This study has a place of honor in our “Forgotten Studies” section: The 1972 Iso Rivolta Varedo was built in only two copies. One is running and is currently in Florida. The other is a body without interior, serving as an exhibition piece. This one was now the center of attention at the “Car Design Event” 2026 in Munich and is supposed to commemorate the recently deceased Italian car designer Ercole Spada.
The Varedo holds a tragically special place in the history of motoring: it is the spectacular conclusion of a brand that represented the perfect symbiosis of Italian elegance and American raw power. While brands like Ferrari or Maserati relied on highly developed engines that required a lot of maintenance, Renzo Rivolta (who also designed the Isetta) implemented a concept with models like the Iso Grifo or the Lele that combined luxury and astonishing performance with the reliability of large V8 engines from Chevrolet or Ford.
Varedo was supposed to take this heritage into a new, radical era, but fate had other plans. The car was presented at the Turin Motor Show in the autumn of 1972. Its name was a tribute to the headquarters of the Iso Rivolta company in Lombardy. Opinions differ on the name: in 1972 it was said to be “Isorivolta”, but today opinions differ between “Iso” and “Iso Rivolta”.
At the time, the world of sports cars was in transition: the classic, rounded shapes of the 60s were being replaced by those of the “wedge design” era. Under the leadership of Piero Rivolta, son of the company founder, who died in 1966, the aim was to create a car that could compete with the emerging mid-engine icons such as the Lamborghini Countach or the De Tomaso Pantera. No less a designer was hired, Ercole Spada.
Spada, who previously designed milestones at Zagato such as the Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, created an extremely flat, angular sculpture with the Varedo, which impressed with its uncompromising aggressiveness. Spada's design language with the Varedo can be seen as a departure from the fluid romanticism of his early years and an approach to functional brutality. While his designs from the 60s were often organic and "breathable", with the Varedo he used fiberglass (GFK) to achieve sharp edges and a distinct wedge shape that would have been difficult to achieve with such precision with sheet metal. The car has a wheelbase of 2,67 meters.
The Spada is characterised by the way the Vareda beltline rises almost seamlessly from the low-slung front end to the massive rear end. This visual dynamism suggests progress, even when the car is stationary. The flat windscreen and hidden folding headlights reduce air resistance and give the car an almost space-like, technological look that points far into the future. Certain similarities with the aforementioned Countach and Pantera models are evident, while the rear end is somewhat reminiscent of the Opel GT2 from 1975.
Technically, the Varedo also marked a radical break with the company's previous tradition. While Iso had previously specialized in front-engined GTs, the Varedo was designed as a mid-engined sports car. The heart of this unique car was a 5,7-liter V8 engine from the Ford 351 Cleveland. This engine had an output of around 325 hp and transmitted its enormous torque to the rear wheels via a German five-speed manual transmission from ZF.
To keep the weight low, Spada abandoned the traditional steel or aluminum construction and built the entire body from fiberglass-reinforced plastic. This lightweight construction, combined with the centrally mounted V8 engine, promised handling that would be on par with, if not better than, the established supercars of the time. Giotto Bizzarrini supervised the construction of the steel chassis as a consultant. The planned top speed was 300 km/h. Bizzarrini also received an order from Iso Rivolta to build the body, with the help of four employees from the Laboratorio Vetroresine di Livorno.
However, the premiere in Turin was the only shining moment for the Vareda. Shortly after its launch, the world economy went into crisis due to the 1973 oil crisis. The market for wasteful luxury sports cars collapsed almost overnight. This was compounded by internal financial problems at Iso Rivolta, which were exacerbated by the expensive attempt to establish themselves in Formula 1.
Despite the enormous public interest, the company did not have the resources to transfer the prototype into series production. In 1974, the Varedo factory finally closed its doors. The car remained unique – a fascinating example of “what if” in the history of motoring. The original car remained in the possession of the Rivolta family for a long time and today serves as a testament to the courage and design brilliance of the brand, which, just before its end, presented perhaps its most daring project.
