PastMaster: Iso Grifo, 1963 - 1974: It's quite a jump from scooters and bubble cars to supercars, but that's just what Italian industrialist Renzo Rivolta achieved in 1962 when his Iso car company launched the Rivolta 4-seat GT, powered by a Chevrolet Corvette 5.4-litre V8.
This car was to be the basis of the Grifo, a two-seat supercar with the same powertrain heritage, built on a shortened version of the Rivolta's tubular steel chassis.
It was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro in his days working for Bertone, and engineered by Giotto Bizzarini, formerly of Ferrari and the guiding genius behind that brand's famous 250 GT. So the pedigrees were perfect. So too, in many eyes, was the Grifo. Introduced at the Turin Motor Show in 1963 in both roadgoing and racing prototype forms, they were quickly tracked out to full development. The designations A3/L and A3/C referred to the road and track variants (L for Lusso and C for Corsa) respectively. The interiors were finished to a very high luxury standard, so well that through the life of the car it was changed little.
Though a few "special" variants were built, including a one-off Spider, and a number of Targa roof versions with the help of specialist Pavesi, the vast majority were the sleek and sumptuous coupé-style that was soon accepted as the most beautiful GT car of the era. After launch, Bizzarini concentrated his efforts on the Corsa version, building the A3/C at Modena just down the road from his previous place of employment. His prototype was raced in the 1964 Le Mans, gaining a class win and fourth place overall. It also raced at Sebring and acquitted itself respectably. With that kind of exposure, the A3/C was soon in demand and before Bizzarini left Iso the following year, following a disagreement with the owner, some 22 were produced.
The form was changed significantly in 1970, with changes to the front that included pop-up headlamps and a "sharper" nose. This provided the Grifo Series II with a look that was both sleeker and more aggressive. In 1972 Iso switched to Ford V8s, the "Cleveland" series, so-called "Boss 351". These were smaller but taller than the Corvette power units, and required a deeper hood scoop to accommodate them. In 1974, the dual circumstances of the fuel crisis and an ill-judged move into Formula 1 with Frank Williams ran the company into financial problems and it was forced to close its doors.
In 1991, Piero Rivolta fronted an attempt to revive the Iso Grifo 90, a beautiful concept to be powered by a 5.7-litre Chevrolet V8 which would have had a 4.2-second sprint to 100 km/h performance. It never went into production.