Iso Grifo Targa Series II (1 of 4).
Renzo Rivolta was an omnipresent industrialist and serial innovator. Tracing his manufacturing roots to before World War II, he built everything from refrigerators to scooters before the sale of his Isetta bubble car venture to German giant BMW. The proceeds of the deal launched Iso Rivolta as a car manufacturer proper, with its eponymous Bertone-styled four-seat coupé arriving in 1962, followed three years later by the sportier Grifo.Styled by Bertone’s Giorgetto Giugiaro and engineered by Giotto Bizzarrini, the new model was a gran turismo in every sense and a true competitor to the Ferrari Daytona and Maserati Ghibli. But like the Rivolta—and very unlike its rivals from Emilia Romagna—the Grifo was powered by an American V-8. Simple, rugged and powerful, Chevrolet’s 5.4-litre small block was rated at 300 horsepower, offering performance to match Bertone’s eye-catching coachwork.By 1968, the 186-mph 7-Litri arrived, propelled by Chevrolet’s famed “L71” Tri-Power V-8. Things only got better two years later with the debut of the Series II, which brought with it more refined styling with stunning and contemporary hide-away headlamps—not to mention the option of the Bowtie’s 7.4-litre big-block V-8, which was fine-tuned with forged connecting rods and dry-sump lubrication.Due to eye-watering cost, just four Series II cars left the factory with open-topped Targa coachwork; chassis 350 is one of these special examples. The car was built on 4 July 1971, specified with a reinforced chassis frame and 300-horsepower 5.7-litre Chevrolet V-8 mated to a five-speed ZF manual gearbox and 3.31:1 rear axle. The car was also fitted with factory air conditioning.
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Trident GH SilhouetteHistory
Silhouettes of three very different Maserati Ghibli cars, including AM115, AM336 and M157.
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FTributo: Maserati'nin Özeli
Maserati, genlerindeki sportif DNA’yı yepyeni bir özel seri ile taçlandırıyor.
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Italdesign Aztec Barchetta
Rarely do radical styling exercises shown at the worlds most prestigious car shows become real cars which can actually be driven. More often than not the concept of original prototypes are either forgotten and gather dust in the designers workshop or the original design will be watered down so much that by the time the car reaches production they only show a distant resemblance to the prototype. Not so with this fantastic machine which was first shown at the 1988 Turin Motor show , the Italdesign Aztec not only still looks radical 24 years on but was actually built as a working car and can be legally driven on the road ! Conceived by the legendary designer Giorgetto Giugiaro who’s career after art college went from Fiats Centro Stile to Bertone, and then as Ghia,s chief designer before founding Italdesign in 1968 who are responsible for such masterpieces as the Maserati Ghibli , De Tomaso Mangusta , Lancia Delta as well as the Volkswagon Scirroco and the Golf MKI , unquestionably the most important car in Europes largest car producers history since the Beetle.
The Aztec was a stunning and futuristic styling exercise more resembling a vehicle from a science fiction adventure than an actual road going proposition. However the cars mechanics were sourced from trusted and reliable donors, while the transmission is borrowed from the 4X4 Lancia Intergale , the engine was taken from the Audi Quattro , another landmark car producing some 250 bhp from its unusual 5 cylinder 20 valve turbo charged power source. The steel ladder-frame chassis was clad in aluminium, carbon fibre and kevlar making sure that the components used for the body were no less futuristic than its design. Not suprisingly the Aztec is home to a myriad of unusual features as well as an intercom so that the driver and the passenger could communicate despite being separated by the cockpit design which also features removable plexiglass bubbles for closed or open topped motoring.
Unsurpisingly no main stream manufacturer was found to adopt the Aztec for mass production , so Japanese industrialist Myakawa purchased the rights for the car and commissioned Audi tuner Motoren-Tecknik-Mayer in Wettstetten , near Ingolstadit to finish the car for homologation and eventully limited production. To much acclaim , the first road going Aztec was presented at the 1992 Monaco Grand Prix , finishing a few demonstration laps before the start of the race. It also featured in an industrial design exhibtion at the Musse Georges Pompidou in Paris.
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1966 Maserati Ghibli
My tumblr-blogs: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/germancarssince1946 & https://www.tumblr.com/blog/frenchcarssince1946 & https://www.tumblr.com/blog/englishcarssince1946 & https://www.tumblr.com/blog/italiancarssince1946 & https://www.tumblr.com/blog/japanesecarssince1947
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