HOT WHEELS

 

In the early 1970s, Piero Rivolta decided that because his company was racing in Formula one, they needed to add a mid-engined supercar to their lineup of sports and GT cars.

Rivolta hired Ercole Spada, a veteran designer from Carrozzeria Ghia, to be the chief stylist. The car was named Varedo to honor the town in which their new factory was located. Piero decided that he wanted a pure performance car, so the body was made of fiberglass.

It was equipped with a Ford 351-ci engine and ZF 5-speed transmission, and was quite a hit when it debuted at the 1972 Torino Auto Show. After the car was mechanically sorted out, it was found to be a great handling vehicle during testing at the Monza race track. Unfortunately, not too long after this, the Rivolta family sold its interest in their company, and the project died without the Varedo ever being introduced as a production model.

Only one Iso Rivolta Varedo was ever created and it was first shown to the public at the 1972 Turin Motor Show. The car was built by Piero Rivolta who was seeking to move into the mid-engined sportscar market that had grown in popularity during the late sixties and was continuing to grow during the seventies.

 

Racing had made the mid-engine placement popular, proving that its placement meant better handling and performance. The resulting designs of the mid-ship layout were often very exotic and eye-catching; they were everything a supercar should be, encompassing form and function.

The powerplant for the Rivolta Varedo was a 5.7-liter Ford 351 Cleveland engine that produced 325 horsepower. This was mated to a ZF five-speed manual gearbox and powered the rear wheels. It was clothed in a fiberglass body with a design created by Ercole Spada.

 

It was attractive, exotic, powerful, and weighed around 1000 kg. It was given the name Iso Rivolta Varedo, with the 'Varedo' representing its place of birth.

Only one was ever created, as the company was sold to Dr. Ivo Pera in 1973 who chose not to pursue production of this supercar.

 

 

Presented in June 1991 near Modena, the Grifo 90 was an attempt to revive the Iso marque by Piero Rivolta and Piero Sala.

In 1990, Renzo Rivolta’s son, Piero, asked Callaway to be the engine supplier to his new Iso Rivolta Grifo 90, a revival of the Iso Rivoltas from the 60's and 70's.

 

The Iso Rivolta cars had DNA that included Italian coachwork and V8 engines from Corvette – an inspiring formula for many. Now the challenge was to create a powerful, modern, 1990's design and restart the car company.

 

Three elements were brought together: Marcello Gandini (designer of the Lamborghini Miura, among others), Gian-Paolo Dallara (Dallara formula cars) and Callaway to be the contributors to the Grifo 90 Project.

 

The design was penned, the full-size clay commissioned, and the car was presented to the Press in Italy in the Spring of 1990.

 

The economics of the time prevailed and the promises of government financing never materialized, and the project halted.

Powered by a front mounted turbocharged 5.7-litre Chevrolet V8 (tuned by Callaway) with 440bhp driving the rear wheels through a six-speed gearbox only one (non-functioning) example was ever built.

 

The aluminium body was fitted to a tubular steel chassis frame. Double wishbones and disc brakes were fitted all round.

Both Gandini and Dallara were involved in the design of the car, which was predicted to exceed 300km/h and need a mere 4.5 seconds to reach 100km/h.

 

 

Some cars are derisively said to look like refrigerators, but the shapely Italian automobiles built by Renzo Rivolta's company, Iso, are actually descended from refrigerators-or, more accurately, the refrigerator business. Iso (originally Isothermos) made refrigerators in Italy starting in 1939.

In the postwar years, the company began building motorbikes, scooters, and then minicars, most notably the Isetta bubble car, which was also licensed to other manufacturers, including BMW.

The leap from the tiny Isetta to Iso's first luxurious grand-touring car was a huge one, but Rivolta tapped some of the best talent in the business in the early 1960s. Among them were test driver/development engineer Giotto Bizzarrini, renowned today for his work on the Ferrari 250TR and GTO.

 

Bizzarrini worked under chief engineer Pierluigi Raggi, whose team created a stiff unibody with a control-arm front suspension, a de Dion rear axle, coil-over Koni dampers, front and rear antiroll bars, and four disc brakes. Campagnolo magnesium wheels or Borrani wire wheels were used. For power, Rivolta looked to America and the 327-cubic-inch V-8 from the then-current Corvette.

Giorgetto Giugiaro, then at Bertone, designed the body for that first grand tourer, the 1963 Rivolta GT, but he was just warming up. The follow-up car-built on a modified version of the Rivolta GT platform with a shorter wheelbase-was the achingly beautiful Iso Grifo, which went into production in 1965.

Iso would go on to produce two more models, the Lele coupe and the Fidia sedan, before fading from the automotive scene in the 1970s. And while others would follow the formula of American V-8 power and exotic European bodywork, none lived up to the promise quite as well as the Iso Grifo.

The car's rarity (some 400 were built over ten years) makes seeing one today all the more striking. Low, wide, and shapely, the Grifo has classic GT proportions, with its passenger compartment set well rearward; the engine is nestled far back in the chassis, allowing for a 48/52 percent front-to-rear weight distribution.

A delicate, push-button latch opens the door, which clicks closed with the lightest touch. The cabin is airy, with a wraparound windshield and a huge backlight. Padded leather is everywhere, and the seatbacks cradle you.

 

Eight round gauges are arranged in the wood-faced dash, and the thin steering-wheel rim is wood as well. The dash is also graced with a row of toggle switches, below which are sliders for heat and ventilation.