The Daytona.
This car was a revolution in the cars brochure it said “new concept of
high-performance motoring”. The Daytona followed the ISO Grifo which was
designed by Giotto Bizzarrini as both a race and road-going car. By 1965,
Bizzarrini and Rivolta parted ways, but Renzo wanted to continue making race
cars and contest Le Mans. He persisted with the Rivolta chassis. The initial
performance of the car with the Chrysler 383 v8 was monumental. At least one
production version was made in 1965 for Carlo Bernasconi of Milan. Details
included a Corvette V8, a four-speed close ratio gearbox and a Power-Loc
equipped Salisbury differential. Suspension was double wishbones upfront but
the rear was quite complex. It used a de Dion-type axle with trailing arms and
Watts link with inboard disc brakes.
The background This article is about a French automobile company started by a rich French industrialist Jean Tastevin. Jean Tastevin was a graduate engineer of the École centrale de Paris and he succeeded his father in his business which used to manufacture mining and railway equipment. Jean was always a huge automobile enthusiast and personally owned cars from brands such as Aston Martin, Facel Vega and Jaguar. Having owned such cars he always wanted to own a French built car of that quality and class. After becoming the chairman, he renamed the company Compagnie française de produits métallurgiques (CFPM) where he used to sell and rent train cars across Europe. His other company called Compagnie Française de Matériels Ferroviaires (CFMF) used to manufacture and store the rolling stock. This was his day to day bread winning job, however there was a fire burning inside of him to build a car of his desire to compete with the likes of Iso Fidia, Jaguars and Aston’s. Jean Tastevin ...
Once again informative!!
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