Market Finds: Bespoke Iso Rivolta Quickly Delivers the Bread

Bespoke Iso Rivolta Quickly Delivers the Bread

By Petrolicious Productions
April 23, 2013
4 comments

This week’s Crave Car is a one-off 1965 shooting brake Iso Rivolta with a strong resemblance to the Ferrari 250 GT Drogo “bread van”. The seller makes no claims of originality, but we’re guessing it’s probably not a recent retrofit—Rivoltas, though not stratospherically priced, are still not common enough that radical re-bodies are in the realm of sane collecting strategy.

Rivoltas combined Golden-age Italian design with reliable Detroit-sourced power, much like DeTomaso did with the Mangusta and Pantera, but in a more luxurious, Gran Turismo style—hence the front engine placement and relatively luxurious interior appointments of standard cars. This particular example has a race-stripped interior with a serious-looking matte black metal dash, toggle switches, cable door pulls, quilted transmission tunnel and some very cool gauges with interesting placement—we’re sure it’s a loud, cramped, hot and not particularly comfortable or safe place to be, all of which does nothing to diminish our enthusiasm. This particular car is motivated by 5.4 liters of Chevrolet small block, likely producing about 450 HP or so.

Though not described with an abundance of information or photos, from what we see and what little we’ve read or interest is definitely piqued. Though quite a bit more expensive than a standard Rivolta, its rarity and unique bodywork could potentially make it a steal, provided there’s good answers to quite a few unanswered questions about condition, originality etc. If everything checks out, we can’t imagine another car that would provide similar levels of style and rarity for anything close to the asking price.

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TrioClassics
TrioClassics
6 years ago

I had the pleasure of seeing this vehicle at the 2012 Kuwait Concours and I took pictures simply because I was intrigued as well as memorized by it’s beauty and not authenticity. At the time I thought who am I to question the true identity of this car but thank he who made it possible for me to see and admire. Regrettably there are those who claim to be automotive historians who would do anything to downgrade such a beauty and not look at the other side of the coin or the equation. This beauty was developed by her creators and we should lean to appreciate and not contradict. and price shouldn’t be the most important factor. Both BreadVans attended the 2012 Q8 Concours and I thank both for giving us the enthusiasts the opportunity to admire.

Matthew Lange
11 years ago

This is actually based on a 65 Iso Rivolta and not a (much more desirable) Grifo. It’s been knocking around the classifieds and auctions for sometime, failing to sell with a high bid of far less than £120,000 at last years Silverstone Classic auction http://www.silverstoneauctions.com/1965-iso-rivolta-breadvan-

Alan Franklin
11 years ago
Reply to  Matthew Lange

Thanks for the correction, Matthew. An updated version of the story is on the way.

Burt Munro
Burt Munro
10 years ago
Reply to  Matthew Lange

At least the colors are better than the Iso Lele I saw at the grocery store (honest) a coupla years ago. He had bought it done up in an absolutely horrid 1980’s yellow/black scheme that made me want to cry.

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