{"id":23528,"date":"2011-11-01T12:50:44","date_gmt":"2011-11-01T12:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.influx.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=23528"},"modified":"2024-05-23T10:30:32","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T09:30:32","slug":"bizzarrini-manta-concept","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/cars\/bizzarrini-manta-concept\/","title":{"rendered":"Bizzarrini Manta"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We’re suckers for defunct automotive brands. And one of the most spectacular and exotic of the passed car-makes of recent times is Bizzarrini.<\/p>\n

The company was Founded by Giotto Bizzarrini a former engineer for Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Iso. Until the company closed in 1969 they built a number of interesting concepts and sports cars – their rarity of course including the aesthetic as well as financial value. Giotto’s cars were usually of the brutally audacious – think of the muscular super-coup\u00e9s that were Iso Grifo<\/a> – and he was partly responsible of course for the 250 GTO Breadvan.<\/p>\n

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The Manta, made from bits and pieces made by the soon-to-be-defunct Bizzarini company, was Giorgetto Giugiaro’s first independently built car. He used it to launch Ital Design in the car show at Turin in 1968.<\/p>\n

Apart from its period-correct wedge design, the most striking thing about this creation is the three-up interior layout, which, we suppose, was borrowed from that Ferrari 365 prototype of 1965<\/a>. This setup was of course revived very successfully later on with the McLaren F1.<\/p>\n

This chassis was a tubular steel Bizzarini design built especially for the rigours of Le Mans and the motor was a torquey Ford ‘small black’ V8.<\/p>\n

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After the Turin show the car was put on a World Tour that included the 1969 Los Angeles Auto Expo. It wasn’t exactly well-received stateside, and was perhaps correctly perceived as a bit of typical spaced-out European indulgence. According to Road and Track magazine it was \u201cyet another 200-mph suppository in bright orange…”<\/p>\n

Apparently the car was purchased in 2003 from a Texan collector and then restored for two years, where it got this dashing turqoise paintjob – before winning a category prize at pebble beach in 2005.<\/p>\n

The Manta is one of those rare crystallisations of automotive brilliance – and Bizzarini a brand that was all about passion.<\/p>\n\n\t\t