The prototype Iso Faucet A3/L Spiderdesigned by Giorgetto Giugiaro, was the only convertible version ever produced. It was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in 1964, then passed into private hands. After being hidden for decades, it went up for sale and they expected to get at most a million dollars for it. They fell short. Reached $1,875,000.
The story begins with the development of the Iso Grifo A3/L was developed in the early 1960s. Iso Autoveicoli SpA, used the V8 engine from the Chevrolet Corvette to provide a powerful but affordable alternative to the V12s from Ferrari and Lamborghini, with a Easier maintenance and lower operating costs.
Only 412 Iso Grifos were produced between 1965 and 1974, with production ceasing in part due to the oil crisis of 1973. These cars are highly sought after today for their Italian design and affordable American V8 engines. And the second series featured the Chevrolet Big Block V8 with more than 450 HP.
The design was carried out by a young Giorgetto Giugiaroconsidered the best automobile designer of the 20th century. The engineering was in charge of Giotto Bizzarrinithe former Ferrari engineer who had developed the Ferrari 250 GTO.
Instead of the V12s (advanced, but complex and sometimes temperamental), Renzo Rivolta chose to use standard American V8 engines in his cars. In addition to having a lot of power, they were much cheaper to purchase, as well as easy and cheap to maintain. Furthermore, its main market was the United States, where maintenance would be much easier for its owners.
The car had been designed from the beginning to accommodate much larger engines if necessary. Bizzarrini was careful to mount the Corvette’s V8 as far back as possible, to have the engine in a front-center position. It had a steel chassis with double wishbones and coil springs at the front, and a De Dion axle with trailing arms. More strange was mounting disc brakes on all four wheels or having power sent through a limited slip differential.
The images that illustrate this article are the only convertible version of the Iso Grifo A3/L that was officially manufactured. It was designed by Giugiaro and built by Bertone as a surprise for Iso management. It was displayed at several European motor shows at the Bertone stand.
It shared several design cues with its brother, including the unusual exhaust arrangement, twin-hole front fascia, and angled vents on the rear fenders.
The car was sold into private hands sometime in 1967, where it was registered to David Ellis in New York. Ellis later sold the car and it was in the hands of several owners afterward, until it ended up in the hands of the collector
Rudi Klein. He put the entire collection on sale, including this Iso Grifo A3/L Spider prototype, whose reference price was between 700,000 and 1,000,000 dollars and has broken all records.
