by Mike –
This Iso Grifo is for sale at the RM auction in Arizona on January 15-16, 2015.
RM says,
400 bhp, 7.0-liter Chevrolet V-8 engine, automatic transmission, independent front suspension, de Dion rear axle with longitudinal and transverse links and coil springs, and four-wheel Porsche disc brakes. Wheelbase: 98.4 in.
* Restored by marque experts Roberto and Federico Negri
* Tastefully upgraded to 7.0-liter specification
* One of only six built with a Pavesi sunroof
* Equipped with factory air conditioning
* Chassis no. GL 810191
This is an interesting Grifo and I am happy to see that RM is not claiming this to be a real 7-Litre model like they have in the past with another Grifo.
The good features:
* Restored by marque experts Roberto and Federico Negri – this means it will be in suburb condition
* One of only six built with a Pavesi sunroof – this is a rare and desirable option
* Equipped with factory air conditioning – a very nice option to have
The other features:
* It was born with a 327 cid Corvette engine and not the 427 cid it is powered by now
* It is dressed up to look like a 7-Litre but it is not really a 7-Litre model
* The new owner will have to like bright yellow and bright blue together
* It has Lamborghini wheels instead of the correct Borrani wire wheels that I believe it came with originally
Overall, at the right price, this could be a fun car to drive. I would prefer a manual transmission instead of the automatic. Read more about this Iso Grifo for sale at the RM link.
Photos compliments of RM Auctions.
If you are looking to acquire an Iso Grifo I have one for sale now.
If you have any Iso Grifo for sale let me know – send an email to: michael.gulett@gmail.com
Sell your classic car on My Car Quest – click here.
Sigh….. another Grifo hot rod not sporting it’s original equipment . RM seems to be good at finding and selling these.
This is like the forth or fifth one in the last few years. The buyers probably don’t know what a correct Grifo looks like anymore, or they may think that the Iso club is like the Pantera club modifying all of our cars.
I hope the buyer is smart enough to covert it back to what it was.
Wrong seats in it too, those are series two seats.
Lele seats, electric power steering, crate engine, modern automatic transmission, modified fenders for the Lambo wheels, modified front air intake, 7 Litri look, Porsche brakes…
This car looks like an ISO Grifo but it is not.
With another 100k it could be converted back to original spec.
Adam you are wrong, this car have all the good items to drive it fast and safe whit all the upgrades, you like it or you like it not.
All the upgraded parts are bold on and the body have NO modified fenders for the Lambo wheels.
This Grifo was build up and restored whit no financial limit .
Why do you ‘say it’s not a Iso Grifo?
Do you really know how a Iso Grifo is looking or driving?
This Grifo has even a Chevy engine , Chevy gear box,Iso seats, Iso 7l hood scoop ,Iso Grifo series 2 front air intake,body restored by former Iso Rivolta people.
The Brembo brake’s ar great , also the electric power steering from Mercedes.
The look of the Lambo wheels are much better than the Original 6″campagnola’s
It’s a eyecatcher and easy to drive into the today’s trafic.
Who write the law that it’s not alowed to restore a car to your own taste?
I believe there is somebody on the market who respect this Grifo and buy’s it.
bdw I also like the Pantera’s , Original or modified .
Regards
Simon
Simon,
We all know how Grifo looks and drives. I also have as you have some.
I know the #191 very well. Take a look on the front wheel arches and you should also see the different line because of the (ugly) Lambo wheels. Series 2 air intake, Mercedes power steering – Mickey Mouse car.
The engine is not a period correct one but a new one as the automatic gearbox also.
I know that the former owner wanted it to restore it like this with a lot of non-original parts.
I always go for originality when I restore a car.
You can do it as you want.
This is my opinion about this car, you can also have yours.
Regards,
Adam
The auction notes state that the new owner will have to like bright yellow with bright blue interior. The auction hous is being modest here. The new owner will also have to like looking at out of pace sound system, big/little tire set up mostly associated with 60’s and 70’s hopped up cars in US. The new owner is probably a “traffic prowler” as that’s about the only thing that automatic transmission is good for. Other than that it looks like anice Grifo…
The owner that had this work done had a large Iso collection and knew the marque well, I find it interesting that he choose to put a automatic in as you note. I prefer keeping our cars original or as close to original as possible, this ads value to the marque in the long run. If you look at Pantera prices it’s one of the few exotic cars that have failed to stay up with the rest of the market . Most Mangusta’s are restored to original condition and the results speak for themselves.
Hi Mike, Original the car was delivered whit a automatic , I believe a 2 speed.
The car was restored and build up some time ago before price’s going up .
The former owner has never the intention to sell the car ,he always restore his cars to his own taste.
About the Pantera’s price, take a look on the Pantera GT5-S (187 build)and Pantera Si (33 build) prices .
Simon
Yes Simon it was delivered with a a auto. But most of the time when a owner takes the time to change out a transmission they put a manual 5 speed in. This has me questioning the no expense spared comments as it would be very expensive to fit a ZF 5 speed to the big block and find the proper pedal set up.
As far as GT5-S Panteras go yes they are rare and pull a heavier price.
I wonder how the interior smells the owner was a very heavy smoker.
Mike,
Better is to put a tremec 5 speed gearbox in it, to find a proper pedal set up is also no problem all the Iso cars have the same pedal set up ,only the Lele Sport has the adjustable Fiat 130 unit.
The ZF was acually a small truck gearbox, heavy shifting and mostly they make noise..
As I told before Theo Schotte , the former owner ,has his own taste about technical and cosmetics issues.
Who told you that Theo was a very heavy smoker?
For what I know Theo doesn’t smoke in his classic cars.
Simon
Simon the Clutch setup is different than the Auto pedal setup. Your correct same steering column. Tremec is a modern unit but I never thought the ZF was noisy.
Mike , about the automatic clutch set up , the early cars have by an automatic 2 pedals welded togheter ,you can see this on the pic’s , even they use 2 pedal rubbers from a 4/5 speed .
later cars have a one pedal whir a squere pedal rubber
I have owned a few ZF 5 speed , but only one of them was not noisy.
Into my 7l I replace the ZF 5 speed for a Tremec , even after the rebuild the ZF was some noisy.
The gears on the Tremec are almost the same as the ZF, and is so easy to shift.
regards
Simon
Dear all , as a car collector buying my first lele when I was 18 and my first Grifo when I was 19 , both which I still have 35 years later , I am now always wondering the discussions going on about originality .
Back then ISO was only in A couple years before and prices were maybe because of that cheap.
Also many people saw it as a hybrid because of the U.S. engine , so not a real sports car like Lamborghini or Maserati .
For me back then and still now it was an easy inexpensive car to drive and maintain..
But driving it then they had several problems , like overheating and with the 2 spd and 3 spd automatic high revs!!
So back then when I took my lele from Antwerp to Brussels on the highway at full speed at the moment I came of the highway in to an traffic jam in the city I knew that I had to park the car as quick as possible to let it cool down for min 20 min otherwise I would be in the traffic jam with an overheated engine with water pouring out.
Same with the very heavy steering for a non power steering one , and does anyone of you did try an 2 spd automatic on an Grifo on the highway with 200 km ?
So during the years there came better electric fans ,gearboxes power steering etc. which makes it the cars where they were made for , trouble free driving …
Theo Schotte did together with the Negri family a fantastic job with no money spared for what his intention was back then , make the yellow Grifo a fantastic driver and not a garage Queen .
Happy holidays to you all , let’s keep on classic driving .
Alexander
Hi Mike ,
I forget a sentence , back then ISO went into receivership a couple years before ….
This is also my new e mail adres , other company mail is sold :-))
Alexander@grifobeheer.com
Enjoy the weekend ,
Greetings
Alexander Oet
Alexander I understand we want out cars to drive well, but as everyone in the club knows there are ways to do it and keep the originality of the car . If the intention was a good cool running Grifo why put a big block in and kept the small radiator? This doesn’t make any sense to me. Why not keep the original engine and ad a larger radiator? I think I have beaten this dead horse.
Mike, it was a choice from Theo ,he like big US V8 engine’s .
And how about orginality ,who care if you do this whit your own money.
I also told Theo to keep it original , it cost less money to restore.
But Theo was always doing it his way.
Even Mr. G. Eckstein put Lambo wheels on his 7 litri back into the day’s
There is a friendly German gentleman Mr Niederstadt he has a lot of pictures from Iso Grifo’s whit Lambo wings,spoilers , Lancia front and everithing you can put on a car .
But when you dont like it ,dont buy it.
Or buy it and replace the engine and gearbox for a date correct.
And when you buy it you get a hell of a car ,easy and safe to drive .
Simon
I have driven many original cars that don’t overheat and drive great, I am not sure what you guys are talking about, maybe it’s just a maintenance issue. I know one owner here in the states that has his Grifo original down to the last gasket and it is one of the best running driving cars in the USA, or world for that matter. So this whole argument about modifying the cars to make them easy and safe to drive just doesn’t hold water IMO.
What I have found is that most members don’t drive their cars enough, they own cars that look nice but have neglected replacing shocks, shims suspension bushings or using proper gearbox oil, fuel filters …… many of the radiators haven’t been rebuilt in forty years! Then they complain about these same issues. IMO Iso built a a good product that doesn’t need modifications.
Have you ever drive fast whit a Grifo ?
Brake’s are failed by racing thats why I also put Brembo brake’s on a few cars of me.
2 speed gearbox is for a kidscar not a sports car.
I also have never an over heating problem ,but I also know that a good radiator make’s a sence.
Some radiator builders make’s a mistake about the water routing into the radiatorhouse.
Iso build a Italian product ,thats say’s enough about the quality.
Beatiful design , good (US) engine ,GB suspension.
Simon
Please note that the Mike commenting above is not me. You can see his avatar is a red Grifo where my avatar is a photo of me.
Hello Mike Gulett,
Haha I was thinking it was you.
Simon
Hi Mike &Mike and Simon ,
You can’t compare the states with 55/65 miles an hour in the way we drive cars , at 120/140 miles per hour and that for many hours .
Build quality /material from any sports car ISO/Jensen /Lamborghini ! / Maserati was poor compared to now , so if you can make it better or faster and keep the origanal parts with the car it is fine for me .
Remember the first 7 litri was “invented” in the states by somebody swapping his almost new 327 Grifo for a big block 427 , then the factory took this idea over and it became “the fastest car in the world” they said back then.
“Origanal” is for me an unrestored first paint everything etc car ( they should be worth much much more)
Restored usually is to the taste of That owner at That time, color , options …
Just let us have respect for everybody’s taste !
Anybody of you already changed a 327 lele for an 427 , I would love to try that !!
Did you guys now that the factory made even an lele with a 440 Chrysler engine in it , anybody knows where that car is ?
Alexander
Alexander.
Peoples taste change over the years but the factory specs don’t thats why I try to follow those specs as often as possible. I am just not a big fan of modifying this marque. There are plenty of Mustangs and Camaros over here to do that with.
Hi
Iso Grifos do not overheat if properly tuned. I drove my Grifo from Ellensburg to Othello which is over 100 miles in 95 degree heat in less than one hour. Windows down, no AC and it felt great.
Thats right!
RM has now set the estimate at $375,000 – $425,000.
Sold for sold for $350,000.
Correct. Another 100k and it could be original spec again.
Bring back to original condition cost less than $100k !!!!!!
The non original parts ,Brembo brake’s , engine, drive train ,and Lambo rims brings also a lot of money.