Something New - The Iso Rivolta GTZ by Zagato - MyCarQuest.com (2024)

by Mike Gulett –

Zagato has announced a new car and “the rebirth of the IsoRivolta brand”, although the official announcement will not come until October 2020, along with the price. They plan to make only 19 with 9 already sold.

The photos show a beautiful modern update to the original Iso A3/C (and the later Bizzarrini GT 5300). I like that Zagato did not address this design like a modern and wild Lamborghini or Ferrari.

Zagato did not mention Giotto Bizzarrini who engineered the original and contributed much to the styling with his intentions to make it more aerodynamic. Zagato also did not mention that the original style of the A3/C is credited to Giorgetto Giugiaro when he was with Bertone (a defunct competitor of Zagato).

The Iso Rivolta GTZ by Zagato has a carbon fiber body built on a Corvette Z06 platform with a 6.8 liter Supercharged engine. The original A3/C was made with an aluminum body on a chassis engineered by Iso and Bizzarrini powered by a Corvette 327.

Several styling cues from the original Iso A3/C are present on the new design such as the front split air vents and the induction vents on the hood. A clever air vent design on the rear of each side is presumed to exhaust air from the rear wheel wells as the original A3/C did with a vent right behind the rear wheels. The side vents on the upper fenders in front of the front wheels exhaust air from the engine bay, if they perform the same function as the originals. The A3/C also has vents on the lower front fenders that exhaust air from the front wheel wells.

See the slide show at the end with a photo comparison of the original style with the new style.

There are air scoops (or vents) next to each side of the rear window, which are in a similar location to air vents on the A3/C that were below each side of the rear window drawing air from under the car just above the rear in-board brakes which helped cool the brakes and remove air from underneath the rear of the car and thus improving under the car aerodynamics.

The aerodynamic slab side of the original A3/C is gone and I assume that the gas tanks in the rocker panels are gone too.

The round tail lights look similar to the original A3/C (although later the design was changed to a single tail light per side) as do the covered headlights and both are beautiful. The side profile shows the nearly flat rear window made famous by Bizzarrini for aerodynamic purposes along with the Kamm tail which is similar but not identical to the original.

While I am all in favor of this new venture, I have some questions:

1. Why only 19 examples of the Iso Rivolta GTZ to be built?

2. Are there more Iso Rivolta models on the way? The last Zagato Iso Rivolta was apparently a design exercise, maybe designed just for a video game.

3. Should the price of the Iso Rivolta GTZ be more or less than an original A3/C, or Bizzarrini GT 5300 today?

Some of you may be wondering why Zagato is designing Iso Rivolta cars when Zagato and Iso Rivolta did not work together originally. The answer is – there is a family connection between the Zagato and Rivolta families; Andrea Zagato (CEO of Zagato) is married to Marella Rivolta Zagato, the daughter of Piero Rivolta (the last CEO of Iso Rivolta) and she is the granddaughter of Renzo Rivolta the founder of Iso.

From the Zagato web site,

ISORIVOLTA GTZ

Zagato presents the GTZ: the car which marks the rebirth of IsoRivolta brand. Limited to just 19 units (nine of them already sold), this Gran Turismo has been designed as tribute to the iconic Iso Rivolta A3 of 1963. Italian pure “cloth” from the milanese Atelier, and a powerful american “heart”, since the mechanical base is the Corvette Z06, for a timeless result, beautifully expressed through a Neoclassic design. All-carbon fibre body, 6.8 litres Supercharged engine, the GTZ is a masterpiece for more than 4.500 Iso Rivolta Club Members and Owners worldwide. Car collectors are at the soul of the project. Zagato will deliver the first GTZ in October, releasing the official press contents.

See a comparison of the Iso Rivolta GTZ by Zagato to a Bizzarrini GT 5300 in the slide show below.

Let us know what you think in the Comments.

Photos of the Iso Rivolta GTZ compliments of Zagato.