, with 797 built. This one should bring between $93,000-$140,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $103,095.

Iso Lele

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1972 Iso Lele

Offered by Coys | Frankfurt, Germany | September 26, 2015

Photo - Coys

Photo – Coys

Renzo Rivolta re-founded the Iso refrigeration company in 1953 as an automotive company. Motorcycles came first, followed by the iconic Isetta – which would go on to be licensed all over the world. But in the 1960s and 70s, Iso produced a number of high performance cars.

The Lele was the final new car introduced by Iso and would be the last to leave production (alongside a version of the Grifo). Two models of the Lele were offered – one powered by a Chevrolet engine and one powered by a Ford engine. This car uses the 5.7-liter Ford V-8 making 326 horsepower.

It’s a 2+2, meaning it will seat four – making it more of a grand tourer than a muscle or sports car. This car is all original and had one owner from new until 2014. Only 285 were produced between 1969 an 1974. 135 of the base Ford V-8 models were produced, the most of any Lele sub-model. This one should bring between $100,000-$125,000. Click here for  more info and here fore the rest of Coys’ lineup.

Update: Not sold.