ISO Grifo Mk2 

As a young boy, Mark Cody was given a Matchbox toy car of an Iso Grifo, this soon became his favourite toy and so from that early introduction to this rare and beautiful Italian designed Grand Tourer with the big American V8 engine, began a life long love affair which resulted in Mark extensively searching for and eventually finding a barn find Iso Grifo Mk2.

The condition of Mark’s barn find Iso Grifo left a lot to be desired and this meant that the car was going to need a lot of care and attention to restore it to its former glory.

This barn find was already a rare Mk2 version with the pop up lights, but it was even rarer as it was RHD with a manual gearbox, 1 of only 4 cars in the world in this specification.

Mark felt that if he was going to restore his dream car and do justice to its beauty and rarity, he had to choose wisely as to whom to entrust to undertake such a project, and so he commissioned Moto Technique to perform a full ground-up nuts and bolts restoration, not a job for the fainthearted.

Working closely with the Moto Technique team over a short period of years, Mark spec’d his dream car for colour, engine and interior, plus a few discreet upgrades. With Mark’s wish list to hand, Moto Technique set about turning Marks dream into reality.

One of the main challenges of restoring such a rare car is that body repair panels are no longer available and so they had to be fabricated from steel by the highly talented and experienced Moto Technique panel beaters. The results was millimetre perfect fit panels which are totally indistinguishable from the original.

The original 5.3 litre V8 American block was removed by the Moto Technique Engineering Department and very carefully dismantled. The engine was then rebuilt as if it were a fine Swiss watch. This included boring and stoking the engine to give a new cubic capacity of 6.3 litres with an added host of upgraded new parts and technical improvements which resulted in an increase in power up to 400bhp with more torque and drivability.

Other modifications on this unique restomod included, a new 5 speed gearbox, adjustable suspension and modern air-conditioning upgrade.

The interior was again trimmed by Rob O’Rourke of O’Rourke Coachtrimmers in the finest Connolly leather and to the customers desired specification and colour.

On its very first outing at the 2018 SALON PRIVE Concours D’Elegance Car Show at Blenheim Palace, Mark’s Iso Grifo Mk2 was awarded a prize in the Supercar of the 70’s category. A prize that as a young boy with a Matchbox toy all those years ago, he could never have imagined in his wildest dreams.