Former Aston Martin executives to resurrect 'thinking man's Ferrari'

Navigating the world of obscure Italian car brands after they’ve been infused with cash from West Asian or Asian backers is a little like watching a 1960s spy film with the sound off.

It’s beautiful, juicy, and sometimes a little confusing.

Bizzarrini — famous for its ’60s-era Ferrari lookalike race cars — is the latest heritage brand to receive the new-again treatment. It’s a trend that’s included most notably and recently De Tomaso (famous for the ’70s-wild Pantera, which is backed by Hong Kong investment firm Ideal Team Ventures) and Pininfarina, which just introduced an electric supercar backed by Mahindra Group.

On November 9, London-based Pegasus Brands announced its intention to revive Bizzarrini even though it hasn’t made a car since 1969. Owned by Kuwaiti national Rezam Mohamed Al Roumi, Pegasus is an international dealership that represents Aston Martin Lagonda, Rolls Royce Motor Cars, Koenigsegg, among others, with holdings in Aston Martin Works, the historic home and factory of Aston Martin coachworks since 1830.

Janette Green, the newly installed chief marketing officer at Bizzarrini, said in an email that the corporation had purchased the Bizzarrini marque from “Bizzarrini Ltd” in August 2019, which included all trademarks, intellectual property, and other assets. “The continuity of ownership and historical provenance remains,” wrote Green. (An interview with Al Roumi was declined.) 

It’s feeling like déjà vu all over again for a tiny Italian brand that made fewer than 400 cars in its history — the exact number is still hotly debated — and was mismanaged into a quick bankruptcy. Then again, that’s been par for the course with exotic and classic marques for the past century.

Giotto Bizzarrini’s eponymous brand arose after the designer’s departure from Ferrari in 1960, when he and other key staff members staged a walkout to protest internal politics. He started consulting for other prominent Italian car brands, including Lamborghini and Iso, whose aluminum-bodied A3/C race cars became the blueprints for the first of his self-branded cars, the Bizzarrini GT 5300 Strada. The Strada had the low, wide styling of the A3/C with a front-mid-mounted, 365-horsepower Corvette V8 engine and a four-speed manual gearbox. The fact that it had an American-made engine hurt its popularity and investment value until recently.

The 1900 GT Europa and P538S would follow before the brand was declared bankrupt in 1969. Bizzarrini, 94, lives in Italy and builds cars on commission; he’s apparently not associated with the new iteration of his former company.