IsoGrifo

01

Origins

The Grifo of 1965 turned the Rivolta's excellent bones into spectacle: Giugiaro's low, wide coupé body remains among the loveliest of the decade, and Bizzarrini's chassis carried Chevrolet small-block power — later big-blocks of 7 litres, whose bonnet demanded a raised 'penthouse' scoop — to genuine 170-plus mph ability. It offered Ferrari performance with servicing any Chevrolet dealer could manage, and sophisticates loved the joke. Around 400 were built to 1974, latterly with Ford power, before the oil crisis and Iso's finances ended everything. The Grifo has since completed the classic trajectory of the underappreciated: ignored, then discovered, now commanding seven figures at auction. It stands as the high-water mark of the Euro-American hybrid GT — the idea done perfectly, once.