Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Iso Rivolta IR300 Coupé (1962-70)

Initially named IR300 pointing at the 300 hp that the engine could provided, the Iso Rivolta is a luxurious 2+2 Coupé introduced in 1962 by Iso Automotoveicoli S.p.A. of Bresso, a suburb of Milan. Company chairman Renzo Rivolta and his colleague, former Ferrari engineer Giotto Bizzarrini, saw it as a Gran-Turismo Car in the original sense of the term, designed for long and memorable journeys. For the design of the body he contacted Bertone and the construction of the chassis was assigned to Bizarrini. The car was large enough to carry four people in relative comfort. 

Equipped with a 5.4 L V8 Corvette engine, the car could reach 60 mph in about 8 seconds, and top speed was about 235 kph. The engine could also be had with 340 SAE hp at 6000 rpm (IR 340) but produced less torque in that set-up. 

Production ended in 1969 and in total 797 cars were made. (wikipedia)























































































(Photos from petrolicious.com, supercars.net, conceptcarz.com, mycarquest.com & pessacauto.com)