One to Buy: 1 of 1 ex-Rudi Klein Geneva Motor Show 1964 Iso A3/L Grifo Spider
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Precisely one year after Renzo Rivolta ambitiously announced the arrival of his high end line of Iso motor cars with the elegant IR300 / IR340, a pair of stunning ultra sporty Gran Turismos dubbed Grifo were unveiled at the Turin Motor Show in October 1963.
Both the A3/L ‘Luxury’ model and A3/C ‘Corsa’ had been engineered by Giotto Bizzarrini; Bizzarrini would build and race the Drogo-bodied A3/C out of his facility in Livorno while assembly of the A3/L would take place at Iso’s factory in Milan (with bodies supplied by Bertone of Turin).
The next major European motor show to take place after Turin was the Geneva Salon in March. Here, Bertone presented a stunning A3/L Grifo Spider to complement the original Coupe design from Turin. However, although a Targa-topped version of the A3/L was later offered, the full Spider displayed at Geneva (chassis 420002) remained a one-off.
On October 26th, that unique A3/L Grifo Spyder will be going under the hammer as part of the extraordinary Rudi Klein Junkyard Collection with RM Sotheby’s.
420002 was first titled in the United States by David Ellis of New York City in 1967. The car was later sold to a dealer in Southern California and, in 1973, it joined the collection of TV producer and noted car collector, Greg Garrison.
Rudi Klein, a friend of Garrison, purchased the Spider in 1980. By this time the car had been refinished red having at some point prior been involved in an accident that necessitated the installation of a different Grifo front clip with slightly different features to 420002’s original prototype nose.
Rudi Klein occasionally used the car for a while before it went into his yard and never departed.
