My favourite classic car spots over the lat week. Another immaculate E Type Jaguar.
View attachment 493358
View attachment 493359
Here's a better pic of the Triumph Vitesse in front of it.
View attachment 493360
A Mercedes 280 SE Convertible.
View attachment 493361
View attachment 493362
An excellent condition Porsche 928.
View attachment 493363
And I guess from the reg plate that has this registered from 1974, that this is a replica, if it is its a good one. Love the huge lights, bet they cost a fortune these days. The SS Jaguar 100.
View attachment 493364
The SS brand of car stood for Swallow Sidecar hinting at the company's past. A certain Mr Hitler in WW2 gave the abbreviation 'SS' a much more sinister connotation, and was not the kind of branding you want on a post war British sports car. So in 1945 they changed the name to Jaguar. Wow I never knew that.
But my favourite, and a real discovery, and something I've never even heard of. This is just the sort of retro Italian styling I love, the design is by Bertone and rather than a screaming Italian engine, instead it has big burbling Ford 5.7 Litre V8. This one is from 1974, the last year the company made cars, unfortunately it was right after the OPEC oil crisis of 1973, which signalled the end of big gas guzzling cars like this,. As a result these are very rare. The colour is great too, so damn cool.
. Behold, the Iso Rivolta Lele.
View attachment 493365
View attachment 493366
View attachment 493367
Note: the old Mercedes 180 parked in front of it is the same one I photographed on page 24.
While looking up that I discovered Giotto Bizzarrini, who worked for Ferrari on their legendary 250 GTO. He left Ferrari to work for Iso. However Iso's owner Renzo Rivolta was more interested in making road cars, whereas Bizzarrini was more interested in racing, so he split with them and set up his own outfit, and went on to make this, the amazing looking Bizzarrini 5300 GT Strada. I love the interior and exterior, in fact I think from the rear its one of the best looking designs from the golden era of car design for me, when cars looked fast and beautiful. Feast your eyes on this:
https://silodrome.com/bizzarrini-5300-gt/
At the end of that is a link to a cool short film about Luciano Rupolo who has some exotic cars, including another Iso, a stunning Ferrari 250 GTE, and for Porsche fans also tells the tale of his discovery, rebuild and eventual sale of Porsche #004 .
