One Long Lost Iso Grifo – Part 3: Resurrection

by | Aug 2, 2016 | Grifo, Iso, Monterey, Restoration | 0 comments

I have had the long lost Iso Grifo #369 in my shop and I treated the car to a “sympathetic recommissioning” by not altering the car’s appearance but just cleaning it by retaining it’s (most coveted) patina. By now we all realize this word has been misused in many places, however, this car BREATHES it! The car came to me with the front fenders full of the small “mechanics dents”, the main reason why Sam (the second owner) parked the car decades ago. To correct this I hired a friend who is a specialist in this field and flies all over the world to help owners of special cars out. He is a person who does not use any paint, but “massages” the sheet metal and makes the sheet metal come out perfectly straight. He did exactly that and the fenders look like factory originals now…

The second person I hired was a detail specialist who first assessed the paint and told me what to expect. He found a few old repairs, probably from small dings (door) and rock chips (valance areas). At some edges there were some touch ups done a long time ago, the present ones were left to add to the character of the car. He suggested to hand-polish the paint and make the repairs disappear as much as possible. So he spent 4 days on a stool in my shop; NO machines but all kinds of polishes, rags, cleaners and waxes. When he was done the car truly showed off its 22000-kilometer heritage! There were no areas overly “restored”; he put it back as one would expect the factory would have delivered it. What I was most excited about was to have found a Grifo with bone stock gray metallic body parts on it – after detailing these parts I was able to extract the correct color code which I will use for my current (and future) Grifo restorations! The color is a medium charcoal but holds 4 different colors of metallic flakes – very fine but visible with a magnifying glass under sunlight. Right, I didn’t hold it there too long! 😎

While the exterior was being detailed I had an interior specialist go through the interior to mainly restore the original leather and corduroy. The leather was still supple but did have some aging signs and a bit of discoloration in the driver’s seat edge. He was able to make it all come out beautiful, when you open the doors on this car it feels like you’re in 1974!

The trunk compartment held the highly coveted Iso tool roll, Bettani jack, fully original upholstery and an even more awesome find: a spare wheel which has never been mounted! The original Cinturato tire is like new and never touched the road! So the trunk compartment was easy to clean up and put back to the year 1972.

The engine compartment needed more cleanup work, obviously old oil and oxidized parts. Several parts were missing their (black) paint and we decided to not repaint them but preserve the parts as they are – just clean them. The engine got serviced, a few new tie rods were installed and the car now runs and drives like any restored Grifo I handled.

Some repairs I did: the vacuum headlights did not open; they were connected wrong after a solenoid locked up – I put new bellows in and they now work perfectly. The door windows did not work and it turned out some “mechanic” had tried to re-use the brittle (Ducellier) motor gears and (of course) they failed again – leaving Sam wondering if they could do ANYTHING right to his Iso! I DO give the “mechanic” some credit for his inventiveness though, I included his “good for ten minutes fix” of the gears with steel wire and resin… Looking at the picture; I’m glad Sam did not give him more to work on! It does have 2 (non-audible, small) holes in its exhaust system but I don’t see it my task to change anything on it – it still carries the (now non-existent) Iso-stamped chrome muffler tips. One of the many revelations Grifo 369 brought us by just existing.

The car is still in my shop to assist in another project I’m dealing with: to restore a client’s Iso Grifo who’s sheet metal has been badly mangled by an accident, but even more by the welding job afterward. That car is missing it’s original factory dimensions and Sam’s Grifo 369 is very happy to offer it’s perfect body for all kinds of cardboard take-offs.
I have made known to the Iso-Bizzarrini community that this car still exists and for all of them this is the first time they laid eyes on it. Only 5 or 6 of them ever saw it in person but they rave about it (as they should). A true miracle how it could go undetected all these years, especially in this condition. Sam should be hailed for how respectful he treated his car, he is the one who kept it and made the word “survivor” mean too little for a car of this caliber. It now gets driven occasionally and it will probably be shown at the Supercar Sunday next week – it’s first non-work related outing in decades. I’m looking forward to it!

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Restoration Chronicles: Iso Fidia – Disassembly 2

by | Aug 1, 2016 | Fidia, Iso, Restoration | 0 comments

In the doors the original factory color came out – a for that time highly popular “Oro Antico Metallizzato” or metallic gold. The owner and I quickly decided it was not going back to factory color. 😎 A look inside the doors showed where the external rust bubbles came from – it became clear there was more rust waiting for me. The factory put a tar like coating on the blank sheet metal, however it soon cracked and gave water plenty of opportunities to attack. This is the main reason why most of these S4/Fidias are rusted out and need (very) extensive sheet metal work. Luckily this one is not as bad as most. Obviously the floors got saved by the dry climate this car was used in.

Further dangerous electrical “fixes”, lots of bondo gobs and Mickey Mouse “repairs” with silicone. Many bolts inside the doors were rusted stuck and no WD40 or blow torch made them come out whole. Interesting detail: these cars were painted with the door hinges installed, under them there was no more than a light coat of black primer. Of course this looks awful when the hinges come off. These cars were not meant to exist longer than 10 years, so in fact the ones surviving did very well.

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1967 Iso Grifo For Sale

by | Jul 3, 2016 | For Sale, Grifo, Iso | 0 comments

Exclusively for sale on my site and available immediately is this beautiful 1967 Iso Grifo GL300. The car was the Paris Show Car in 1966 and was uniquely furbished for that event; it is fully documented from new on. The paint color is unique to this car and most insiders agree this particular car was ordered by Mr. Nuccio Bertone himself – making it an Italian delivery Grifo. The car was afterwards in long term Dutch ownership where I saw it in person; a nicely kept and serviced original Grifo with proud ownership. (M. Anderssen) The car is now in the US and has received a very nice repaint and detail work which brought back it’s old glory. It is equipped with the high performance version of the 327 Corvette V8, coupled to a 4 speed manual transmission and 3.07 De Dion rear end. It is a very well handling and driving car and can be enjoyed right away. Many more pictures, just ask. No disappointments on this one! USD 435,000.00.
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