1975 Iso Lele Sport

Iso Rivolta was an automobile and motorbike manufacturer in Italy, predominantly active from the late 1940's through to its closure in December 1974.

The company created the unique and iconic design of the Isetta "bubble car', an obvious extension of their motorcycle business. Starting in 1954, the Isetta design was licensed to automobile manufacturers around the world and was a financial success with the royalties paid to Iso allowing Renzo Rivolta to move on to developing a number of powerful performance cars in the 60's and early 70's.

In 1962 Iso Rivolta made their first Grand Touring (GT) car the Iso Rivolta GT and subsequently the Iso Grifo A3/L (based on a shortened Iso Rivolta GT chassis) was introduced at the 1963 show in Turin. The Iso Fidia (initially called the Iso Rivolta S4 when introduced in 1967) was marketed by Iso as "The World's Four Fastest Seats"

As a prototype, the Iso Rivolta Lele debuted at the 1969 New York International Auto Show. It was a 2+2 configuration that filled the gap between the two seater Grifo and the four door Fidia. The "standard' Lele also used the Corvette 327 cid V8 with either a manual or automatic transmission. Giugiaro of Bertone styled the Lele, naturally.

Based on what came later, therefore, the Iso Lele can rightly be termed today as an act of vision. It resulted from a promise that Piero Rivolta, son of Iso founder Renzo Rivolta, made to his wife, for whom the Lele was named, that Iso would be a full-line car company.

Even among Italo-exotica, the Lele is an incredible rarity. A total of 285 Iso's were built from 1970 through 1974, when Iso left the car business with a maximum of 20 Lele Sport models (Lele IR6 Sport) produced. The Sport had the Ford 351 Cleveland V-8 engine uprated to produce 360 bhp and a ZF five-speed manual gearbox. The Sport was also fitted with additional gauges set into the passenger-side dashboard, Sports trim and lightweight bumpers - all of which are retained in this 1975 Lele Sport registered as PUS 343P.

Ripe for a full restoration this incredibly rare model offers a great opportunity for the discerning collector of iconic Italian sports cars. Indeed, renowned Italian Iso restoration and spares specialists "Il Bottegone' confirm that the owner of chassis number 500.293.D is "One of the lucky owners of the Sport version!!" Classic Driver comment on the model was "It's no Ferrari Daytona, but take into account its rarity and pretty yet quirky appearance, and you have to admit it's worth a look."

In 2010 just 18 Leles worldwide were in the registry maintained by the Iso & Bizzarrini Owners Club. The Lele's blend of creases and angles from Bertone predicts a variety of cars that imitated it after Iso was gone. The Maserati Khamsin, Ferrari 400i and later, the Porsche 928 also utilized the Lele theme of a high-end 2+2.