Guide: Iso Grifo 90
Background
The late 1980s saw several manufacturers try to muscle in on the booming premium car market. New firms like Cizeta and MCA were established while major companies including McLaren and Yamaha started to develop monstrously expensive Formula 1 cars for the road.
Old names were brought back from the dead too, the most notable of which was Bugatti.
For a short while, it also looked like Iso would be undergoing a revival.
After marque founder Renzo Rivolta had died in 1966, Iso had been managed by his son, Piero.
In 1989, Piero Rivolta thought the time was right to re-establish Iso and offer a GT car in the mould of the famous A3/L Grifo.
Like the original, the new Grifo 90 would be a front-engined Grand Tourer powered by an American V8 and clothed in a handsome body.
The project was to be a collaboration between several highly respected specialists.
Dallara Automobili would be responsible for the chassis and drivetrain, Marcello Gandini would design the bodywork and Callaway Cars would supply uprated Corvette ZR1 engines.
Launch
A full sized mock up was unveiled to the press in spring 1990 and was very favourably received.
Quite unlike anything else available at the time (certainly from an Italian manufacturer), the Grifo 90 would have made an interesting alternative to an Aston Martin Virage or AMG Mercedes W126.
By this time, most firms had abandoned the front-engined GT market in favour of mid-engined sports cars so competition was limited.
Gandini’s creation adopted all the latest features like body-coloured bumpers, concealed cockpit pillars and wraparound glass.
Overall, the car was well proportioned and the clean profile was unencumbered by spoilers or other aerodynamic devices.
Unfortunately though, by mid 1990, the global economy had gone into a tailspin and liquidity quickly dried up.
Piero Rivolta’s anticipated government funding never materialised and the Grifo 90 project was quietly abandoned.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Iso
