Thursday, June 23, 2011

Good Days And Bad Days - In Pictures

by Mike -

The day this first picture was taken was certainly a good day for Stephen Mitchell as he visited the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris recently to see The Art of the Automobile (some of Ralph Lauren's cars).

Or, more precisely, to see this special Ferrari 250 GTO that Stephen once owned. But when he owned this 250 GTO it spent its time on the roads of Southern California or on a race track, not in a museum.


Stephen is on the right, in the middle is Jeanetta Dumouchel, a producer, with Stephen, on the Carrera Panamericana documentary film and Marc Sonnery on the left, author of Rebel Rebel: Breadvan: The Most Recognizable Ferrari in the World

You can read Stephen's account of this day here.

A good day below for Renzo Rivolta, president of Iso, when the truck is loaded with new Iso Rivolta GTs on the way to their owners.


Not a good day for racing an Iso Grifo A3/C (the predecessor to the Bizzarrini GT 5300).


A good day racing an Iso Rivolta GT.


Trouble at the track for two Bizzarrinis.


John Lennon looks over an Iso and later buys one or maybe three. Good for the salesman, for Iso and John Lennon.


Fires and cars do not mix well, especially a Lamborghini Miura.


Anytime there is a silver Bizzarrini in the picture is good day.


Now wouldn't you like to be this guy (Lord Lichfield) in 1968 somewhere in London, Chelsea I think,  sitting on the trunk lid (boot) of his Iso Grifo?


I do not think this Ferrari is supposed to be on the sand bank.


Anytime you are ahead of a 250 GTO in a race that would be a good day. This Iso A3/C in the lead looks like the same car that crashed in one of the pictures above but I believe it is a different race.


Click on the images for a larger view.

Many good days involve cool cars.


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4 comments:

  1. Re: Photo of leaning on the boot lid of the Iso Grifo - back in about 1983 I attended the Industrial Design conference at Stanford University. The featured speaker was Guigaro and the courtyard was filled with various examples of cars he had designed, on display by local owners. One such was a Bizzarini GT 5300. I spent a fair bit talking with the owner and looking over the car, which had the unfortunate effects of someone previously leaning on the boot lid, and creasing the aluminum which wasn't really intended to be leaned on (especially downward).

    Mike M

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  2. Mike M.,

    The aluminum body on. Bizzarrini GT 5300 is thin and should never be leaned on as you saw. The body on an Iso Grifo, however, is steel except the hood which is aluminum. So, leaning on a Grifo trunk lid gently should not hurt. Although I have noticed that the steel seems to be thin. When I wipe the top of my Grifo I can feel it move a little.

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  3. Great post & photos! Thank you for the inclusion!

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  4. Stephen,

    Thanks for the use of your special photo in France.

    ReplyDelete