ONE-OFF The naming of the car produced by the mostly automakers in the world are usually made for the reasons of market trends, designs, history, even related to several world's famous racing events such
Daytona 500,
24 Hours of Le Mans,
12 Hours of Sebring and others. But specifically this time we would discussed about the '
Daytona' name considered as one of the names that might be often used by the automotive manufacturers for their car models.
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The one-off Iso Rivolta Daytona aka. Nembo-1 is built in 1965 by the famous Neri & Bonacini (Nembo) coachbuilder, and based on the early design sketches of Giotto Bizzarrini. (Picture from: Supercars.net)
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| The one-off Iso Rivolta Daytona's lightweight aluminum bodywork installed on the chassis of early Iso Rivolta. (Picture from: Supercars.net) |
It's natural if you do not know about this Italian classic sports car, because it's one of the cars made in 1965 by an Italian automaker called
Iso. As we all know, this Bresso, Milan based company owned by
Renzo Rivolta which was originally a refrigerator manufacturer, later expanded its business to produce
scooters. As time goes by, then this Italian company branched out and made its own
Iso Rivolta, which in its brochure, the car was described as a "new concept of high-performance motoring" that combined Italian engineering and
Bertone styling with a cheap and reliable American V8.
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| The one-off Iso Rivolta Daytona looked like a short-wheel-base Grifo A3/C with the same tail and windshield but had a large front grille plus a unique feature was the roll-down rear-windscreen. (Picture from: Supercars.net) |
While the original concept was a large four-seat, road-going tourer, besides for several early chassis were converted into lightweight sports cars, and one of them was the
Iso Rivolta Daytona. Uniquely, the
Daytona was built after this manufacturer produced the
Iso Grifo which was designed by
Giotto Bizzarrini as both a road legal and race cars. Unfortunately the collaboration between
Renzo Rivolta and
Giotto Bizzarrini did not last long and had to end in 1965, however,
Iso still wanted to continue making race cars that would be used to race in the prestigious
24 Hours of Le Mans at that time.
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| The one-off Iso Rivolta Daytona's interior accomodated only two seats with a stylish steering wheel and sporty panel instruments arrangement on its dashboard. (Picture from: Supercars.net) |
Well, to smooth out its intention to make a worthied racing car to speed at such prestigious event, the Italian automaker decided to use a specially prepared body was made from aluminum and only had room for two seats built on the
Iso Rivolta's chassis. And the whole process of the car building was executed by the Modena-based coachbuilder
Neri & Bonacini (Nembo), based on the early design sketches by
Bizzarrini.
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| The one-off Iso Rivolta Daytona is poweres by a Corvette's V8 engine mated to a four-speed close ratio gearbox and a Power-Loc equipped Salisbury differential which is definitely outstanding. (Picture from: Supercars.net) |
Upon completion, the first car to be given a light color finish was dubbed the
Nembo-1 which looked like a short-wheel-base
Grifo A3/C with the same tail and windshield but had a large front grille plus a unique feature was the roll-down rear-windscreen.
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| Uniquely, the one-off Iso Rivolta Daytona featured with roll-down rear-windscreen. (Picture from: Supercars.net) |
For performance, this car relies on the performance of a
Corvette's V8 engine mated to a four-speed close ratio gearbox and a
Power-Loc equipped
Salisbury differential which is definitely outstanding. As for the suspension, relying on double wishbones upfront but the rear was quite complex. It used a
de Dion-type axle with trailing arms and
Watts link with inboard disc brakes.
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| In 2000, the Iso Rivolta Daytona has experienced a thorough ground up restoration which included several body alterations such the front hood scoop was changed, added two new scoops for cockpit ventilation, side mirrors and the windows were changed from sliding to a pull up system. (Picture from: Supercars.net) |
This car is included a very rare item, because it was made in 1965 only one unit for
Carlo Bernasconi of Milan which was noted as the owner until 1991, then it sold to the next owner,
Binie William. It was then fully restored by
Paul Lanzante in England included knock-off
Campagnolo alloy wheels. In such fit condition at the time, this car had won the
1997 Italian National Hill Climb Championship for the GT Prototype Class and placed 7th in the
6 hours of SPA in 2000.
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| The one-off Iso Rivolta Daytona also got a splendid and lavish interior, complete with matching gauges and tan leather upholstery. (Picture from: Supercars.net) |
In 2000, the car handed over again to a new American owner who acquired it at a
Coys auction for $857,640 which then commissioned a thorough ground up restoration. This included a splendid and lavish interior, complete with matching gauges and tan leather upholstery. Some body alterations were made like the front hood scoop was changed, two new scoops were added for cockpit ventilation, a side mirror was added and the windows were changed from sliding to a pull up system.
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| The one-off Iso Rivolta Daytona also got an engine revitalization by Ron Shaver with a crossover manifold and 48 DCO 2SP Weber carburetors to produce 490 bhp. (Picture from: Supercars.net) |
While for its engine revitalization is done by
Ron Shaver with a crossover manifold and
48 DCO 2SP Weber carburetors to produce 490 bhp. This freshly looking car appeared at the
2004 Monterey Historic Races acclaimed much surprised and praised.
In 2007 the car again appeared at the Monterey Pre-Historics to test out its new Canepa Design suspension. The extensive work included new suspension pickup points for new shock mounts and roller spline axles. Adjustable Koni shocks were fitted and offered a lower ride height.
