Intermeccanica Torino For Sale

Hemmings Find of the Day – 1969 Intermeccanica Italia at Hemmings ...

#92), Who attempted to follow up his TVR-based Griffith 200 and 400 with the clean-sheet, Bob Cumberford-designed, Mark Donohue-engineered, Chrysler V-8-powered Griffith 600, but ran out of money after building less than a dozen of the cars in 1966. Intermeccanica, which Griffith chose to produce the bodies and chassis, continued to build them for Steve Wilder, who bought the rights to the 600 and offered it with Ford power as the Omega, selling about three dozen before he closed up shop in 1966 or 1967. Somewhere in there, Genser-Foreman, the Triumph distributors in New York, sold it as the GFX, then ultimately Intermeccanica took over production entirely, calling it first the Torino, then later the Italia. Production halted in about 1972. One of the less than 500 Torino/Italias built is this 1969 Intermeccanica Italia for sale on Hemmings.com. From the seller’s description:

A very rare and unusual hand-crafted Italian barchetta built from 1967 to 1973 using Ford V-8 engines and drivetrains, this early production car has about 55K miles and is completely rebuilt. These pretty cars were built in limited numbers in a small factory in Turin, Italy, by Frank Reisner, using custom-made bodies and parts from many manufacturers, including Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Simca, Peugeot, Ferrari and Ford. More historical information is available at http://intermeccanica.org/ It is believed that less than 425 examples of these cars were built, some with Ford Cleveland engines, but most were built with the Windsor engine. Probably less than half of these remain today, and it is exceedingly rare to see one at any event. All cars sold in the USA were equipped with factory air conditioning lifted from the Ford Mustang of that period but with special interior ducts and shrouds. This early example is believed to have been manufactured and sold originally to a vineyard owner in Italy in 1968 or 1969. In 1970, he shipped the car to his vineyard near Santa Barbara, California, where it was titled as a 1970. It remained in Southern California most of its life. It remains a rust-free example with the body and sheetmetal in remarkably original and unmolested condition. The car is believed to have been repainted in its original color and reupholstered around 1980 by a local shop. It apparently was never fully assembled and driven much after that and may have languished in a series of garages until purchased in 2004 by the present enthusiast owner, who completed the mechanical upgrades and restoration to the highest standards possible.

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