Iso
From an industrial dynasty Renzo Rivolta produced good quality motorcycles after the war. In the 1950's he was working on a small city car which, with collaboration, became the Iso Isetta Tourismo or Isetta bubble car as most would know it now, driven by a 2 cylinder motorcycle engine with 2 wheels close together at the rear, eliminating the need to a differential. Some 20,000 but were in Italy, but these cars were also licenced for manufacture in the UK, France, Brazil and Germany. BMW alone made some 130,000 units.
With the help of Giotto Bizzarrini and bodywork design by Guigaro, the Iso Rivolta IR300 was presented in 1962 for availability in 1963. Under the bonnet was a small block Chevrolet 327 with special carburetion, Chevrolet gearbox and rear end as in a Jaguar. The Iso Grifo was the Grand Tourismo road car, with 22 examples of the competition A3C built before Bizzarrini left to make his similar 5300 GT. When Renzo Rivolta died in 1966, aged only 55, his 26 year old son Pierro took over, whose first job was to make the 4 seater S4- Fidia launched in 1967, with bodywork designed by the young Giorgetto Guigaro. Later Ford engined in 1973 and 1974 guaranteed to have a top speed of 150mph, and claimed to be the fastest 4 seater on the road. The Grifo was given a 7 litre engine, and a 2+2 Iso Lele was built to replace the IR300. After a factory move in 1972 things unravelled and the company was gone by 1974. A great shame that Renzo Rivolta had died so young.
