It's Back - The Lost Bizzarrini GT 5300 Is For Sale Again

by Mike -

This is the third time this Bizzarrini GT 5300 has been on eBay in the last few days. The other listings ended because, as eBay wrote "...the item is no longer available."

I wrote about this car before here and here.

The name plates on the rear above are unusual.

I am not sure what is the purpose of the picture above. I think they should have shown the oil pan, which is mentioned in the new text below.

There are some new pictures and additional information from the seller below. I believe this was added to answer questions from callers.

"COMPLETE--MAG OIL PAN--ALUMINUM INTAKE--FRONT BUMPER---SPARE--VERY GOOD ORIGINAL---STARTED RIGHT UP ON REMOTE GAS CAN"

I have never seen a Bizzarrini ID plate like the one above. The screw on the right obscures that last digit of the ID number. The chassis number should be stamped into the frame on the right side of the engine bay and a correct Bizzarrini GT 5300 chassis stamp looks like this one below.

Below is an example of a correct Bizzarrini GT 5300 ID tag.

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I recently wrote about another unknown Bizzarrini GT 5300 for sale here.

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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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Another Bizzarrini GT 5300 For Sale

by Mike -

This 1967 Bizzarrini 5300 GT Strada located in France just appeared on Anamera for sale. It is chassis number IA3*0281 and has been out of sight for many years. The seller claims it is in original condition and is a two owner car. The price is 320,000 Euros ($441,000).

This is the second unknown Bizzarrini GT 5300 to come on the market in the past few days.

I doubt that these valve covers are original. I think it should have the Corvette script finned valve covers.

The interior looks like it could be original. It will be interesting to see how the sale goes.

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Bizzarrini GT 5300 Barn Find For Sale And Not Sold!

by Mike -

This Bizzarrini GT 5300 chassis number IA3*0276 has been re-listed on eBay with a starting price of $360,000.

Apparently it was not sold as I had been led to believe.

Bizzarrini GT 5300 Barn Find For Sale And Probably Sold!

by Mike -

A Bizzarrini GT 5300 was listed on the US eBay site for a few hours today and has apparently sold already. It was in storage for 30 years and appears to be mostly original with one owner since 1973.

I spoke to the dealer twice today who just happens to be located near me in California even though the car is on the US East Coast. In the picture above you can see that the headlight covers are missing and the car is sitting a little high in the front.

Above on the rocker panel and door bottom there is evidence of the electrolysis issue with aluminum bodied cars from the 1960s - this can be expensive to fix.

The white seat coverings are unusual but may be original. The steering wheel and dash look good. The blue carpet also seems unusual but maybe the leather is blue? I cannot tell from the pictures.

Notice the left valve cover is black and the right valve cover is the correct (for a Bizzarrini) Corvette finned aluminum cover. They both work it just looks odd and raises the question - why are they different?

I believe that this car has not run for a long time. There is no battery nor is there a fan. The good news is that it appears that most of the important parts are here and the seller said so as well. 

If you look at the first picture you see that the front bumper is missing as is the Bizzarrini nose badge and I cannot see the two holes used for the nose badge. This raises the possibility of a front end collision where the nose badge holes were filled in and the bumper was not repaired or replaced.

This is chassis number IA3*0276 which has been "lost" to the Bizzarrini community since the beginning of its life.

This is the third "lost" Bizzarrini GT 5300 found in the US in the past few months. I wrote about another one here and here.

This is a very interesting find but the big question for me is why did the owner park this car for 30 years? The answer may help understand how much it will cost to get this car back in running order and what the value will be after it is running or restored, for example, can the original engine be saved?.

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The Best of France & Italy Car Gathering

by Mike -

The Best of France & Italy Car event happens the first Sunday in November every year at Woodley park in Van Nuys, California. This year it is on November 6 from 9:00AM to 4:00PM.

Pebble Beach Winning Bizzarrini GT 5300

Two Iso Rivolta GTs Surround a Bizzarrini GT 5300

This is a very casual event where Jay Leno usually makes an appearance driving a Bugatti or something else French or Italian.

Iso Rivolta GT

Iso Grifo Series 1

The pictures here are from 2008 when I took my Bizzarrini GT 5300 all the way down the California coast.

These pictures below are of my silver Bizzarrini being prepped for a video shoot for the TV show "My Classic Car With Dennis Gage" on Speed Channel.

More Makeup?

I plan to attend this year but without a car. If you are in the area stop by - there will be a few Iso and Bizzarrini cars there plus a lot of other cool cars as well.

Dennis Gage On The Right and Me On The Left Getting Ready For The Video

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The Niello Concours at Serrano

Text and photos by Mike Clarke - a guest article

The Niello Concours at Serrano was held this past Sunday in El Dorado Hills, California located east of Sacramento in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Iso Grifo Series Two

The setting is very picturesque and includes a beautiful green overlooking a lake. This years event focused on the cars of Cord and the 50th anniversary of the Jaguar XKE. There was also a special display of Iso and Bizzarrini cars.

Auburn

Cord

During this years Concorso Italiano event in Monterey I learned that Mike Gulett was planning to attend the Serrano event, and then a week later by chance a good friend and neighbor of mine purchased an Iso Lele. This got me to thinking about putting together an Iso Bizzarrini display for this event.

Iso Lineup

I ran the idea past Brian Moore the coordinator of the show and he gave it a big thumbs up. After a few phone calls and with the help of some Iso Bizzarrini Owner’s Club (IBOC) members we were able to assemble one of the rarer displays of Italian cars for this event.

Iso Rivolta GT

Iso Lele

On Sunday morning I woke up to a fantastic fall day and was excited about the day ahead, however prior to leaving my house I received a phone call from Mike Gulett explaining that he had fallen ill the night before, however, his cars were still on their way (about a three hour drive).  I was very surprised and appreciative that Mike wanted the cars to be in the show even though he was unable to make the event. That is class!

Iso Fidia

I drove my Grifo down to the event and waited for Mike’s transporter to arrive, shortly afterwards I got a phone call explaining the transporter had a flat tire, but was back on the road and would be there a bit later than expected. Wow, what a day, and the event hadn’t even started!

At 10:00 am I heard a low rumble and could see Mike’s beautiful silver Bizzarrini coming thru the covered bridge onto the field. It was an exciting moment as the crowd stopped in their tracks and people were slowly drawn towards the low-slung Bizzarrini that was making its way onto the green.

Bizzarrini GT 5300 Strada

Mike’s car hadn’t been there more than a minute and there was already a crowd three deep around it! Mike’s transport driver, John, returned shortly with Mike's series one Iso Grifo and our Iso Bizzarrini field was complete!

Bizzarrini GT 5300 Strada

Our line up included my Iso Fidia, my series two Iso Grifo, Tom Davis’s white Iso Lele, Joe Hensler’s silver blue Iso Rivolta GT, Mike Gulett’s red series one Iso Grifo and the Bizzarrini GT 5300 Strada.

Iso Bizzarrini Gathering

The show had a nice selection of cars and was well attended. Included were 12 Jaguar XKEs, 6 Cords including an L-29 owned by Christopher Cord of the Cord family, a Mercedes 540K, a Dusenberg J and an Auburn Boattail speedster. In total approximately 250 cars were there.

Ferrari 250 GTE

Ghia

Cord

All through the day the spectators commented on how interesting it was to see all the different styles of Iso cars in one place. And the fantastic Bizzarrini! Most had only seen pictures of Isos and Bizzarrinis.

Iso Grifo Series Two

At the end of the day awards were announced, for our Iso class Joe Hensler's Rivolta GT took first place, my series two Grifo took second, the Bizzarrini was display only so it was not judged, but it was THE star of the show.

The Niello Concours at Serrano made for a memorable day of cars, people, great weather and all in a beautiful location.

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