Cars And Track Staff
Most of the roads in the US are covered in sand, salt, brine and other chemicals that would make a trip to your local Cars and Coffee a suicide run. While we long for better weather let’s all share our favorite spots in this new series. The carslotting purists will deride a spot at a car event, but this is the feature we need to get through these frigid mornings.
“Cars and Coffee” events too often follow a predictable, if beautiful, pattern: a sea of modern 911s (often my choice if I want to fly below the radar), a handful of pristine C8 Corvettes, and the occasional roar of a gated-manual Ferrari. But every once in a while, the automotive gods smile down upon us. This weekend, at our local meet, I saw something that made me drop my espresso: an Iso Grifo.
For the uninitiated, seeing a Grifo in the wild isn’t just “rare”—it’s statistically improbable. While manufacturers like Ferrari were churning out thousands of cars, the Italian boutique firm Iso Autoveicoli was operating on a different plane of exclusivity.
The Ultimate “Hybrid” of the 1960s
The Iso Grifo is the poster child for the “cowboy in an Italian suit” philosophy. It was the brainchild of three industry titans:
- Renzo Rivolta: The ambitious industrialist who wanted to beat Ferrari at his own game.
- Giotto Bizzarrini: The legendary engineer behind the Ferrari 250 GTO.
- Giorgetto Giugiaro: The styling genius at Bertone who penned the car’s aggressive, low-slung lines.
The secret sauce? Underneath that drop-dead gorgeous Italian bodywork beats a heart of pure American iron. Most Grifos, including the Series I models, were powered by the Chevrolet 327 small-block V8, while the legendary “7-Litri” versions stuffed a massive 427 big-block under a unique “Penthouse” hood scoop.
By The Numbers: How Rare is “Rare”?
To understand how excited I was, you have to look at the production totals. Between 1965 and 1974, only 413 Iso Grifos were ever built.
To put that in perspective: - Ferrari 365 GTB/4 “Daytona”: ~1,200+ units.
- Lamborghini Miura: ~760+ units.
- Iso Grifo: Just 413.
In the USA, the numbers are even more staggering. Estimates suggest that only a fraction of these survived the decades, with many tucked away in private European collections. Seeing one idling through a suburban parking lot in 2026 is like seeing a Sasquatch riding a unicorn. - Why It Matters Today
In an era where modern supercars feel increasingly clinical, the Grifo is a visceral reminder of a time when “reliability” and “exotic” didn’t have to be mutually exclusive. Because it uses a Chevy powertrain, it doesn’t suffer from the temperamental nature of vintage Italian V12s. It’s a car you can actually drive to a car show without a chase truck full of mechanics.<p>
The example I spotted was a Series I, finished in a deep metallic blue that caught the morning sun perfectly. It stood as a testament to a short-lived era when a tiny Italian firm could build the fastest production car in the world (hitting 161 mph in 1966) using parts sourced from Detroit.
Did you miss the meet? Follow this and other rare spots right here at www.carsandtrack.com.
