by Wallace Wyss –
Oh, I knew it was out there back in the ’70s. But South Africa was a bit off my usual path. It was first shown at the 1968 Salone di Torino as a Bizzarrini Prototype show car. I found a description on the net but some details require someone who knows these cars well to elucidate what they mean such as “Prototype frame with partial welds” (what’s a partial weld?)
Photo by The Stuart Parr Collection
Like most other Iso Rivolta and Grifo models it has a 355 bhp, 5,354 cc Chevrolet Corvette V-8 engine, single four-barrel carburetor, four-speed manual gearbox, independent front suspension, de Dion rear axle, and four-wheel hydraulic disc brakes. The wheelbase is 2,450 mm.
The Bizzarrini GT5300 Strada had a lightweight aluminum bodywork developed by Drogo and later BBM, of Modena, a fabricated platform chassis, and a semi-monocoque body riveted to the frame. Output of the front/mid-mounted 327 ci. 5.3-liter Chevrolet V-8 engine ranged between 355 and 400 horsepower. Top speed might have been as high as 180 mph. Sadly very few were made during its six-year production run.
This 2-plus-2 has had just two owners, the first being one Giotto Bizzarrini himself. The dealer advertising it in South Africa in 2017 promised it would come with full ownership documentation and a large file of period photographs which I assume it has.
Now how much did it sell for? Dunno. [1]
Who owns it now? It is now part of the Stuart Parr Collection. A truly one-of-a-kind. [2]
Read about the history of Giotto Bizzarrini here.
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
THE AUTHOR: Fine artist Wallace Wyss was an early member of the Iso-Bizzarrini Owner’s Club. He has several paintings of Bizzarrinis. For a list write malibucarart@gmail.com
Photo by The Stuart Parr Collection
Footnotes by Mike Gulett
[1] The asking price in 2017 was around $550,000 USD.
[2] Both this Bizzarrini and the Stuart Parr Collection are one-of-a-kind.
Partial weld = bolted?
LATE UPDATE:
Jack Koobs de Hartog, a historian on the marque, added some details about the car’s history:
1970, October 15th Mauro Chigiotti, Grosseto, Italy (bought incomplete from the ‘fallimento’ without radiator, carburetor, pedals, electricals , differential ,shock absorbers, drain tube etc. for Italian . 1.000.000.
1971 Boetie Louw, Durbanville, Cape Province, S.A.
1982 January Offered in Road & Trackwith 4500 km, for $ 60.000) by than owner Ian R. Elliot, Johannesburg, SA.
1984 January 26 Gerhard Malherbe, SA
2017 Stuart Parr collection
Curious if anyone knows how many Bizzarrini actually made??
Bizzarrini made only one 2+2
1. Basis of the problem.
Originally about 147 Iso A3/C’s and Bizzarrini’s were built by Giotto Bizzarrini in his “Autostar” and “Bizzarrini” Company before bankruptcy in 1968/9.
So let’s make a positive guess that about 50/60 % of these cars (restored) still exist.
Let’s say … 80 in total.
2. Present number.
When I count all known cars of that type today I come to a total of about 249.
That means that at the moment only one out of three (249/80) most probably is a genuine original one.
3. Histories.
From all the known and presented Italian ownership histories I was able to collect and checked with the ACI (Automobile Club Italiana), only about 64% appeared to be correct. In some cases, the history was 100% faked. Also presented registration documents were in many cases “questionable” at least.
Boetie Louw was my grandfather and this is the only picture we have of him with the car
I think the lesser visual appeal of the 2 plus 2 shows how unique the 2 seat design was–you can have all the accoutrements from split grille to side vents etc, but it still adds up to a less impressive car. Buying it unfinished originally was a good idea–i bet a lot of beginning automakers would like a way out on their prototype if it’s not coming out right.