It might not be the biggest name in the car world today, but there's little doubt of the considerable legacy that Bizzarrini left. The Italian automaker was founded in the Sixties by Giotto Bizzarrini, a wealthy engineer and car designer who decided to set up his own firm after disagreements with the other big Italian companies of the day. Bizzarrini's cars quickly gained a reputation as being some of the fastest in the world, and their rarity has made them highly sought-after collector's items today.
But, it wasn't plain sailing for this upstart sports car manufacturer, far from it. From dealing with a racing disaster that nearly killed the brand's best driver and surrounding spectators, to a ground-breaking sports car that got canceled last minute, there have been plenty of obstacles that Bizzarrini and his company came up against along the way. It was recently announced that a revived version of the brand would start delivering new cars to customers in April 2022, so it's a great time to take a look back through the company's history and see what most people have forgotten about Bizzarrini and its sports cars.
10 Bizzarrini Was Fired By Ferrari
Giotto Bizzarini first rose to prominence as the chief of experimental sports car development at Ferrari, with his work including the 250 TR, 250 GT SWB, and the legendary 250 GTO. However, Bizzarrini and several other senior staff were concerned about Enzo Ferrari's wife becoming involved in the company, and demanded in 1961 that Enzo remove her from the business.
Enzo refused, and promptly fired all of those staff on the spot. The move came at a difficult time for Ferrari, as a lot of new competition was emerging from overseas and Ferrari was seen as starting to lose its edge. However, Enzo managed to find new engineers and recovered the company, leaving the ousted staff to find work with the Prancing Horse's rivals.
9 He Worked At Iso Before Forming His Own Company
After his unceremonious dismissal from Ferrari, Bizzarrini found work at Iso Rivolta. He was only at the company for a few years but helped develop two of their most famous cars, the Grifo (shown above) and the Rivolta GT (shown below).
The Grifo would become a particularly important car for Bizzarrini, as its design would become the foundation for his own sports car, the 5300 Strada. A revised version of the Grifo was developed for racing, with a very similar design to the Bizzarrini-built 5300 that would follow.
8 In 1964, Bizzarrini S.p.A. Was Formed
By 1964, it was clear that the partnership between Bizzarrini and Iso was coming to an end, mostly thanks to a difference of views between Bizzarrini and Iso boss Renzo Rivolta. Rivolta wanted to focus on building luxurious GT cars, but Bizzarrini was more concerned about racing.
He left and took his designs with him, eventually opening a factory in Livorno, in the Tuscan region of Italy. There, he set about building his first race cars, which were entered into several races in 1965 without much success.
7 There Was A Disaster At The 1965 12 Hours Of Sebring
Of all the failed races in 1965, the 12 Hours of Sebring stands out as a particular disaster. One of the cars that entered the race crashed due to brake failure, hitting the side of a Volkswagen bus and becoming a total write-off in the process. The other car aquaplaned in heavy rain, hitting a bridge and splitting in two.
The split car was only a few feet away from killing either the driver or the spectators, but thankfully no one was seriously injured in the collision. To top things off, after the race, one of Bizzarrini's most prominent American backers was killed in a plane crash flying back from the event.
6 The First Road Car Was The 5300 Strada
Perhaps in response to the disastrous events of 1965, Bizzarrini focused on building his first road car in 1966. It was based on his earlier Iso Grifo design but featured several revisions to streamline the bodywork for better aerodynamics.
It was called the 5300 Strada, and it's very rare as only 133 examples were reportedly built. It's gone on to become the company's most famous car, with examples shooting up in price at auction over the past few years.
5 The Europa Was A Smaller, Cheaper Option
The 5300 Strada might be the most iconic Bizzarrini, but it wasn't the company's only model. A smaller, GT-style car was also offered for sale called the Europa. It was intended that this would be the model that gave the company the mass appeal of its other Italian rivals like Lancia and Alfa Romeo.
The car used the engine and several other internal components from the Opel GT to keep costs down. It might have become successful had it been given more exposure, but financial worries at the company prevented that, and when Bizzarrini closed in 1969 only a handful of examples had been built.
4 The P538 Was The Last Production Bizzarrini
Part of the reason that Bizzarrini always struggled to stay afloat was Giotto Bizzarrini's insistence on making competition cars. These cars never saw much success, displaying blistering pace only to be taken out of the running due to reliability issues or crashes.
The last of the company's race cars was the P538, an open-top two-seater with a Lamborghini V12 engine. After Bizzarrini went bankrupt in 1969, several "continuation" P538s were made by Autoconstruzione SD, many of these with personal input from Giotto Bizzarrini himself.
3 Giugiaro Created The Bizzarrini Manta
In 1968, just a few months before Bizzarrini would close its doors, a newly-independent Giorgetto Giugiaro would rebuild one of the P538s with his own unique design. This car became known as the Bizzarrini Manta, and it was built in collaboration with Giotto Bizzarrini himself.
The two men had previously worked together several times, including when developing the Iso Rivolta GT. It's not clear whether they ever intended to make a production run of the Manta, but due to Bizzarrini's dire financial situation, they never did.
2 Bizzarrini Designed A Car For AMC
After Bizzarrini's company went under, he spent several years working as a design consultant for other companies, with his next big project being the AMC AMX/3. Unveiled in 1970, the initial plan for the car was that it would be mass-produced in Germany for sale to a global market, establishing AMC as a bigger name in the performance car world.
Bizzarrini co-developed the design with Italdesign, and it seemed like everything was set. Shortly before production was due to start, AMC announced it was axing the project without giving a reason why. Bizzarrini attempted to make his own independent version of the car called the Sciabola, but he couldn't get the project off the ground.
1 The Brand Was Reborn In 2020
A few concept cars followed in the years after the failed AMC project, but nothing much ever came of them. Then, in 2020, it was announced that the rights to the Bizzarrini name had been sold to Pegasus Group, who announced plans to recreate the classic 5300 Strada in limited numbers.
In early 2022, it was confirmed that deliveries would begin in April, with most of the original car's design and features retained. Hopefully, it marks the start of a full revival for the company, with new cars in the pipeline soon.