Johnny Hallydays A3/C
01/25/2018
Johnny Hallyday (June 15, 1943 - December 5, 2017), the French "Elvis", left behind not only an estimated 85 million records but also an Iso-Rivolta.
His biggest performance was the free concert at the Eiffel Tower, attended by around 600,000 fans. Mick Jagger commented on this mass crowd: "In France, Hallyday is unattainable". Well, he also loved cars and drove an Iso-Grifo A3/C with the rare "Avional body", which consists of an alloy of aluminum, magnesium and copper and is riveted together like an airplane.
The body is therefore very light and elastic, but difficult to work with. As a result, the car has a total weight of just 969 kg.
An A3/Competizione competed in Le Mans in 1964/65. The car finished 14th overall in its first year with the Belgian Pierre Noblet and the Swiss Edgar Berney and won the class for prototypes with a displacement of over 5 liters.
However, racing was no longer pursued in 1965 following the dispute between company boss Renzo Rivolta and Giotto Bizzarini, and the A3/C was sold by Bizzarrini under the name Bizzarrini GT 5300 Strada and Corsa. In the end, between 22 and 30 vehicles are said to have been built.
The car with chassis number B 0209 from Jean-Philippe Smet, the real name of Johnny Hallyday, is now going under the hammer in perfect condition at RM Sotheby's in Paris. Bids of between 2.5 and 3.5 million euros are expected.
