In recent years, the Lime Rock Concours has devoted a class to a preeminent automotive coachbuilder, including such famed carrozzerie as Pininfarina and Touring. For Historic Festival 43, we will honor the prolific designer Georgetto Giugiaro.

Giugiaro began his design career at Fiat in Turin in the mid-1950s but then moved across town to Carrozzeria Bertone, where his proposals for the Alfa 2000 and 2600 Sprints and later Giulia GT and GTV models fueled Alfa’s growth in the 1960s. Giugiaro would leave Bertone in 1965 for a brief stint at Ghia, where he penned the De Tomaso Mangusta and the Maserati Ghibli before founding his eponymous design house in 1968.

Prior to leaving Bertone, Giugiaro created one of his most alluring designs, the Iso Grifo, an evolution of the earlier Iso Rivolta. Launched at the 1963 Turin Auto Show as the Grifo A3/L, its alluring long-hood, short-deck proportions defined the high-speed, trans-European Grand Touring coupe format for years to come. Initially powered by a small-block Chevrolet V8, it was later upgraded as the “7 Litri” with a 427 big-block. Just over 400 total were built in their 10 years of production.

Sharing his Grifo 7 Litri with the Concours this year will be collector Jamie Waters. Always a generous supporter of the Festival with cars from his extensive collection, Jamie augmented HF40’s Corvette commemoration with an unrestored Pennant Blue 1954 and a rally-prepped 1957 roadster equipped with factory fuel injection, a period Paxton supercharger, and ultra-rare magnesium Halibrand knock offs.

Growing up in rural Georgia, Jamie was influenced by his father’s 1976 Corvette, which he still owns. After weighing a career in automotive engineering, he switched over to corporate finance but never lost his passion for all things mechanical. That included several years of motorcycle racing around the country, more recently replaced with safer stints at Lime Rock in a suitably prepared 1962 Corvette. “I like to have a car that I can slide around,” he says. “That’s why I always come back to Corvettes,” and cars like the Grifo 7 Litri, which have an ample surplus of horsepower.

Join us at this year’s Concours for Jamie’s rare Iso Grifo, as well as an extensive survey of beauties from this most gifted of car designers.

Join us at this year’s Concours for Jamie’s rare Iso Grifo, as well as an extensive survey of beauties from this most gifted of car designers. This year’s Concours classes and application information can be found here: https://limerock.com/events/historic-festival/sunday-in-the-park-participate/

Learn more about Historic Festival 43 & get tickets today at https://limerock.com/events/historic-festival/