by Mike –
The article yesterday, How Trustworthy Are Classic Car Auction Companies?, attracted a lot of attention and some intelligent comments.
Today I am linking to two previously published articles about cars at auction with some questions about their history.
Is This A Real Bizzarrini? – Published on February 27, 2011
by Mike –
On January 15, 2011 in London at the Coys Autosport auction a 1968 Bizzarrini GT 5300 was sold. But was it a real Bizzarrini GT 5300? This car was reported by Coys as sold for £250,000 (approximately $405,000 US).
There have been some questions raised among Bizzarrini followers about the history of this car. Coys claimed in their catalog description of this car, Lot 224, that it was “Manufactured on the 8th of June 1968, this Bizzarrini is described as being in good condition throughout.”
It Is A Bizzarrini GT 5300 Strada For Sale At RM – Published On September 17, 2011
by Mike –
On August 13, 2011 I wrote this article stating that RM had a car up for auction in London on 26 October 2011 that they called an Iso Grifo A3/C, chassis No. B0232.
This is the same car that was sold in 2009 at Gooding in Monterey as a Bizzarrini GT 5300 Strada, shown above. I inspected this car and I believed it to be a Bizzarrini as stated by Gooding.
I contacted RM in London and questioned why they were changing the marque identification of this car. Their reply was very professional and they said “we will certainly do some more reaserch before the catalogue goes to print”.
Let us know what you think in the Comments
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As a metal fabricator, the red Coy’s car fascinates me. It is clearly a rebody, but why the changes? And how would enthusiasts not know about it? A complete body fabrication is a huge undertaking, what with the construction of many bucks and forms on top of the metal work, so why make it even harder by changing things? Just changing the headlight area would require original bucks and forms, not just copies taken from an original. Also, the person doing the work now has to create new lexan lenses and chrome trim. The same goes for the curved front bumper. The original would be easier to make from scratch. I can’t beieve someone would make this effort just to dupe a potential buyer. So maybe the original body (and S/N)was destroyed in a fire and the well funded owner asked for the new body be updated (which I like very much). How could other Iso owners not know of it? There can’t be that many shops doing this level of work. Fascinating!
Thomas,
Read the comments on the original Post here: https://mycarquest.com/2011/02/is-this-a-real-bizzarrini.html#comment-10784
This red car is fiberglass. There are many shops making bodies like this in fiberglass and aluminum in Italy.
To address your statement “I can’t believe someone would make this effort just to dupe a potential buyer.” – They do it for the profit and when the value of the real car reaches the right level then this activity becomes profitable. The Bizzarrini GT 5300 reached this value level a few years ago.
There are Bizzarrini GT 5300 body molds for sale on the US ebay site today.