DeTomaso Mailing List: February 98, Message #245
     



From: 	MikeLDrew@aol.com

Subject: Re:  Motor Trend & Good Guys (Italio-American hybrids)

Date: 	Thu, 5 Feb 1998 00:50:24 +0000



Warning:  DeTomaso content here is mighty slim indeed.



Shane wrote:



>As I recall, there were 2 Italian-Chevv hybrids; the Iso (the test would

likely use the Iso Grifo) and the early Italias.  



>>>Don't forget about the Bizzarrini GT America, one of the most screamingly

bizarre cars ever made!  It stood only 43 inches high (pretty damn difficult

for a front-engined car), weighed about 2500 lbs, with 50/50 weight

distribution, a swoopy fiberglass body, and a pumped-up Corvette motor

breathing through Webers with no air cleaners.  Only a few dozen were made;

they command big bucks now.



>From what I recall, Italias never came with Chevy motors originally.  The

project was started in '66 by a wannebe Enzo from Long Island, by name of

Griffith, who first became famous (or infamous, really) for the wicked TVR

Griffith, which was basically a badminton shuttlecock with wheels and 250

horsepower.  One of my favorite anecdotes is by Rich Taylor:



"I've driven a Griffith ONCE, and vowed never to set foot in one again.  My

racing Yamaha motorcycle at 150 mph on the high banks of Daytona is safer

than a Griffith sitting in your garage.  If there ever was a Killer Kar, this

is it.  Flimsy, overpowered, really vicious handling that will spin you out

just accelerating away from the curb...there has never been a more dangerous

production vehicle."



After foisting about 200 of them on an unsuspecting public, he decided to

build a decent car for a change.  In '66 he hooked up with expatriate

American Frank Reisner who ran a carrozzeria called Intermeccanica in Turin

(Reisner's first project was one of the first hybrid cars, the '63-65 Apollo

GT, powered by the all-aluminum 215 cubic inch Buick V-8 which today lives on

as the Rover motor.)  Reisner designed a ladder frame designed to accept a

Mustang drivetrain, with independent front suspension and a Mustang rear axle

modified for disc brakes.  Another American designed the body, and soon cars

started being built, to be called simply Griffith.



The first batch was shipped to the states, but before even finishing a single

car, Griffith quickly went broke, and the guys holding the lien inherited 30

engineless cars.  They changed the name to Omega and had Holman and Moody

install the Mustang drivetrains.  But they too went broke before the public

ever knew they existed, leaving about 150 unfinished cars still in Italy.  At

this point, Reisner decided to give it a shot himself, and changed the name

of the car AGAIN to Italia.  He cut a deal with Ford for engines, and formed

his own distribution network, and started actually selling cars.  In 1967 he

added a convertible to the line, called Torino.  He sold about 1000 Italias

and Torinos before being forced out of business by the same safety and

emissions regulations that killed the Pantera, in 1974.



Anyway, the Omegas used the 271 hp 289 GT Mustang motor, while the Italias

and Torinos initially used the same 302 as the Mangusta (there's your

obligatory DeTomaso content!), and later 351 Clevelands.  By the time

production ended, like the Pantera (more DeTomaso!), most of the bugs had

been worked out and it really was a decent car.



In '69 Reisner had enough extra cars that he could start selling them in

Europe.  His German distributor was Erich Bitter, who then got Reisner

together with Opel (the European arm of GM), and they liked it.  A deal was

struck, and in 1971 together they began producing the Intermeccanica Indra,

which was basically a restyled, updated Italia.  It was fitted with 327 or

350 Chevy smallblocks taken from the Opel Diplomat.  These were never

formally exported to the States, though, reserved for the German market

instead.



That said (I remembered most of the above myself, but cheated and peeked in a

book to confirm a few facts), I thought that some Italias had Chevy motors,

although my books make no mention of it.  Since the project was started up

with Mustang power, and then Holman and Moody (big-time Ford guys) stepped in

using their Ford connections to get drivetrains, and when Reisner went it

alone he got an engine deal from Ford right away, so perhaps the

Chevy-powered cars were cobbled together from left-over bodies purchased

(less engine) when the company was between owners?



Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller?  :>)



Mike