The Intermeccanica brand has been producing very small series of racy cars for enthusiasts since 1960.
Born in Hungary in 1932, Frank Reisner left Budapest with his parents to live in Canada. Working in the industrial paint sector, he had a passion for cars and it was with his shoulder Paula that he began competing. A few years later, the couple moved to Italy and set up their own construction company: Intermeccanica. Reisner's first project was a racing chassis for the Gianini brand. Now based in Turin, the company developed performance kits and sports exhausts for a number of popular European models. It was in 1960 that Reisner got down to serious business, building a formula junior car with a rear-mounted Peugeot engine. It was an important year for Intermeccanica, which produced a cute little aluminium coupé called the IMP (for Intermeccanica-Puch), powered by a Daimler-Puch 500cc engine and Fiat 500 parts. This racing car met with some success, and eventually 21 examples were produced.
Trial and error
The following year, Intermeccanica increased its ambitions and began designing the Apollo GT, an elegant coupé for the American company International Motor Cars. Although the initial sketches were created by Ron Plescia, it was Franco Scaglione who finally came up with the car's final design. Following a concept that was very much in vogue in the luxury segment at the time, it combined Italian design with an American engine using a Buick V8. Between 1961 and 1965, 90 coupés and 11 cabriolets were sold, while a 2+2 version was presented at the New York Motor Show in its final year of production. In the years that followed, Intermeccanica built the Veltro concept car, based on a Ford 106E, which never saw the light of day. The company made a name for itself with a Mustang transformed into a hunting estate for an American advertising agency. Reisner then teamed up with Jack Griffith to mass-produce a new sports car: the Griffith GT. When the first cars were assembled, Griffith's company went bankrupt. Steve Wilder, a late investor in the project, took over production and teamed up with Holman & Moody in North Carolina to produce the car, which was renamed the Omega. In the end, only 33 examples were made.
The start of success
Wilder finally withdrew from the project and Reisner wanted to continue producing the Omega. The problem was that the name had been sold to General Motors. No matter, it was renamed the Intermeccanica Torino and fitted with a new 4.7-litre Ford V8 engine. Presented at the 1967 New York Motor Show, it was a great success, especially in its cabriolet version. Also used by the brand with the blue oval, the name ‘Torino’ was quickly changed to Italia, after only 45 cars had been produced. The car was fitted with a new 5.0-litre engine to meet North American pollution standards. By 1970, almost 500 examples had been sold. In 1971, Intermeccanica presented the Murena GT Station Wagon, a very luxurious vehicle produced in a small series of 11 units.
Changes
In 1971, the divorce with Ford was finalized and General Motors took a close interest in the Centaur, a Corvette-engined prototype produced by Intermeccanica. The result was the Indra, a V8-powered sports car available as a coupé, a cabriolet and a 2+2 version from 1972. GM soon forced Reisner to buy 200 engines at a time, which was financially impossible for him. The Chevy V8 was replaced by a 6-cylinder, 2.8-litre Opel engine. Bitter, then Intermeccanica's importer in Germany, abandoned the brand to produce its own car (Bitter CD) and GM decided to stop selling the Indra in its dealerships. The oil crisis of 1973 put a definitive end to production of the sports car, of which 127 were built.
A fresh start
While the Indra was on the market, Intermeccanica also produced the Squire, a replica of the SS100. After the Indra debacle, the Reisner family moved to California in 1975 to create a copy of the Porsche 356 Speedster. To do so, Frank Reisner rented a real one and made a mould of its bodywork. He used a Volkswagen Beetle chassis and powertrain, which were technically quite similar. Reisner joined forces with Tony Baumgartner to create Automobili Intermeccanica. Nearly 600 cars were assembled before the company boss sold his shares to Baumgartner.
Back to Canada
In 1981, Reisner planned to create a replica of the Porsche 356 Type D cabriolet, more comfortable than the Speedster. The following year, he moved his operations to Vancouver, Canada, to manufacture the RS Roadster. Intermeccanica International Inc upgraded the RS in 1985, replacing the Volkswagen chassis with a tubular chassis. The following year saw the launch of the Roadster RS Turbo, powered by a 6-cylinder Porsche engine. More surprisingly, in 1995 the brand unveiled a replica of the Volkswagen Kubelwagen used by the German army during the Second World War. Frank Reisner died in 2001 and the company was taken over by Henry, his eldest son. Today, Intermeccanica still exists, and its high-quality replicas are enjoying a degree of success, especially in the American and Japanese markets.
