A True Blue Italian-American... [PIC]

In the mid-1960s I became obsessed with Italianate design as well as "there's no substitute for displacement" American V8s. The guys at Iso Rivolti produced this beautiful luxury touring car hybrid, the Iso Grifo from 1965 to 1974. The concept was to power this Giorgetto Giugiaro of Bertone design with a 327 Corvette V8 that was refined by noted engineer Giotto Bizzarrini. Later in production, other Chevrolet and Ford small and big block V8s could be had including the Chevy 427 and 454, as well as the Ford 351. In its early form, it was capable of 170 mph. About 400 examples were built before the company went bankrupt. In that mix there were some rare examples of Targas. The rarest and most sought after are the series ll 7 litre that, restored go for $5.5 mil. This is the series l.