I went to the Dolce e Veloce Italian car cruise-in hosted by Macchinissima and the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles over the weekend, where there was a huge variety of vehicles on display. Sitting in the sun on the parking deck was everything from a Ferrari Daytona SP3 (missing one of its center caps) and a one-of-19 Lamborghini Sian roadster to a 1961 Lancia Appia and Bruce Meyer’s race-winning Ferrari 250 GT SWB. But by far one of the strangest, most unknown, and these days perhaps rarest Italian cars at the show was this Laforza SUV.
Created by Italian coachbuilder Rayton-Fissore and originally called the Magnum, it was first developed as a military vehicle but became a production model, going on sale in 1985. The partially Iveco-based Magnum was fairly trucky, using a turbodiesel engine or either a supercharged four-cylinder from Lancia or a V6 from Alfa Romeo, though it did have a nice leather-lined interior. For the U.S. market, though, Rayton-Fissore aimed higher, renaming the Magnum as the Laforza, swapping in an American V8 and making other changes to better compete with the likes of Range Rover.
Designed in Italy, made in Michigan
Designed by Tom Tjaarda at Pininfarina, the Laforza first went on sale in the U.S. in 1989 with Ford’s 5.0-liter V8 under the hood, a 4-speed automatic with overdrive, and a Chrysler Selec-Trac four-wheel-drive transfer case. It also had upgraded chassis components compared to the Magnum, and more refined exterior and interior styling. It had power steering and power brakes, with discs up front and drums in the rear. The chassis and interior were made by Pininfarina in Italy, but final assembly was in Brighton, Michigan.
In later model years, the Laforza got the Mustang GT’s V8 or the 5.8-liter truck version, and you could option on a supercharger. After a company restructuring in 1998 it was renamed Laforza Prima and got the Explorer’s V8 with an optional Eaton supercharger and an electronic automatic transmission, then in 1999 it was again renamed to Laforza Magnum with either the Ford V8 or a 6.0-liter V8 from GM, also with an Eaton supercharger. The Laforza was sold in the U.S. until 2003 if you can believe it, while its European counterpart only lasted until 1998. Later European models got BMW inline-6 gas and turbodiesel engines, too.
It was expensive as hell
This Laforza had a monroney pasted on its window, but I’m not sure if it corresponds to this specific car — the window sticker says it’s a 1990 Laforza painted Monterosso Red over Vapore Grey, but the car is white. Maybe it was repainted? Standard features include air conditioning, power windows, a power sunroof, cruise control, remotely operated door locks, 6-way power front seats, a Blaupunkt stereo with four speakers, heated power side-view mirrors, a tilting steering wheel column, aluminum wheels and a tow package.
Fuel economy wasn’t great. This window sticker says the EPA rated the Laforza at 11 mpg city and 16 mpg highway, but by the agency’s modern cycles it got 11 mpg combined; 10 mpg city and 13 mpg highway. That is about as much as a contemporary Jeep Grand Wagoneer got, though a Range Rover Classic was slightly more efficient. It says the 1990 Laforza cost $44,600 including $750 destination, a few grand more than the Range Rover — and nearly $110,000 in today’s dollars. Those later supercharged models were even more expensive; Car and Driver reviewed a 1999 Speciale Edition that was $67,385, about $130,000 today.
Have you driven one?
Around 6,000 of these SUVs were made in total, about 1,200 of which were the Laforza. Given the initial rarity and Italian origin, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s fewer than 100 of them left on American roads. Even in LA, where I see the weirdest, rarest cars all the time, I never see Laforzas. And it’s been a very long time since I’ve seen one as clean as this one. I didn’t catch how many miles were on the odometer, but the body looked like it was in great shape, even down to the Laforza-branded side steps.
We’ve featured a few Laforzas on Nice Price or No Dice before, but they don’t come up for sale very often. Bring a Trailer has only auctioned six of them since 2017, all for under $16,000 and the lowest being just $2,650, while Cars & Bids has sold five of them, four of which were under $6k (and the only other having been reviewed by DeMuro). When was the last time you saw a Laforza? Have you ever driven or owned one? We want to know!