Intermeccanica Italia: Ferrari Looks and Ford Power

Filed in archive Ford , Italian Cars , Rare Europeans on December 13, 2007

The Intermeccanica Italia Spyder is a rare example of a period when Italian specialist builders frequently used American V-8's because manufacturers like Ferrari and Maserati weren't keen on selling their exotic engines to potential rivals. In addition, the big eights were powerful, reliable, and relatively simple to maintain. An article in Business Week tells the Intermeccanica story from an interesting perspective: the writer, Carl Bomstead, owns one. He explains that Carrozzeria Intermeccanica was established by Frank Reisner, who was born in Hungary, raised in Canada, raced sports cars and specials, then moved to Italy. His company built a number of one-off and limited-production sports cars, including the Apollo GT, which was based on Buick mechanicals.

Reisner's first production car was named Torino but was short-lived, for in 1967 he unveiled the Italia, the preferred engine being a Ford 351 cubic inch Cleveland V-8 mated to a 4-speed manual. A mere 376 Italia coupes and Spyders were built, leading Classic & Sports Car magazine to remark in 1993 that "... the Italia may be one of the most gorgeously styled cars ever made, but you may never have heard of it." The Italia in this photo sold at RM's Hershey auction for $44,000, somewhat of a bargain. Bomstead amusingly says that membership in the Sports Car Market Intermeccanica Italia Owners Club was "reduced by a third" with this sale as there were only three members.