Bizzarrini 5300GT Strada
TIPPED BY: DONALD OSBORNE
What a shape. Is there anything more exciting? Donald Osborne doesn’t think so, and at the Audrain Automobile Museum in Rhode Island, where Donald is CEO, they’ve just acquired one. That means some time behind the wheel for our lucky expert, who says the driving experience matches the drama of the bodywork. ‘I also drove a Corvette of the same age with the same engine, and the difference is so dramatic. It’s like a ’66 Mustang versus the Shelby GT350 – it’s another planet. In this case, saving 300lb in weight, moving the engine back behind the front axle and making the whole car just 41½ inches high transforms everything.’
This car is the creation of Giotto Bizzarrini, the man behind the Ferrari 250GTO, the first Lamborghini V12 engine and the Iso Rivolta – quite a CV. Using a shortened Rivolta chassis he built this dramatic coupé with an aim towards competition, and though it achieved a ninth place at Le Mans in 1965 it had to race in the prototype class because too few had been sold for homologation. Depending on source, 115, 133 or 149 were built by 1968, perhaps 20 of them the riveted aluminium-bodied A3/C cars meant for racing. The Strada versions were also mainly aluminium but with some in GRP. Which is where the trouble starts, as Donald explains, ‘There are lots of fakes, or at least cars with dubious histories. At first, people were rebodying Grifos, but as their values rose, cars have been copied from the ground up. It’s not that hard to do, especially because the mechanicals are so easy to copy and there’s so much information online. So you really have to check, is this chassis 033 that I’m being offered the only 033 out there?’
With due diligence, £800k-£1m buys a genuine car. More is needed for a perfect two-owner example with a charming story. Half the price of a Miura SV… for something that makes a Miura look commonplace.