Italy · est. 1939
Italian coachwork and American V8s — the historical Iso, not a continuous modern marque.
Forthcoming lots
1 forthcoming lot · Monterey 2026
The house
The later ISO Rivolta history dates Renzo Rivolta's purchase of the refrigerator-and-heater maker Isothermos to 1939. After the war, Iso built scooters, motorcycles and small vehicles before developing the front-opening Isetta; the current ISO site credits Ermenegildo Preti for that design. BMW licensed the Isetta, re-engineered it and built 161,728 BMW Isettas between 1955 and 1962.
Iso entered the GT market in 1962 with the Rivolta IR 300, a four-seat coupé combining a platform chassis, Bertone bodywork and a Chevrolet Corvette 327 V8. The Grifo prototype appeared at Turin in 1963 and production ran from 1965 to 1974. At Le Mans in 1964 an A3/C finished fourteenth overall; in 1965 another finished ninth overall and first in the Prototype over-5,000cc class.
After Renzo Rivolta died in August 1966, his son Piero led the company. The four-door S4, designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro for Ghia, debuted in 1967 and became the Fidia after revision; Hagerty records 192 Fidias built between 1968 and 1974. Bertone's Marcello Gandini designed the Lele, of which Classic & Sports Car records about 285 built from 1970 to 1974. Ford 351 Cleveland V8s followed Chevrolet power after GM's commercial terms became untenable, and the original company closed in 1974.
A later Zagato-led project used the Iso Rivolta name for the GTZ, a carbon-fibre-bodied tribute with a Corvette-sourced supercharged 6.2-litre V8. Zagato delivered the first of a nineteen-car series in October 2020. It was a later revival of the name, not continuation of the original Iso company.
Selected milestones
1939
Isothermos
The current ISO history dates Renzo Rivolta's purchase of the refrigerator-and-heater maker Isothermos to 1939.
1952–62
Isetta and BMW licence
Iso's Isetta prototype appeared in 1952. BMW signed a licence agreement, began production in 1955 and built 161,728 BMW Isettas by 1962.
1962
IR 300
The four-seat IR 300 paired Bertone bodywork with a Chevrolet Corvette V8. Hagerty records 797 cars sold by the end of production in 1970.
1963–65
Grifo and A3/C
The Grifo prototype appeared at Turin in 1963 and production began in 1965. The A3/C finished fourteenth overall at Le Mans in 1964, then ninth overall and first in the Prototype over-5,000cc class in 1965.
1967–74
S4/Fidia and Lele
Giugiaro's four-door S4 debuted at Frankfurt in 1967 and was later renamed Fidia; Gandini's Bertone-designed Lele followed.
1974
The original company closes
The last Isos were built in 1974. This marks the end of the historical manufacturer, not the later GTZ project.
2020
GTZ first delivery
Zagato delivered the first of a nineteen-car Iso Rivolta GTZ series, describing it as a tribute to the marque's rebirth.
What defines Iso
The IR 300 used Chevrolet Corvette V8 power. Later cars received Ford 351 Cleveland V8s after General Motors' commercial terms proved difficult for Iso.
For the Rivolta, Iso supplied the platform chassis to Bertone, which returned painted and trimmed coupé bodies for final engine and drivetrain installation at Bresso.