Bizzarrini Manta - What A Crowd Pleaser

by Mike - 

The Bizzarrini Manta is a one off design exercise by the famous Giorgetto Giugiaro. It was the very first design for his new company ItalDesign which was later renamed Italdesign Giugiaro and was acquired by Volkswagen last year.

The Manta was created in 1968 and has an unusual center driver seating position with a passenger on each side of the driver. An arrangement that was used by the McLaren F1 more than 20 years later. 

The Manta uses a Bizzarrini P538 chassis and it was a rolling chassis for many years.

Over its lifetime it has been painted silver, red, green and is now back to its original color of “blue green aqua”, a turquoise color.

This beautiful car has been restored to its original condition and has a Corvette 327 cid engine in place behind the driver and passengers. 

The Manta was shown at the Turin Auto Show in 1968 and was on the cover of the March 1969 issue of Road & Track.

This car has won many awards and was shown at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in 2008.

It is now on display at the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California as part of their Supercars Exhibit through February 5, 2012.

Like many works of art, pictures cannot accurately communicate what this car is like in person.

The Bizzarrini Manta is owned by Ron and Diane Spindler.

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Patina - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

by Mike -

Patina is a word that is used quite frequently in the collector car world.

The definition of patina from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary: |pəˈtēnə|, noun

1 a : a usually green film formed naturally on copper and bronze by long exposure or artificially (as by acids) and often valued aesthetically for its color

   b : a surface appearance of something grown beautiful especially with age or use

2: an appearance or aura that is derived from association, habit, or established character

3: a superficial covering or exterior

I pointed out to a friend recently that the interior of his original 1960s valuable collector car was dirty and he replied that is "patina".

We were joking around but it started me thinking about what is good patina and when does the patina indicate that the car should be restored?

The Hudson Hornet interior below is all original and it looks wonderful.

This car is also pictured at the top, the paint is not original. At some point the owner decided that the paint and some of the chrome needed to be replaced but he did not touch the interior which to me looked nearly new.

This Iso Grifo below (Iso Grifo For Sale - A Forest Find) certainly has an interesting patina and not much paint left.

Darren Frank tells me that GT Motorcar were the US East Coast Iso Grifo importer in the 1960s. Their sticker is still on this Iso Grifo, so it seems very likely that this car has its original paint.

Is this original paint, and the patina, worth keeping? It certainly would be nice to save that sticker.

Below is the 40+ year old interior of my 1966 Bizzarrini GT 5300. It does not look that old but it is different than cars that have been recently fully restored with the goal of winning a Concours d'Elegance.

Ken Phillips, the original owner of this Bizzarrini, told me that Paul Newman once sat in this car - so Paul Newman has touched parts of this interior with his hands and sat on the seat - this very leather! Now, that is some patina worth saving.

Can a classic car with original interior or original paint win a Concours d'Elegance (not the preservation class)?

This topic has been discussed in Car Collector Clichés And Contradictions.

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No Sale Yet For The Forest Find Iso Grifo

by Mike -

The Iso Grifo For Sale - A Forest Find did not sell yet on eBay. The listing just ended with a Buy it Now price of $137,500.

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Preparing For Monterey Car Week - A Cartoon

by Mike -

ATS 2500 GT at Pebble Beach

This is a short cartoon (1:07) based on Car Collector Clichés And Contradictions.



I credit Mike Clarke with introducing me to this new art form. Unless I hear a lot of complaints I may do this again.

I Bought An Iso - A Video By Moviecar

I Bought An Iso - A Video By Moviecar - Part 2

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