Bizzarrini Sciabola

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Bizzarrini
AMC AMX3 front2 - Flick - Concorso Italiano 2004.jpg

AMC AMX / 3
(identical to the Sciabola)

Sciabola
Presentation year: 1970
Vehicle fair: Turin Motor Show
Class : Sports car
Body shape : Coupe
Engine: Otto engine :
6.4 liters (242 kW)
Length: 4460 mm
Width: 1902 mm
Height: 1105 mm
Wheelbase: 2675 mm
Empty weight: 1615 kg
Production model: none

Bizzarrini Sciabola is the name of a sports car that the Italian racing car designer Giotto Bizzarrini showed publicly at two exhibitions in Turin in the 1970s . The car was not a new development. In fact, it was a renamed AMC AMX / 3 that Bizzarrini had helped design some time before. Series production was announced, but did not materialize.

Model history

The Bizzarrini Sciabola goes back directly to the AMC AMX / 3. Giotto Bizzarrini had after the bankruptcy of his company Automobili Bizzarrini started in November 1968 as a freelance designer, on behalf of the US automotive group American Motors to construct a mid-engine sports car (AMC) associated with the from Ford sold De Tomaso -models Mangusta and Pantera compete and should serve as an image carrier. Giorgio Giugiaro's newly founded studio Italdesign was also involved in the development of the AMX / 3 car , and the German car manufacturer BMW took on parts of the chassis development under the project name E18. The aim was to start series production in 1971. The special company Autocostruzioni SD from Turin , which is closely associated with Bizzarrini and also known as Diomante, built probably three roadworthy prototypes by spring 1970, plus parts for at least four other vehicles. In March and April 1970, AMC presented two of the prototypes at press events in Rome and New York . Shortly afterwards, AMC unexpectedly gave up the AMX / 3 project without giving any reason.

After the factory withdrawal, AMC Giotto Bizzarrini initially granted the right to build around 30 copies of the AMX / 3 at Diomante, 20 of which were to be sold in Europe under the Bizzarrini brand. Accordingly, he exhibited an AMX / 3 at his own stand at the Turin Motor Show in October 1970. It was the AMX / 3 chassis no. 4, which Diomante probably only completed in the period between the AMC withdrawal and the start of the exhibition. Contemporary sources show that Bizzarrini already used the model name Sciabola (German: sword) in this phase. It is unclear whether this resulted in series production. According to some sources, Bizzarrini and Diomante built about nine other vehicles before AMC withdrew support in this regard and ordered the scrapping of the nine cars; other authors claim that after the Turin Motor Show in 1970 no vehicles were made under the name Sciabola.

In the mid-1970s, another car called the Bizzarrini Sciabola appeared at the 1976 Turin Motor Show. This time Bizzarrini exhibited the sixth AMX / 3, which was completed by Autocostruzioni SD at the beginning of 1971 and has since been kept by Diomante. The Sciabola exhibition was largely financed by the arms company OTO Melara and its primary purpose was to present the car as an advertising medium for OTO Melara gearboxes. Giotto Bizzarrini announced to the Italian press that the Sciabola would be handcrafted to order at a price of $ 23,800. However, a production did not materialize.

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ The year 1975 mentioned by Philippe Olczyk ( Bizzarrini & Diomante. The Official History , 3rd edition 2017, ISBN 978-84-697-6659-0 , p. 124) cannot be correct: in 1975 there was no Turin Motor Show. From 1972 to 1984 the salon was held every two years in even years.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Marc Cranswick: The Cars of American Motors: An Illustrated History. McFarland, 2011, ISBN 9780786485703 , p. 121.
  2. ^ Jack Koobs de Hartog, Jürgen M. Wilms: The untold story: AMX / 3, Giugiaro and BMW. www.hemmings.com, January 8, 2017, accessed December 11, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Wolfgang Blaube: X Files . Presentation and development history of the AMC AMX / 3. In: Oldtimer Market. No. 4, April 2011, p. 45.
  4. ↑ Marc Cranswick: The Cars of American Motors: An Illustrated History. McFarland, 2011, ISBN 9780786485703 , p. 120.
  5. ^ A b Philippe Olczyk: Bizzarrini & Diomante. The Official History, 3rd edition 2017, ISBN 978-84-697-6659-0 , p. 124.
  6. ↑ Brief description of the AMC AMX / 3 on the website www.ultimatecarpage.com
  7. ^ Philippe Olczyk: Bizzarrini & Diomante. The Official History , 3rd edition 2017, ISBN 978-84-697-6659-0 , pp. 325–327.
  8. ↑ Detailed presentation of the individual cars on the website www.amx3.org (accessed on December 13, 2019).
  9. ↑ Wolfgang Blaube: X Files . Presentation and development history of the AMC AMX / 3. In: Oldtimer Market. No. 4, April 2011, p. 48.
  10. ↑ Brief description of the AMX / 3 Chassis 4 on the website www.amx3.org (accessed December 12, 2019).
  11. ^ FMP: American Motors "Sciabola Bizzarrini". Quattroruote, issue 1/1971.
  12. ↑ For example Wolfgang Blaube: The X Files , Presentation and Development History of the AMC AMX / 3. In: Oldtimer Markt, No. 4, April 2011, p. 49, for the Turin Motor Show 1971.
  13. ↑ Wolfgang Blaube: The X Files , Presentation and Development History of the AMC AMX / 3. In: Oldtimer Markt, No. 4, April 2011, p. 49.
  14. ↑ Chronology of the development of the AMC AMX / 3 on the website www.amx3.org (accessed December 12, 2019).
  15. ↑ a b Brief description of the AMX / 3 Chassis 6 on the website www.amx3.org (accessed December 12, 2019).