The Iso Rivolta IR 300 is an elegant grand tourer that debuted in 1962 to challenge the likes of Ferrari and Maserati. The body was designed by the great Giorgetto Giugiaro, and the engineering was done by the legendary Ferrari veteran Giotto Bizzarrini.
The IR 300 was a major gamble for Iso Automoveicoli as they had only ever made refrigerators, motor scooters, and bubble cars previously. Fortunately, the gamble would pay off in a big way, establishing them as a force to be reckoned with and a genuine competitor to the more established Italian marques.
Fast Facts – The Iso Rivolta IR 300
- The Iso Rivolta IR 300, introduced in 1962, marked a bold leap from scooters and microcars to luxury grand tourers for Iso Automoveicoli. Designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro and engineered by ex-Ferrari mastermind Giotto Bizzarrini, the IR 300 rivaled Ferrari and Maserati, combining Italian styling with a reliable (and powerful) Corvette V8 sourced from the Americans.
- Iso Automoveicoli had humble beginnings as a maker of refrigerators, then motor scooters, rising to fame later with the Iso Isetta bubble car. Founder Renzo Rivolta showed a knack for innovation, pivoting to small vehicles post-WWII before pursuing his dream of building a high-performance GT that could run with Italy’s best.
- The IR 300 featured a sophisticated steel chassis, advanced suspension, four-wheel disc brakes, and a Chevrolet-sourced 327 V8 for cost-effective performance and American market appeal. Offered with manual or automatic transmissions, it debuted at the 1962 Torino Motor Show and went on to enjoy major sales success, with 797 units built.
- A modified IR 300 now for sale on Bring a Trailer sports a 6.0 liter L76 V8 and Tremec 6-speed, significantly upping performance. Refinished in Grigio Silverstone with Paloma Cork leather, it blends period styling with modern muscle, representing a tasteful and potent evolution of Iso’s original grand touring vision.
Iso Automotoveicoli
Iso Automoveicoli S.p.A. is one of those companies that seems to keep bouncing back, the firm has recreated itself a number of times over the years manufacturing everything from refrigerators to scooters, motorcycles, bubble cars, luxury GT cars, and even Le Mans race cars.
Bizzarrini developed a pressed and welded steel panel chassis for the new car, with double wishbone independent front suspension, a DeDion rear end, front and rear coil springs, telescopic shock absorbers, a front anti-sway bar, and four-wheel disc brakes. Image courtesy of Iso Automoveicoli S.p.A.
Iso started out in the 1930s as Isothermos, a company that made electric heaters and chillers. It was bought by entrepreneurial engineer Renzo Rivolta in 1939, factory capacity was then turned over to th war effort during WWII.
The offices of Isothermos were bombed during the war, and in the post-war years Rivolta decided to pivot the company and begin producing affordable, small-displacement motor scooters. This proved to be a stroke of genius, and other companies like Vespa and Lambretta were doing the same to provide Italians (and many other Europeans) with much-needed motorized transportation.
Now named Iso Automoveicoli, the company would develop the Iso Isetta – a bubble car/microcar that was intended as a halfway point between a car and a motorcycle. The Iso Isetta would revolutionize the industry and inspire the development of many other microcars – even BMW put a licensed version of it into production called the BMW Isetta.
Renzo Rivolta had enjoyed remarkable success with Iso, and he had shown time and again that he had great instincts for pinpointing exactly the kind of vehicle that would sell in volume, and then developing it and getting it into production.
Despite this success there was one thing Rivolta still wanted – a luxury GT car that could compete with those coming from established Italian brands like Ferrari and Maserati.
The Iso Rivolta IR 300
When the project to develop the Iso Rivolta IR 300 got underway, it must have seemed like a foolhardy exercise to outside observers. Up until that point in history, Iso was known for cheap scooters, small-displacement motorcycles, and bubble cars.
The Iso Rivolta IR 300 is undeniably beautiful – Giugiaro succeeded in developing a new style language for the fledgling luxury automaker – no mean feat.
The decision to make a high-end luxury GT car would be somewhat similar to Italian scooter manufacturer Vespa coming out today with a high-performance rival for the Ferrari 12Cilindri.
Renzo Rivolta hired Giotto Bizzarrini to develop the underpinnings of the new car using the best practices of the time. Bizzarrini ran experimental, sports, and GT car development at Ferrari for many years – developing some of the automaker’s best-loved cars of the time, including the Ferrari 250 TR, Ferrari 250 GT SWB, and perhaps most importantly, the Ferrari 250 GTO.
To design the body of the new car, Rivolta hired a promising young stylist named Giorgetto Giugiaro who was then working at Bertone. Giugiaro would rise to become arguably the top automotive designer of the 20th century, penning iconic cars like the BMW M1, DeLorean DMC-12, Lotus Esprit, De Tomaso Mangusta, and countless others.
Bizzarrini developed a pressed and welded steel panel chassis for the new car, with double wishbone independent front suspension, a DeDion rear end, front and rear coil springs, telescopic shock absorbers, a front anti-sway bar, and four-wheel disc brakes.
Power would be provided by a version of the 327 cubic inch (5,350 cc) V8 also used in the Chevrolet Corvette. This engine was chosen for three key reasons: it would make the car appealing to American buyers (the most important export market), it was powerful and proven to be reliable, and perhaps most importantly, it was far more affordable than Iso developing their own engine.
Most cars would get either the 4-speed manual or later 5-speed manual, but there was a 3-speed automatic also offered. The car was undeniably beautiful, and Giugiaro succeeded in developing a new style language for the fledgling luxury automaker – no mean feat.
This car has been given a repaint in Grigio Silverstone, and an interior re-trim in Paloma Cork leather upholstery.
The final production car would be unveiled at the 1962 Torino Motor Show, it was named the Iso Rivolta IR 300, standing for Iso Rivolta (IR) and 300 for the output of that Corvette V8 in bhp.
The Iso Rivolta IR 300 would become a major success for the marque, selling 797 units and helping to establish the company as a viable and respected builder of high-end cars. It would be followed by a number of other cars, including the Iso Grifo A3 L, Iso Grifo 7 Litri, Iso Lele, Iso Grifo Lusso GL, and a number of others.
The Iso Rivolta IR 300 Shown Here
The car you see here is an Iso Rivolta IR 300 with a secret under the hood. The original Corvette V8 is long gone, replaced by a far more modern engine, but still an engine from the General Motors family – the L76 small block V8.
This engine has a displacement of 6.0 liters and produces 355 bhp and 384 lb ft of torque. It has been fitted with a pair of tasteful Iso Rivolta-branded valve covers, and it’s mated to a Tremec TR-6060 6-speed manual transmission.
The original Corvette V8 is long gone, replaced by a far more modern engine, but still an engine from the General Motors family – the L76 small block V8.
The car has been given a repaint in Grigio Silverstone, and an interior re-trim in Paloma Cork leather upholstery. It now presents in excellent condition, and it’ll be quite a bit quicker than the original car – which was already notable for its performance.
It’s now being offered for sale on Bring a Trailer out of Scottsdale, Arizona, with factory literature, refurbishment photos and records, and a clean Michigan title. You can visit the listing here if you’d like to read more about it or place a bid.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.