i admit i am not an expert on these but i thought they were more expensive than that... is the car at coys a real 5300?
Attached is a picture of my Bizzarrini GT 5300 Strada at the Sonoma Marin Councours earlier this year. Image Unavailable, Please Login
See more here http://***********************/2011/01/iso-bizzarrini-what-class.html and here http://***********************/p/1966-bizzarrini-gt-5300-strada-ia30256.html Image Unavailable, Please Login
I believe this shot was taken at the 1968 Turin motor show. Am I wrong or not? http://cgi.ebay.com/1968-Bizzarrini-GT-Strada-5300-Factory-Photo-/350372317420
Wow Philippe, fantastic shots! Thanks a lot for sharing that. What years and places was takean each shot with P538? Is it shassis 001?
looks like all the Bizza' racecar drivers, drove 'em hard! ...they are all crashed up on the side of the road!!!
Great shots Love the red P538 Those two shots are from the same race, same car 226, I believe it hit a Fiat Topolino. Bizzarrini and Iso A3C cars were fast , but it was one of the smallest teams and they had very little funds compared to their competition.
I did some car dealings with James Phelan from Virginia way back around 1990 and he owned one of the 538's, one of the better ones to own, if I am not mistaken, with Lamborghini 12 cyl. 'guts', again it was a long time ago, so pretty sure I am correct note disclaimer, so I am not flamed by the 'experts' for posting or sharing information that does not meet the higher standard around here
Most Bizzarrinis were rode hard and put away wet back in the day. That is one reason why there are so few good ones left (the other reason is that so few were made). Here are some pictures of my Bizzarrini at The Quail in 2009: http://***********************/2011/02/quail-motorsport-gathering.html This picture below is from The Best of France & Italy in 2008. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Only one or two Biz P538's were made with the Lamborghini engine. All others had the 327 Corvette engine. The P538 calls out the specs 5.3 litre 8 cylinder. So in Theory the Lambo car should be a P3512 or P4012 The P538 was Bizzarrini's rear mid engined race car, only a handful were made, Bizzarrini went bankrupt then there were some unfinished cars that were completed and Bizzarrini built a number of them in the years following, how many no one knows for sure. Are these cars built after the factory closed down real Bizzarrini's? Many were built by him, but not while his company Autostar was in bussiness. This opens the door to many opinions. He built these cars till he was 80 years old before retiring last year. One of his ex Autostar workers Diamonte built a few too. How many P538 type cars are around today maybe 15-30.
again, if I remember correctly, his was '1 of 2', so guessing it is one of the serial numbers you posted, he had an awesome array of cars....silver Countach, black 289 cobra, red Mangusta, I think a Mistral Spyder, and on and on, kept 'em in a building on display, I had a photo somewhere....anyway, the P538 was his most coveted car.
Here is a pic of an acquaintance's friend car going thru the last engine bay details. ps I still haven't figure out why one would use a rear distributor motor in a car where the motor is set back (Corvette motor in a Bizz vs Ford motor in a Pantera/Mangusta). Still I really enjoy the beauty and style of these 'hybrid' cars. Image Unavailable, Please Login
After Bizzarrini designed the Lamborghini V12 engine for Mr. Lamborghini the men did not see eye to eye, so Bizzarrini left and was hired by Renzo Rivolta for the Iso company. Renzo wanted to build a true GT to compete against Ferrari,he knew he couldn't use an Italian engine because his source would get cut off due to Ferrari's muscle and Jedi ways, so Renzo asked Bizzarrini to source the best available engine. Bizzarrini did his homework and came back to report that the 327 Chevrolet was "the" best engine at that time. Strong, reliable and inexpensive. Iso struck a deal with GM and the engine was used in the GT. The results were better than imagined, they then used it in the Iso company's new race car called the A3C. It placed 9th overall at LeMans and won it's class first time out. The 327 was then used in the street version called the Grifo. Bizzarrini later left Iso and used it in all of the Bizzarrini/ Autostar cars, 5300 and the P538. Ford engines sit high and narrow, the 327 was low and fat, a better fit for a low slung 43 inch high 5300 Strada. What you don't like to access your distributor thru the top of the dash? You can make adjustments while you drive.
