| Bizzarrini (thru the '60s) ... |
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Bizzarriniwikipedia  Bizzarrini S.p.A. was an automotive manufacturer in the ‘60s. Founded by former Alfa Romeo, Ferrari & ISO engineer, Giotto Bizzarrini, the company built a small # of highly developed & advanced sport & racing automobiles before failing in 1969. Originally Prototipi Bizzarrini s.r.l., the name was changed to Bizzarrini S.p.A. in 1966. The Bizzarrini marque has been revived w/a # of concept cars in the 2000s. Bizzarrini, The ManMr. Giotto Bizzarrini was born in Livorno, Italy in 1926. He was the son of a rich landowner & came from a good family w/strong roots in Tuscany & the city of Livorno. His grandfather, also named Giotto Bizzarrini, was a biologist who had worked w/Guglielmo Marconi on his inventions, especially the radio, following which one of the Livorno Library sections was named The Bizzarrini Library. Giotto Bizzarrini graduated as an engineer in the University of Pisa in 1953. He taught briefly before joining Alfa Romeo in 1954. He worked for Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Lamborghini, ISO & later built cars under his name. He also developed advanced designs for AMC like the AMX Sciabola project, & as style & technical consultant for GM in Europe & the U.S., top Japanese motorcycle marques & well-known designers such as Pininfarina. Today, he is still very busy, teaching & collaborating w/the Roma University developing advanced projects & designing, building & developing his own sport cars. He often said: "I'm not a car designer, I am a worker". Bizzarrini at Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint In August 1954 he started as an engineer at the 'Servizio Esperienze Principali' (italian: Main Experiences Service), where he worked with Ing. Nicolis. He was assigned to the development of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta chassis. Bizzarrini joins FerrariHe left Alfa in 1957 & went to Ferrari. A legend says that Bizzarrini arrived at Maranello to an interview w/Enzo Ferrari driving one of his specials, a Fiat 500 based sport car called The Machinetta, that still exists today. Ferrari was truly impressed by the little car, & Bizzarrini immediately joined Ferrari, were he was quickly promoted to controller of experimental, Sports & GT car development. The Golden YearsBizzarrini worked at Ferrari as a developer, designer, skilled test driver, & chief engineer for 5 years. The Ferrari 250 GT 2+2/GTE, the 3.0L Testa Rossa V12 engine, the Ferrari 250 TR or Testa Rossa & the Ferrari 250 GT SWB (Short Wheelbase Berlinetta or Berlinetta Passo Corto) were influenced by his ideas & technical solutions. For one of the most successful Ferrari racing series, the Ferrari 250, Bizzarrini worked hard to develop the chassis, engines & advanced dynamic solutions. Ferrari 250 GTOHis masterpiece at Ferrari was the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO. He was 1st involved w/the 250 GTO project in 1960. Ferrari wanted a GT racer w/better aerodynamics than the previous 250 GT SWB. The SWB was a great racer but w/poor wind penetration coefficient. Jaguar had just launched the Jaguar E-Type & Ferrari needed a top contender at the tracks.  1959 GT Boano When the GTO was launched in 1962 it was the ultimate in aerodynamics. While 289 AC Shelby Cobras were slightly faster on slow tracks, the GTO had a superior top speed and dominated the GT class. A GTO-influenced Shelby Cobra derivative, the Shelby Daytona, proved too late to stop Ferrari victories, the Italian maker having moved on to the revolutionary Ferrari 250 LM, the first rear engined GT from Maranello. Automobili Turismo e Sport (ATS)In what is known as the "Ferrari night of the Long Knives", Bizzarrini was 1 of the "famous 5" engineers who left Ferrari in 1961 over Enzo Ferrari's intention of reorganizing the company's engineering staff. Together w/Carlo Chiti, the rest the ex-Ferrari engineers, & others, Bizzarrini founded the Automobili Turismo e Sport company (ATS) to build a F1 single seater & a GT sport car, the A.T.S. Serenissima. Count Volpi, the Specials & ATSIn 1962, Bizzarrini was hired by Count Giovanni Volpi (NOTE I), owner of the SSS, Scuderia Serenissima Republica di Venezia, to upgrade a Ferrari 250 GT SWB to GTO Specification. Ferrari was upset w/Volpi & refused to sell him a GTO.  Ferrari 250GT Drogo "Breadvan" NOTE I: Count Giovanni Volpi di Misurata (born 1937 in Venice) was an automobile racing manager. He inherited a fortune, at the age of 24, from his father, Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata, a politician financier & founder of the renowned Venice Film Festival. Giovanni Volpi started a racing team, Scuderia Serenissima, & quickly became one of Ferrari's best customers. Following the great walkout, Volpi felt the wrath of Enzo Ferrari who refused to sell him the two 250 GTOs he requested. Volpi aligned himself w/ATS, providing the financing for the ex-Ferrari company. During WW II, Giovanni Volpi's father served in Mussolini's cabinet as the minister of Finance & one of his chief advisors. He designed several of Mussolini's austerity measures & escaped persecution after the war. His father also acquired & restored Villa Barbaro at Maser, Italy, built originally for the Barbaro family. NOTE II: Piero Drogo (born in Vignale Monferrato, Alessandria, 8/8/1926 - died in Bologna, 4/28/1973) was a racing driver & coachbuilder from Italy. He participated in one F1 G/P, debuting on 9/4/1960. He scored no championship points. He moved on to form a carrozzeria in Modena to service the thriving sports car industry there. His Carrozzeria Sports Cars gained some fame later in the decade. He died in a car accident aged 46. Lamborghini Engine Bizzarini-designed Lamborghini V12 in Miura engine bay With the objective of getting freelance engineering projects, Ferrucio Lamborghini asked Bizzarrini to design a new engine thru Societa Autostar in 1962. A year later, in the small town of Sant'Agata Bolognese about 20 kilometres from Modena, Automobili Ferruccio Lamborghini SpA was born. Thanks to the expertise of the seasoned Bizzarrini & up-&-coming engineers Giampaolo Dallara & Paolo Stanzani, Lamborghini emerged onto the world GT cars scene w/the DOHC, 4.0L Bizzarrini V12 powered Lamborghini 350GTV, later the 350GT, & the show-stopping 1966 Lamborghini Miura which uses the engine. Iso Rivolta 1967 Iso Rivolta IR 300 GT Coupe  1964 Bizzarrini Iso Grifo Berlinetta 5300 Corsa (Grifo AC3 body w/Corvette 327 cu/in engine) 'Rivolta had me test the prototype. I liked its De Dion tube & specially the Corvette engine. It was 1st time I had driven one. It was superior to Ferrari's engines, having the same power but w/a more immediate throttle response.' Iso Rivolta GT was a Giugiaro designed 4-seater w/beautiful body, speed, comfort & handling. Iso Rivolta GT was a successful car for ISO, w/799 units sold. Powered by a Chevrolet Corvette 327 V8 engine w/a classic de Dion rear suspension design w/pressed-steel monocoque bodywork over press steel frame chassis. Unveiled to press in 1963, production continued until 1970. ISO Grifo Iso Grifo Series I The idea of Bizzarrini was to use the 3AL cars for competition. The competition versions of the Grifo were named Iso Grifo A3C, C for Competizione or Corsa. A new lightweight riveted aluminium body was designed & built by Piero Drogo. It was an aggressively designed machine, oriented to endurance races. It uses normal ISO underpinnings but the engine was moved further back in the chassis frame than the Grifo A3L, protruding well into the driver's cabin, fitted w/hot cams & fed by 4 big Weber carbs, giving more than 400 bhp. Around 29 A3C sport cars (below) were built under the ISO name. 5 of these 29 cars were bodied in plastic/fiberglass by Piero Drogo at Carrozzeria Sports Cars in Modena. A3C's were widely raced. Some cars entered the 1964 & 1965 Le Mans 24 hour, 1965 Nürburgring 1000 & 1965 Sebring. It achieved a Le Mans class win in both years & a 9th OA in 1965 w/no factory support. A3C's were one of the fastest cars on Le Mans' Mulsane straight in both years.
Due to the complicated deal w/ISO, Bizzarrini left in 1964 & founded Societa Prototipi Bizzarrini (Bizzarrini S.p. A), which produced some 140 cars thru 1969 at its Livorno factory. 5300 Strada(see article below) In 1966 Bizzarrini S.p.A. released a stunning street legal Grifo A3C as the Bizzarrini 5300 GT Strada (or Bizzarrini 5300 GT America, depending on the market). The body shape & mechanical parts were the much the same as the Iso A3C's, resulting in a power-packed yet sensuous coupe under 40" in height. At least three 5300's were turned out as beautiful Style Italia designed spyder/targa versions, all of which survive. Bizzarrini 1900 GT EuropaBizzarrini also managed a scaled-down 5300 GT project. Designed for GM-Opel, it was based on Opel 1900 platform. Bizzarrini's proposal was more aggressive & good looking. It was a baby-looking 5300 GT. The production Opel GT was designed by factory stylists & was less aggressive but still beautiful. Bizzarrini then decided to build the car himself. Around 17 prototypes were completed. The car is officially named as the Bizzarrini 1900 GT Europa. One of these cars has a barchetta body. Some cars are powered by 1300 & 1600 I4 engines sourced from GM, Alfa Romeo & FIAT. There is even a highly developed racing version w/SPICA FI system. Bizzarrini P538S 1967 Bizzarrini P538 This ultra low barchetta raced in the 1966 Le Mans (DNF) & was entered in ‘67 even but did not start (DNQ). In 1966, after a spin at the very start line, it lasted less than a half an hour & retired by a cracked oil pipe. During the short race time, the P538 was clocked as one of the fastest cars down the Mulsanne straight. In 1968, Giugiaro rebodied one of the P538s as the famous Bizzarrini Manta (below). After some years in Sweden, it was dismantled for an extensive restoration. Later featured in various classics cars events, it now resides in U.S.  The custom-built Bizzarrini Manta  Bizzarini 5300 StradaGiotto Bizzarrini's "dearest creation" February, 2009 By Genevieve Obert www.europeancarweb.com          By the time the Rivolta GT's 1st 2 prototypes & 1st production car were thoroughly tested, Bizzarrini had his own consultancy office back home in Livorno, incorporated under the name Autostar. It was February 1963 when the Rivolta contract ended, so new jobs came from Campagnolo converting drum brakes to the company's new disc brakes, & from another upstart GT manufacturer, ASA. Bizzarrini brought the "Ferrarina" or "baby Ferrari" to life as the ASA 1000 GT. His next contract came from the bull-master of Sant'Agata, Ferruccio Lamborghini. Lamborghini's grand plan was to build the perfect V12, & he engaged Bizzarrini to design it for him. Lamborghini's requirements were simple: a minimum of 3.0L & 350 hp; as a spur to more power, Bizzarini was to be paid extra for every additional hp he could crank out of his new engine. Within 4 months, Giotto presented Ferruccio w/a 3.5L all-aluminum DOHC engine, w/6 downdraft 2V Weber carbs & 9.5:1 CR. HP came to 360-370 @ 8000 to 9000 rpm (depending on who measured). Ferruccio was satisfied, Bizzarrini was well paid, & this engine became the basis of all subsequent Lamborghinis. It wasn't long after Bizzarrini signed off w/Iso that he was called back, this time to produce a berlinetta (fastback coupe) to be called the A3. Renzo Rivolta wanted a luxurious street car, but Bizzarrini wanted to build a full racer. Giotto ended up having his cake & eating it too, as he worked w/Rivolta's chief engineer, Nuccio Bertone & his chief designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, to perfect the body & engine design of Rivolta's A3/L at the same time that he built his own A3/C (C for competition or corsa). Rivolta had given Bizzarrini an A3 chassis that he took home to Livorno, & he was basically free to do w/it whatever he wanted. Both cars were completed in a miraculously short amount of time, ready to appear side by side at the October 1963 Turin Auto Show. Bizzarrini's was the rougher of the 2, not just because it was a race car; there hadn't been time to paint it, so Bizzarrini had one of his men etch swirls onto the raw aluminum body. Bertone's luxurious A3/L version, named the Iso Grifo, was the hit of the show (& a major feather in young Giugiaro's cap), but Bizzarrini's raw offering struck a chord, too. Inside that powerful but stark body was the 365 bhp Corvette V8, pushed back so far toward the center of the car that it came into the driver's compartment; in fact, to reach the distributor, you had to pull a flap up on the dashboard! The wheelbase was shortened (from 2,700mm to 2,450mm), & the A3/L's 22-gallon fuel tank was discarded in favor of 3 interconnected smaller tanks--one on each side of the car & the 3rd right behind the 2 seats (total capacity came to 37 gallons). The result was the 1st true "front mid-engine" car & an extraordinarily well-balanced one, w/weight distribution 50.5% in front & 49.5% in the rear--virtually 50-50. For the engine Bizzarrini designed a special manifold that pulled a pipe from each cylinder into a "bundle of snakes" that were then gathered into 2 & run all the way out to the rear as exhaust pipes. With 4 Weber 45 DCOE 2V sidedraft carbs, Bizzarrini claimed the engine put out 405 bhp @ 5400 rpm. The body, much lighter than the A3/L, was similarly shaped, except that the windshield had a more distinctive rake, sloped at almost the same angle as the engine hood. Like all racers, the interior was spartan, especially compared to the luxuriously trimmed A3/L. The 1st A3/C body, built by Piero Drogo of Sports Cars Modena, hosted some 7,000 rivets as insurance that the welds would hold. With a Borg-Warner T-10 4-spd transmission & suspension identical to the A3/L's (independent in front and the deDion system out back), the car attracted enough attention to convince Rivolta to put it into limited production. Rivolta even supported the car's 1st racing efforts, which included a 1st in the over-5000cc class at the 1964 Le Mans 24 Hours. The car returned to Le Mans in 1965, but this time Bizzarrini was largely on his own; Iso provided chassis, parts & only limited support. The car again won its class, but by the end of August that year, Iso ended its association w/Bizzarrini. Giotto was not about to abandon the car he considered a "2nd generation Ferrari GTO." He continued to build the cars out of his Livorno workshops, calling them "Bizzarrini Grifos" until he agreed to allow Iso exclusive use of the Grifo name in late 1965. From then on these cars became known as "Stradas" or "GT Americas," & a 1967 "Strada 5300" (in honor of the displacement of the Corvette engine) is the car featured here. 25 years later, when interviewed by an Italian magazine, Bizzarrini described the Strada as "his dearest creation." This car is also very dear to its current owner, Ron Spindler of Van Nuys (CA). Ron heard about Bizzarrinis before he ever saw one. "It was probably 1981 or '82," he explained, "when a gentleman I knew said, 'I just saw the most beautiful car I've ever seen in my life. It's a Bizzarrini.' I had never heard of it, & later I looked it up but I couldn't really find out much about the car. Finally we were at the Santa Barbara Concours d'Elegance & I walked by a rather isolated car, & I gathered it was a Ferrari. But the closer I got it just didn't have the lines of a Ferrari; it had more body to it--more beef to it. I took 3 pictures of the car & went up to it, & it was a Bizzarrini & I said, 'Ah ha! now I understand.'" Ron kept those pictures on his desk for years. "Every now & then I'd look at them & say 'Boy, that really is some car.'" Finally he saw an ad in Hemmings Motor News, & before long he was the proud owner of the Strada you see here. Once he had the car in his garage, he says, "I just looked at it; it is just such a gorgeous car." The restoration took about 2 years, begun by stripping the car all the way down to the bottom. The car was invited to the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance based on a picture of the incomplete body, & the restoration wasn't finished until barely a week before the event. Tho Ron had joined the Bizzarrini club & contacted several owners, there were a couple of tricky points in the restoration. "The weirdest thing was the side fins, those lower scoops," Ron explained. "According to all the authorities, they are supposed to face forward to capture air. But according to the metalwork on this car, we could not get them in forward facing. I had heard stories that they tried everything for this car because it was hot; your legs are under the exhaust pipes of the engine, the engine is right next to your knees, & I don't doubt that they tried these things forward, backward, any way they might be able to make it work. But we caved in to the established convention & cut a little metal away to get them in facing the forward direction." Ron was right that heat was an issue w/these cars. Those custom Bizzarrini heads were known for rattling &, by virtue of the engine's placement, for overheating the front brakes. Another problem was the distributor, which was so close to the firewall it occasionally suffered ignition & sparking problems. The Corvette engine also had to be reworked a bit … Italians liked high-revving engines & the 'Vette valves had a tendency to float above 5500 rpm. Worse, early models suffered cracked connecting rods, especially in Germany, thanks to prolonged high-speed driving on the autobahnn. Calls to GM for help were answered w/a simple, "You Europeans drive too fast!" So Bizzarrini & Rivolta solved that problem by making their own specially reinforced rods. Another tricky part of the restoration of Ron Spindler's car was the exhaust. "There was a fellow in NorCal who said he had the last factory-original muffler exhaust pipe in existence. These were engraved & very special; they were an encased muffler. I took a lot of photos, & he was kind enough to do a pencil tracing to get the impression of all the lettering. So we fabricated the exact factory muffler, worked thru polished stainless, had it engraved exactly like the factory. One of our judges at Pebble Beach looked at those exhaust pipes & said, 'Where did you get these?' I said, 'Well, I could tell you we got them from the factory, but in truth, we had to make them.' He said, 'I wouldn't dock you for that. That's fantastic.'" The car took 1st place in its class & was featured in the Pebble Beach Concours Parade of Elegance. That was 1998, & since then this Bizzarrini has won several more 1sts & Best of Shows at concourses all over California. The car was so nice, in fact, that Ron decided to buy a 2nd one to drive. When journalists 1st had the opportunity to drive these cars back in the ‘60s, the praise was nearly universal. Most agreed w/writer Etienne Cornil, who wrote in the Sporting Motorist that "...we have never come across such disconcerting ease at such speeds...the car's stability seems incredible...at 150 mph one could easily leave hold of the steering wheel...there is no doubt that engineer Bizzarrini's creation merits high esteem among the fastest grand touring cars in the world." Ron has nothing but praise for the Strada's driveability. "When you drive it & kind of push the steering wheel into the corner, it just takes you around the corner. After the 1st few, you're so comfortable, you'll take anything; you'll take any corner at any speed w/no fear." Only about 25 Iso Grifo A3/Cs were built before Bizzarrini took over in 1965, & something between 135 & 155 Bizzarrini Stradas & GT Americas (sources vary) were completed before Bizzarrini moved on to other things after 1969 (including work with Opel, GM & AMX, as well as a 1-off supercar of his own design in 1991). The low #s ensure that cars like Ron Spindler's Bizzarrini Strada … both the show car & the driver … will become ever more valuable as the new millennium rolls on. Reason enough to be thankful that at least a few of those 20th-century Italians were able to indulge their insatiable egos.
Only about 25 Iso Grifo A3/Cs were built before Bizzarrini took over in 1965, & something between 135 & 155 Bizzarrini Stradas & GT Americas (sources vary) were completed before Bizzarrini moved on to other things after 1969 (including work with Opel, GM & AMX, as well as a 1-off supercar of his own design in 1991). The low #s ensure that cars like Ron Spindler's Bizzarrini Strada … both the show car & the driver … will become ever more valuable as the new millennium rolls on. Reason enough to be thankful that at least a few of those 20th-century Italians were able to indulge their insatiable egos.
1967 Bizzarrini 5300 Strada Specifications
Sources & Contacts: Winston Goodfellow, Iso Rivolta: The Men, The Machines, Giorgio Nada, 1995; 'Giotto Bizzarrini, Ieri, Oggi, Domani," Granturismo e Competizione, An.2 N.4 1988. Iso & Bizzarrini Club USA: 2025 Drake Dr. Oakland, CA 94611.  Bizzarrini 500 CoupeYoung Giotto Bizzarrini's college car at the University of Pisa was a step up from the average student's. The original Fiat 500--nicknamed "Topolino" (little mouse) both for its diminutive size & similarity to the cartoon car driven by Disney's Mickey--was the world's 1st "people's car"; the Topolino became available to the public in 1936, while both the VW & Citroen 2CV had to wait until after the war to reach the public.    Bizzarrini tested his budding theory on engine placement in this car by removing the engine from the front (in the std Topolino it rides over the front wheels) & pushing it back into the center of the frame, almost inside the passenger compartment.  The completed car, painted in its original light blue, no doubt impressed Bizzarrini's supervisors at Alfa Romeo. They let him run the little coupe on the company test track, where he pegged about 95 mph, equal to the speeds posted by Alfa's own 1900 saloon! When Enzo Ferrari heard about Giotto Bizzarrini & the odd car he drove, he reportedly said, "Anyone crazy enough to drive such a strange car is surely fit for working in Maranello!" Bizzarrini himself was pleased to learn of the car's resurrection & restoration in 1992. "I worked out this car according to the same principals I used w/the Ferrari GTO & w/the Bizzarrini 5300 GT Strada," he said. "They all bear my technical signature." Today, the car competes regularly in the Mille Miglia Storico, a tribute both to the versatility & diversity of Fiat 500-based automobiles & to the talents of one of Italy's greatest freelance engineers, Giotto Bizzarrini. |
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