1968 Bizzarrini 5300 SI Spyder GT Strada

The 5300 SI Spyder was on display at the 1966 Geneva Motorshow and 104 production road-going cars would soon follow. Only three examples were fitted with the Spyder body. The Geneva show car was given an all-alloy body, retractable headlights, and seats incorporated directly into the body. Two more cars were created in 1967 and 1968 by Turin's Stile Italia (SI), and both had minor differences from the Geneva Show Car.

The Chevrolet V8 engine, with its four Weber 45 DCOE carburetors, produced an impressive 350 horsepower. The car has a four-speed manual gearbox and weighs just over 1200 kg.

By Daniel Vaughan | Jul 2007

Engineer Giotto Bizzarrini was a teacher at Pisa University before joining Alfa Romeo in its experimental department and later moving to Ferrari. He made his claim in the world of Italian sports cars early in his career when he worked on the Ferrari 250 GTO. After many conflicts with Enzo Ferrari, he left Ferrari in 1961. He arrived at Iso, partnering with Renzo Rivolta, and the pair designed two Italian sports cars powered by V8 American engines. The cars were called the Rivolta and Grifo; the four-passenger Iso Rivolta was styled by Bertone and powered by Corvette. In 1962, the two-seat Iso Grifo was introduced with Corvette and later Ford power under the hood. Bizzarrini managed Iso's racing program while selling a competition version of the Iso under his own marque. Later work included building the Lamborghini V-12 engine. After parting ways with Iso in late 1965, he kept producing the competition-bred Iso Grifo A3 under his own name in a small Livorno, Italy factory. Much like the car he had designed for Iso, he called it the Bizzarrini 5300 Strada. It was as sleek as it came in 1966 and capable of incredible speeds. Powered by a front mid-engined 327 cubic-inch Corvette V8, the car boasted a rakish body with radical styling designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro.

He decided that he needed something special for his most elite customers, so he went to the tiny design shop of Stile Italia (thus the S.I.) and designed his open-top cars. After debuting the prototype, two production Targas were constructed. The 5300 SI Spyder was the prototype for an open-top version of the Bizzarrini 5300 GT. The concept was one of the stars of the 1966 Geneva Motor Show. Unique features included retractable headlights, seats molded in the body, and a multi-function roof design. The alloy hardtop was fitted with separate roof panels, which allowed the Spyder to be a Coupe, Targa, or full Convertible.

The Giorgetto Giugiaro-designed Bizzarrini 5300 Strada was available in a fixed roof and semi-open roof configuration with aluminum body panels. Just 149 were produced including three Spyders, one prototype, and two production cars. The original prototype was never fully developed due to chassis flex. The second and third cars were labeled 5300 Spyder SI's, the SI referring to the coachbuilder, Stile Italia. The Spyders look completely different than the coupes.

This example was put on the show circuit in 1968 and shared the cover of Road and Track magazine with the Bizzarrini Manta in 1969. It was purchased in Italy in 1983 by the current owner, who undertook a lengthy restoration in California, assisted by a constant dialogue with the Italian craftsmen in Livorno who originally constructed it.

This car is car number 3. It is powered by a 327 cubic-inch Corvette V8 offering 350 horsepower and 375 lb. ft. of torque at 3500 RPM providing the car with 171 mph top-speed capability. Suspension at the front is independent with unequal-length wishbones, coil springs, anti-roll bar, and telescopic shocks, while at the rear is a de Dion axle located by two pairs of longitudinal parallel radius rods and transverse Watts linkage, coil springs, and telescopic shocks. The brakes are Dunlop discs front and rear.