Giotto Bizzarrini had worked with Alfa Romeo before leaving to join Ferrari, however after turning the Ferrari 250 GT into the famed kamm-tail 250 GTO he was persuaded away. Then Bizzarrini was commissioned by the Iso Rivolta organisation to develop a new chassis for the Iso Rivolta GT sold from 1963 to 1970. At the 1963 Turin Salon a shortened GT chassis was developed by Bizzarrini for the Iso Grifo A3/L with 327 cu inch Chevrolet Corvette engine and bodywork designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro. The design seemed to have been inspired by the Pininfarina Rondine designed by Tom Tjaarda and built on a Chevrolet Corvette chassis. But the same Turin show also exhibited the Iso Grifo A3/C on a separate stand which was mechanically similar to the Grifo with a different lightweight body als designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro. The A3/C was entered for the 1964 Le Mans 24 hour race where it finished 14th after a breakdown, but took the class win in the 1965 event. Bizzarrini fell out with Iso over his competition interests and the two parted company, with Iso continuing to sell the Grifo whilst Bizzarrini took the A3/C and put his own badge on it; actually he had cheekily been putting 'Bizzarrini ' badges on the A3/C almost since the start. Bizzarrini built the chassis for both cars, the Chevrolet Corvette provided the engine. Bodies for the Grifo were built by Carrozzeria Bertone and for the A3/C by Drogo. 'Grifo' is the Italian word for Griffin, although the name was given by Bizzarrini (and registered to him), the heraldic Griffin was already on the Iso Rivolta cars. Production of the Grifo started in 1965 with the 5.4-litre Corvette engine. In 1968 the Grifo 7-Litri was launched with the 427 cu.in Corvette engine. In 1970 Gandini redesigned the front of the Grifo giving it a 'droop snoot' nose to align it with the more streamlined Ferrari Daytona and Maserati Ghibli. In 1972 Grifos were given the Ford Cleveland 351 V8 engine after Iso fell out with GM. 400 Grifos had been sold when production ended in 1974.