It is pretty easy to get caught up in a bidding frenzy, auctions are designed in such a way that they create an environment conducive to the activity.
Sometimes you will still get a bargain, other times you might end up paying a little more than one might expect. This was the case for one German enthusiast when he bought a thoroughly rusted out Iso Grifo. Although they are painfully rare and worth an absolute fortune in original or restored condition, the Grifo in question was in anything but that kind of shape.
It was indeed a “barn-find” but unfortunately the sports car never got a barn, just a tarp in a UK field for over a decade. For an outside observer, paying this kind of money for any vehicle may seem absurd, let alone a car without a floor.
8 Bidding War
Although the car was in a deplorable state, these classic sports cars become seriously desirable and even more rare, so the initial evaluation stood at a relatively lofty $50,000.
It's fair to say the car did a lot better than expected, as a bidding war ensued and the price kept on going up. A mere 4 minutes later, a telephone bidder swooped in, and the hammer came down at a scarcely believable sum of $172,000. If you take shipping and travel expenses into account, getting the pile of rust from the UK to Germany would bring the overall cost very close to $200,000.
7 Worse Than He Thought
After calling in his incredible bid, Wolfgang Dippold only laid eyes on the car for the first time when it finally arrived in Germany. By his own admission, he didn’t expect it to be quite as bad as it was.
This was seemingly the price he had to pay to get an unrestored (or in this case neglected) Iso Grifo because he didn’t want a car that had been restored, and with so few floating around for sale there are almost none available in any form of original condition.
6 One Of 400
Like many Italian sports car manufacturers of the era, they were forced to close their doors by the mid 70s as tastes changed and global oil prices soared.
As a result, the company that also gave us the Isetta Bubble Car was also forced to shutter in 1974 after making just over 400 of these beautiful cars. This makes them highly collectable and explains, at least to some extent, why a rusty one is still clearly worth a lot.
5 Childhood Dream
More often than not, we will pay far too much for our dream car, it is only natural. Since he was a kid, Dippold had held onto a Matchbox version of the Grifo, dreaming of one day owning one.
His opportunity came along, and he was willing to part ways with far more money than any other collector or enthusiast might have in a quest to fulfill that dream.
4 Meticulous Restoration
Obviously he didn’t get this to just look at it, he sent it to a shop based in Bamberg to get most of the bodywork done, but naturally had to scavenge for some parts that needed replacing.
Some parts had to be specially made, like the trunk lid that got made from scratch by a specialist. On a car like this, it is to be expected that there will be many hurdles, but some hurdles were self-inflicted. As this was a car designated for sale in the UK it was made in right-hand-drive, but Dippold had a full left-hand-drive conversion done, necessitating even more work.
3 Giugiaro Lines
When he got the car it had a yellow paint job, but upon discovery that the car was originally silver, he decided to change it to a far more elegant light blue.
The transformation highlights the beauty of Giugiaro’s design with wonderful flowing lines. It is in stark contrast to his more famous wedges and actually illustrates just how diverse his design skill set really was, the Grifo is truly one of his best works.
2 American Muscle
What made the Grifo so special at the time is pretty much what DeTomaso later tried to emulate with varying degrees of success.
Combining Italian style with raw American power, the early versions, like the one pictured here, all came with Chevy 327 (mighty mouse) small block engines making between 300 and 350 horsepower (literally varying from one customer to the next).
1 Potential Profit
It might sound crazy, but according to the latest valuations, it is actually possible. To be clear though, Dippold had no intention of selling this, his long time dream car, but like many, he has had a recent, rather costly health scare and his baby is up for sale.
Although there is no pricing on the website, and we can’t be sure exactly how much he spent on the restoration, the car is worth as much as $500,000.