Red Ribbon Trophy - Racing In France

by Mike -

The Dix Mille Tours (Ten Thousand Laps) is a series of historic races at the Paul Ricard circuit in France held on October 13 this year.

Iso Grifo A3/C, chassis No. 0222

One of these races, the Trofeo Nastro Rosso (Red Ribbon Trophy), included an Iso Grifo A3/C and a Bizzarrini GT 5300. This race is for all Italian GT and sports race cars built up to 1966.

Other cars in this race were two Maserati 300S, several Ferraris (250 GT and 275 GTB) and an Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ.

Bizzarrini GT 5300

Ferrari 275 GTB on the left and Bizzarrini GT 5300 on the right

Maserati 300S

Ferrari 275 GTB/4

The Iso Grifo A3/C driven by Alberto Francioni and Fredy Barth won both races even though it started from the back of the pack. This is the same Iso Grifo A3/C (chassis No. 0222) that won its class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1965. This must be one terrific car - still winning after all these years.

Read more at Ultimatecarpage.com, these photos are from Ultimatecarpage.com.

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It Is A Bizzarrini GT 5300 Strada For Sale At RM

by Mike -

On August 13 I wrote this article stating that RM had a car up for auction in London on 26 October that they called an Iso Grifo A3/C, chassis No. B0232.

This is the same car that was sold in 2009 at Gooding in Monterey as a Bizzarrini GT 5300 Strada, shown above. I inspected this car and I believed it to be a Bizzarrini as stated by Gooding.

I contacted RM in London and questioned why they were changing the marque identification of this car. Their reply was very professional and they said "we will certainly do some more reaserch before the catalogue goes to print".

I am pleased to write today that this car is now correctly listed by RM on their web site as a Bizzarrini 5300.

Three cheers for RM!!

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Iso Grifo A3/C Or Bizzarrini GT 5300 Strada?

by Mike -

RM Auctions is selling a car that they call a 1965 Iso Grifo A3 C, chassis number B0232, at their auction in London in October 2011.

This same car was sold at the Gooding auction in Monterey in August 2009 and was listed by Gooding as a 1965 Bizzarrini GT 5300 Strada. I am not sure why RM has decided to change the brand of this car, so I asked them in an email sent on August 11 and I have not yet received a reply.

All of the pictures of the car here are my pictures from the preview at the Gooding auction in Monterey in August 2009.

The Iso Grifo A3/C is the predecessor to the Bizzarrini GT 5300 Strada and they are basically the same car with the A3/C designed for racing and the GT 5300 Strada designed to be a street car.

The name change occurred in 1965 when Giotto Bizzarrini and Renzo Rivolta, president of Iso, decided to part ways with Bizzarrini taking over the manufacture and selling of this car. Bizzarrini was required to stop using the Iso Grifo name, so he used his own brand.

The engine bay ID tag below clearly says Bizzarrini and all of the badges are Bizzarrini badges. The pictures on the RM Auctions web site show the same badges and ID tag as my photos.

This tag below does have an Iso logo. This car was made at the time when Bizzarrini and Iso were splitting up so it is possible that Bizzarrini used an Iso tag because he did not have his own yet.

However, I am not aware of any evidence proving that this car is an Iso Grifo A3/C rather than a Bizzarrini GT 5300 Strada. It has always been labeled a GT 5300 by previous owners and people who follow the Bizzarrini marque as far as I know.

RM has not published their complete description of this car yet, maybe they will answer this question when they do publish the complete description. I am curious.

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Iso Grifo A3 Nose Badge

Bizzarrini GT 5300 Nose Badge

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Bizzarrini Super Cars

by Mike - 

Corsa (The Race Car)

Strada (The Street Car)

My You Tube channel is here.

Bizzarrini and Robert Palmer are a great combination - put the headsets on and turn up the volume.

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