The Iso S4 Fidia

The Iso S4 Fidia.

"Ars est celare artem.........". There's rare and there's a coelacanth.

When I flick through EVO or Top Gear magazine, I scan the familiar rear pages which run down the major manufacturers and their models specifications. You might see the odd entry for a Gumpert or an Ariel Atom, but you know how it is. The columns are for Audi, Aston Martin, Alfa Romeo, Bentley, Bugatti.......familiar names all.

Read this enough, watch enough TV and you would think there are only a few dozen manaufacturers. In fact you may even lull yourself into (forgetting and) believing that these few dozen are the future, and they were the past. You'd forget about companies like Bizzarrini. De Tomaso and Packard. Iso.

Now I remember reading about some of the cars they - ISO used to make, but it was a very small entry in the middle of a coffee table book. Not much more than that. So when one day as I walked down a quiet mews, my mind revolved and revolved with each step that took me closer to this.

When I saw it, I knew it was rare. I also thought it looked odd. Like a Coelacanth. With multiple fins and addendums, they aren't meant to be elegant creatures, but they beguile. Like this car. An awkward rarity.

There must be like, what, 50, 60 perhaps around? In the world that is. A very, very interesting car.