LeFlair Rally Visits Girard-Perregaux: Ferrari 275 GTS Spyder, Iso Grifo & Lancia Aurelia B24

Worth Noting

• Three vintage automobiles were presented at the Villa Girard-Perregaux in La Chaux-de-Fonds: a Ferrari 275 GTS Spyder, an Iso Grifo, and a Lancia Aurelia B24 America.
• Paolo Spalluto guided the visit, discussing the provenance and significance of each car in conversation with GIRARD-PERREGAUX.
• The Ferrari 275 GTS Spyder features a 12-cylinder engine, Pininfarina bodywork, and a Schedoni leather interior, and was known in Italy as the “Commendatore car” at the time of its launch approximately 60 years ago.
• The Iso Grifo was produced in only “some hundreds” of units, fitted with an American V8 Chevrolet engine inside Italian coachwork designed by the Rivolta family of Bresso, near Milan.
• The Lancia Aurelia B24 America is presented in unrestored patina condition and has won at Concorso d’Eleganza events worldwide.

A Meeting of Mechanical Cultures at Villa Girard-Perregaux

The LeFlair Rally arrived at the Villa Girard-Perregaux in La Chaux-de-Fonds, bringing with it three vintage automobiles and the collector knowledge that surrounds them. The setting, the historic villa associated with the Geneva-based manufacture, gave the encounter a particular weight: two disciplines defined by mechanical precision, material integrity, and generational transmission, occupying the same courtyard. Paolo Spalluto, the guest at the centre of the conversation, framed the cars not merely as objects but as carriers of cultural memory.

GIRARD-PERREGAUX has long positioned its watchmaking within a broader conversation about mechanical culture, and the LeFlair Rally visit made that connection tangible. The parallel between a hand-wound movement and a hand-built coachwork body is not superficial: both depend on expertise accumulated over decades, on materials selected for performance and longevity, and on the decision to preserve rather than replace. For collectors in the Gulf who follow both classic automobiles and haute horlogerie, the overlap at events such as Watches and Wonders reflects an appetite that the Swiss watchmaking industry has increasingly acknowledged.

The Ferrari 275 GTS Spyder and the Iso Grifo

The Ferrari 275 GTS Spyder carries what Paolo Spalluto describes as a specifically Italian cultural weight: at its launch roughly 60 years ago, it was referred to as the “Commendatore car,” the dream machine of an entire generation of Italian industry figures. Its 12-cylinder engine, Pininfarina exterior, and Schedoni leather interior place it at the intersection of performance engineering and artisan production. Spalluto invited his host to sit inside the car, making the point that the quality of the materials can only be fully understood from within.

The Iso Grifo carries a more unexpected history. The Rivolta family, based in Bresso near Milan, originally built the Isetta, a compact city car that was subsequently sold to BMW and became the BMW Isetta. With the proceeds, Piero Rivolta funded an entirely different ambition: the Grifo and the Rivolta GT, both using an American V8 Chevrolet engine beneath coachwork that is entirely Italian in character. Production numbers, according to Spalluto, reached only some hundreds of units total, which has made the Grifo a fixture at Concorso d’Eleganza events and a car that remains, in his words, very affordable relative to its rarity and visual presence. The Villa Rivolta in Bresso remains open to visitors.

The Lancia Aurelia B24 America and the Argument for Patina

The Lancia Aurelia B24 America is the rarest configuration of a model already produced in limited numbers. The “America” designation refers to a specific open-surround treatment of the windscreen area, with no chrome bar bridging the glass, giving the car a more exposed, open character. The example at Villa Girard-Perregaux has not been repainted or mechanically restored to a factory-fresh state; instead, it carries what Spalluto calls patina, original matching colours maintained rather than renewed, a condition increasingly preferred by serious collectors over cosmetically perfect restorations.

Its competition record at Concorso d’Eleganza events around the world reflects a judgement shared by judging panels globally: that an unaltered, well-preserved original carries more authority than a car rebuilt to appear new. Spalluto drew the comparison to watchmaking directly, noting that the legacy of a classic car and the legacy of a watch manufacture are sustained by the same instinct: to protect what was built, to show it, and to pass it forward. That philosophy is consistent with what GIRARD-PERREGAUX articulates in its approach to its own archive and historical references.

Why It Matters

For Gulf collectors who move across both classic automobiles and precision watchmaking, the LeFlair Rally visit to Villa Girard-Perregaux articulates a perspective that goes beyond brand positioning: the idea that mechanical objects gain significance through the people who understand and preserve them. The three cars presented by Paolo Spalluto, each with a distinct production story and cultural context, offer that argument in concrete form.

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