It is the ideal successor of Isuzu 117 Coupé, designed in 1966. It's "the fifth Copernican revolution" by Giugiaro that will give birth to Isuzu Piazza. The only condition imposed by the producer is the use of the Gemini 1800 platform, the Japanese version of the Chevrolet Corvette.
The Italdesign display at Geneva Motor Show in 1979 was overcrowded: everybody is curious to see the news, and Asso di Fiori does not disappoint the expectations. It's a real revolution for the car, the fifth one designed by Giugiaro: in 1960, the first cowling with incorporated lights (Alfa Romeo 2000 Sprint), in 1964 the first stuck windows (Alfa Romeo Canguro), in 1973 the first painted mudguard (Asso di Picche, 1973) and in 1974 the first rear door cut.
Asso di Fiori great news is represented by removing external drip (substituted with a gutter-pipe in the door pillar gasket), the windows close to the bodywork, total doors, and rear doors. All of them are integrated and technically producible. All these solutions will be adopted for production cars from now on: the 1987 French Revue Automobile registers the fact that 1/3 of cars produced from 1981 and 1987 are designed with total doors like Asso di Fiori. It would be presented a second time at the 1979 Tokyo Motor Show.
Engine & performance:
Position: front, logitudinally
Type: 4-cylinder, DOHC
Capacity: 1818 cc
Power: 130 hp @ 6400 rpm
Dimensions:
Length: 4195 mm
Width: 1620 mm
Height: 1278 mm
Wheelbase: 3405 mm
Source: Project: Asso di Fiori - 1979 - Italdesign. https://www.italdesign.it/project/asso-di-fiori/
Images: ItalDesign
