A Bizzarrini Lamborghini? – Makes You Think

by Mike –

In a recent article, How To Promote A Fake Car As Genuine, I listed many ways that someone who desires to sell a fake car and promote it as genuine could promote and help create a false history and sense of security for the unsuspecting buyer.

The first item on my list was,

Publicize the fake history in publications like classic car web sites and car magazines that in the future will provide some “credibility” for the fake car.

A recent two part article on the Veloce Today web site may be a demonstration of this technique, or it just may be an author who made a huge mistake.

In Experiencing Giotto Part 1 the author sets him self up as a Bizzarrini expert. Otherwise, not much is said in Part 1.

But then in Experiencing Giotto, Part 2: Lamborghini and Europa the interesting stuff is presented.

I sent an email to the Veloce Today editor and told him what I thought about this article. His reply was that I was welcome to send in a comment. So, I did that and my edited comment is reproduced below here (it was published on the Part 2 of the Veloce Today article).

My edited comment on the Bizzarrini article on Veloce Today

While I am happy to see Veloce Today publish articles about Bizzarrini I am disappointed with the inaccuracy. Part 2 of the article published on March 11, 2014 is filled with wrong information and the photos of the GT 5300 (or GT America) are photos of a replica car not a genuine Bizzarrini.

The GT America (or the GT Strada) has no relationship to any Lamborghini. The GT 5300 (or GT America) shown here with the Lamborghini engine is not a real Bizzarrini car and certainly not “a prototype for the America, based on a Lamborghini 350GT” as stated in the article. This car looks like a Diomante bodied replica in which someone installed a Lamborghini V12 engine.

The author then says, “I believe this is the only genuine Bizzarrini GT with a Lamborghini V12 motor”. The statements about this car are completely wrong and sound like a pitch to sell the car.

I quote from the Winston Goodfellow book, “Bizzarrini, A technician devoted to motor-racing”, considered the definitive history of Bizzarrini.

On Page 142 the difference between the GT 5300 Strada and GT America are clearly stated,

The main difference between the GT America and Grifo/GT Strada was the GT America had a fiberglass body and IRS while the Grifo/GT Strada had an aluminum body and de Dion rear end.

This makes complete sense because Giotto Bizzarrini was an engineer and he designed his own chassis and the thought that he would use a Lamborghini chassis for the GT America is absurd. By the time he was creating the GT America he already had the chassis for the GT Strada (which is a design he owned) so it was natural and easy to use this chassis design for the GT America with the modifications described by Goodfellow.

This “Bizzarrini Lamborghini” shown in the article may be a car that was for sale on the US eBay site at one time (it looks like it could be the same car with a new body). An American enthusiast installed a poorly made Bizzarrini body on a Lamborghini 350GT, or 400GT, chassis.

A photo of this car above a photo of the car in the article is below – while the bodies are completely different note the style and location of the gas cap (indicated by the blue arrows) – unlike the gas cap lid found on the top of a genuine Bizzarrini GT Strada (or America) fender which would be a lid painted body color located much more forward and flush with the body. This gas cap is also not like a gas cap found on a Lamborghini GT350 or GT400.

Compare the style of the gas cap on both cars and the location of the gas cap and it is easy to think this is the same gas cap attached to the same chassis but the car in the article has a more attractive Diomante body installed. I think there is a good possibility that these two cars are the same 350GT chassis. I could be wrong but the author does say this car is built on a Lamborghini 350GT chassis.

The history of this car then becomes quite different than “the only genuine Bizzarrini GT with a Lamborghini V12 motor”.

I don’t like to see this completely wrong information spread around because someone may believe it and maybe some day some ill-informed person will buy this “genuine Bizzarrini GT with a Lamborghini V12 motor” and think it is real and pay more money than it is really worth.

Another inaccurate statement (but less important mistake) concerns the Bizzarrini design of the Lamborghini V12 engine.

The Lamborghini engine design was definitely not from work Bizzarrini did at Ferrari as the author states. This is described in the Goodfellow book on page 40,

The 1.5-liter V12 that Bizzarrini penned in 1962 was completely created during his time with ATS and did not have its origins during his work with Ferrari, as is often erroneously stated. In 1963 he would enlarge the design to 3.5 liters so it could be used in Ferruccio Lamborghini’s 350 GTV prototype and the company’s subsequent production models.

Imagine what type of legal action Enzo Ferrari could take if he thought one of his engineers took an engine design from Ferrari and sold it to Ferruccio Lamborghini for his Lamborghini cars?

Many readers will know this Veloce Today article is filled with incorrect information but some may not.

Those are Fiat tail lights – not Bizzarrini tail lights

Like the situation with the Coys Iso Grifo Fiasco all collector car buyers need to pay close attention and do their homework.

Let us know what you think in the Comments.

Sell your classic car on My Car Quest – click here.

Summary

Article Name

A Bizzarrini Lamborghini? - Makes You Think

Description

A fake Bizzarrini GT 5300 with a Lamborghini V12 engine is presented as a real Bizzarrini.

Author

Mike Gulett