Renzo Rivolta was born in 1908. His father was in the wood milling industry and owned many properties in Italy and abroad. While looking for a business with a more secure future he came across a little company close to Genua specialized in the production of refrigerators and heaters. This little but modern factory was called Isothermos and Renzo managed to buy it in 1939. During the war he was forced to move the factory to Bresso, because of the bombardments in the Genua area. In Bresso he found an old villa with a large piece of land which was perfect for his needs. He was able to fool the German’s for a long time and kept the factory running during the war. He died in 1966.
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Iso of Italy began its car manufacturing career in the mid-1950s producing the Isetta bubble cars (also built under licence by BMW), but in 1962 they decided to enter the high-class GT car market with the Rivolta. In many ways this cleanly styled four-seater coupe was an Italian Gordon Keeble featuring a similar box-section frame with Dedion rear suspension and a Bertone-built steel body. Like the Keeble, it had a Corvette V-eight engine under the bonnet, so performance was impressive: it had a top speed of 140 mph (225 kph) with the manual gearbox.
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