A company that is simply not discussed often enough is Bizzarrini S.p.A, originally Prototipi Bizzarrini s.r.l. until 1966. Founded in 1964 by former Alfa Romeo & Ferrari engineer, Giotto Bizzarrini, the company was best known for building a small number of highly developed and advanced sportscars & racecars. One of the most beautiful cars ever created by the company was this car, the 1976 Bizzarini P538. This car specifically being chassis number B-P538-001 is one of just a handful of genuine P538 cars produced by Bizzarrini in the 1960’s, however, a former Bizzarrini engineer Salvatore Diomante built at least 8 continuation P538’s on commission for private buyers. One of the ways to distinguish a continuation P538 to an original is the use of square tubing and opposed to round tubing. The P538’s story begins at the 1966 24 hours of Le Mans where Bizzarrini entered a brand-new racing spider called the P538 which barley followed FIA prototype regulations at the time. The car did in fact race at the 66’ Le Mans but did not finish due to engine cooling issues. The car was even entered into the 1967 Le Mans but did not start (DNQ). This example is a genuine Bizzarrini P538 built later on into the cars production & is not part of the Diamonte continuation cars. Diamonte built an unknown amount of continuation P538’s but records show it was likely less than 8 total units created using original fiberglass body molds. This car, in my opinion, is one of the most beautiful designs on any car, of all time. Major credit to all that were involved in the project. A few P538 chassis have since been rebodied, for example in 1968 Giorgetto Giugiaro at ItalDesign rebodied a P538 to become the ‘Manta’.
How many made? 4 genuine P538’s were created by Bizzarini during the 1960s. As many as 8 continuation cars were later built by Diomante using original bodies.
Engine: some of the cars were given a Chevrolet Corvette 327 cu in. V8, and others were fitted with 4.0L & 3.5L Lamborghini V12s. This car features the 365bhp Chevy V8.
Debut: 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans
Top Speed: around 174mph
0-60mph: around 3.8 seconds
Photo credit: @rmsothebys
Research: @rarecarsonly