1967 Iso Grifo Coupe

This Grifo may not seem expensive for long. Euro-Americans are the ultimate street rod, and already great performance can easily be improved

by John Apen

Renzo Rivolta started building Isothermos refrigerators before World War II. Following the war, Rivolta recognized another Italian need, transportation, and named his new car company Iso Rivolta. Starting with scooters, he expanded to Isetta bubble cars, later licensed to BMW. With the proceeds of the BMW deal and continuing refrigerator sales, Rivolta, like many Italian industrialists, resolved to build a GT car. The Iso Rivolta, a Bertone-styled four-seat coupe, appeared in 1962 at the Turin motor show, and was built at a new plant near Milan. A sportier two-seat Grifo was sold from 1965 to 1974.

Rivolta relied upon American engines to give his cars exceptional performance and great reliability. The Grifo had the Corvette small-block V8 engine and gearbox and a competent chassis designed by one of Italy’s greatest automotive engineers, Ferrari GTO designer Bizzarrini. It was all packaged under a svelte Bertone body by Giorgio Giugiaro. According to...