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Any car enthusiast will remember the BMW Isetta from the ’50 and ’60. This low priced three or four wheel car only had one big door in the front. In total more than 160.000 Isetta’s were made under license of Iso. It is less known that Iso has built two great sports cars in the ’60 and ’70 designed by Bertone with fabulous driving capabilities constructed by the former Ferrari engineer Bizzarini. We are talking about the Iso Rivolta and the Iso Grifo. The Iso Rivolta derived it’s road-holding mainly to the De Dion rear axle construction, a system Lancia was famous for in the ’50 and used in it’s Aurelia and Flaminia. The Iso Grifo took over the good road-holding on a shorter wheelbase and added more power to it. In those days it had to compete with Ferrari and Maserati. As for road-holding the Iso was the better car, but the engine had to be something special. Therefore Iso built in the most powerful V8 engines of Chevrolet and later on Ford. Giorgio Giugiaro of Bertone has designed the beautiful body, which looks elegant and brutal at the same time. The first Grifo’s had a Corvette engine of 5.3 or 7.0 litre but the later IR8 model got the Ford Cleveland 5,7 litre engine with a maximum power of 325 HP and a top speed of 257 km/h. In total only 504 Grifo’s were produced, of which ninety 7-Litri models and only thirty-four IR 8 models. This is probably why so few people really have seen an Iso Grifo on the road. Driving impression (by Robert Fluttert) To judge the ISO correctly, you have compare the capabilities and driving with it’s contemporaries like Ferrari Daytona, Maserati Ghibli, or Lamborghini 400GT. Driving an Iso Grifo is sensational and outclasses a contemporary Ferrari on road holding. Through the rear axle construction developed by Bizzarini, it’s comparable with i.e. a Lancia Flaminia where the great Italian engineer Jano used this system also. Torque and a high top speed are guaranteed with a big block V8 engine of 5 or more litres. In this respect the Grifo engine is not inferior to a Ferrari or Maserati engine. It is only a matter of taste. An Italian high revving engine asks to be used differently than an American Big Block which reaches it’s maximum torque already at 3800 rpm. There are classic car lovers who appreciate the relative rest of a low revving engine, but the incredible acceleration potential of the Iso Grifo will offer everybody a lot of driving pleasure in this unknown but masterly build Iso Grifo. Ford
Cleveland 351 cui V8 "big block" engine |
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