Popping the Hood on Today's Mystery Car

Hoodwinked!
Hoodwinked!

Well, that was pretty tough, and this picture didn’t give you much to go on, but that didn’t stop Engineerd, with a little help from franchitti to guess it is . . .

. . . an Iso Grifo!
IMG_6846Penned by Giorgetto Giugiaro while at Bertone, and engineered by Giotto Bizzarrini for refrigerator maker Renzo Rivolta, the Grifo took its place beside the likes of the Lamborghini 400GT and Ferrari 330 GTC as a hyper-kinetic luxury tourer. From its launch in 1963 to its ultimate demise 11 years later, the Grifo was the recipient of a number of Chevy (and a small number of Ford) V8s. This car has the Corvette 427, topped by a quartet of Weber down draughts, and backed up by a BW top-loader four speed.
A falling out between Rivolta and Bizzarrini meant that the Grifo split into two cars midway through its life- the Rivolta-branded Grifo, and a car sold under the Bizzarrini name. With fewer than 400 built, these cars are trading today in the quarter of a million dollar range. The Iso name may not be as well known as Ferrari or Lamborghini, but there’s no denying the visceral punch of seeing one of these in the metal. Being able to do so on a daily basis makes that price seem well worth it.
Solid work, guys!

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  1. FuzzyPlushroom Avatar

    Ah, Iso Grifo, me love you long time!
    Not many cars can pull off yellow, but this one does so flawlessly.

  2. PowerTryp Avatar

    Now I know.
    And knowing is half the battle!

  3. engineerd Avatar

    To be fair, franchitti got the make which triggered my one brain cell not focused on specifying a make-up air unit today.
    These cars are really cool, and as Graverobber pointed out, somewhat overlooked. However, would you rather rebuild a high-strung Ferrari engine every 20,000 miles or change the oil in an old Chevy V8 every 3,000 miles?

    1. franchitti27 Avatar

      A fine bit of teamwork!

  4. citroen67 Avatar

    Wow! I guess the scoop was in the middle of the hood…it was just a HUGE scoop in the middle of a small hood. Good job on the photo trickery Sir Grave-of-the-Robber!