With the help of executives from Aston Martin, forgotten Italian sports car manufacturer Bizzarrini is making a comeback. As part of its Revival Series, Bizzarrini is reinventing the original 5300 GT sports car in the shape of the 5300 GT Revival Corsa, which will be limited to just 24 examples.
Giotto Bizzarrini famously helped engineer the Ferrari 250 GTO before he decided to design his own car, and the result was the 5300 GT, arguably one of the most beautiful and overlooked cars to come out of Italy. Only 133 examples were built between 1964 and 1968, and Jay Leno managed to track one down to show what makes it so special in the latest episode of Jay Leno's Garage.
For Leno, getting the chance to drive a 1967 Bizzarrini 5300 GT Strada, the road-going version of the 5300 GT Corsa racer that won its class in the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans, is a dream come true as he was besotted with the car's beauty when he was a teenager. He even declares it as "automotive royalty."
The Bizzarrini 5300 GT Strada is a perfect marriage of exotic European styling, handling, and suspension, with the immense power and reliability of an American drivetrain. At the time, most European performance cars were powered by either a 2.5- or 3.0-liter engine, but the 5300 GT Strada stood out with its 5.4-liter V8 sourced from a Chevrolet Corvette rated at 365 horsepower and 284 lb-ft of torque.
Power is sent to the rear wheels through a four-speed Borg-Warner manual. For improved weight distribution, the owner believes the Bizzarrini 5300 GT Strada was the first car to adopt a front mid-engine layout. This example has been beautifully restored in Italy with the original color combination. Originally, it had a burgundy interior, which was unusual for the time as most were configured with a black interior, but the restored version is trimmed in dark blue leather.
What's also striking is how low to the ground the 5300 GT Strada sits: Leno jokes that you sit directly in front of the license plate of the car in front. Leno encountered audio problems recording his voiceover while taking it for a spin on the streets of Los Angeles, but we're not complaining as we get to hear its glorious V8 roar.