by Mike –
The Bizzarrini GT America is the version of the Bizzarrini GT 5300 made for sale in the USA. Road & Track test drove the first one shipped to the US and wrote about it in the December 1966 issue.
One of Two Bizzarrini GT Americas at Amelia Island Recently
The difference between the GT America and the GT 5300 Strada is that the GT America has a fiberglass body instead of alloy and the rear suspension is unequal-length A-arms, coil springs and tube shocks instead of the De Dion set up used on the GT 5300.
Road & Track said,
their test car was something of a prototype. It was the first Bizzarrini in the US and belonged to John Fitch, presently the sole distributor for the make in the country.
The first visual impression of the Bizzarrini is almost startling. It’s long, ultra-low and looks as if it’s doing at least 100, sitting still. We found when driving it that it is a potential traffic hazard as other drivers forget themselves to get a better look. Getting into this slinky coupe is an exercise in agility.
The Bizzarrini’s handling boarders on the fantastic for a road car. It comes closer to anything we’ve driven to the contemporary racing machine, in fact. …after hustling this car around the Lime Rock course for half an hour, we had the feeling that the only limitations we found were our own.
This car is one of the most exciting-looking cars in our experience. In all, we rate the Bizzarrini as one of the cars we’d most like to be seen in…
It is rare to see one Bizzarrini GT at any event and yet there were two at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance recently.
They both were 1968 Bizzarrini GT Americas – one blue and one red.
Series One Door Handles
The red one started construction in 1968 but sat unfinished after Bizzarrini shut down and was not completed until 1977.
It is set up as a Corsa with a Plexiglas rear window, air vents on the front fenders and on the back and the gas filler cap coming out of the rear window.
Finally Road & Track said,
With additional soundproofing and the milder engine, this will be one of the world’s great GT cars … with the full competition option it’s a hairy, gutsy car that handles as well as anything but the all-out mid-engine jobs.
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