Just before Lamborghini started
producing the LM002, an independent manufacturer called Rayton-Fissore began
crafting the Range Rover rival you see here.
Marketed in Europe as the Magnum and in the United
States under the name LaForza, Italy’s first real luxury sport-ute was based on
an Iveco chassis that Fiat’s truck division had (not unlike the aforementioned
LM002) originally designed for military applications. An offshoot of a
longstanding Italian coachbuilder, Rayton-Fissore gave it bodywork vaguely reminiscent
of the original Range Rover, and an interior that surely seemed at least as
luxurious (for its time), with creamy Italian leather and a curved wood
dashboard.
While the Magnum employed a variety of gasoline and
diesel engines, the US-spec LaForza used a nice, big 5.0-liter V8 sourced from
Ford along with a four-speed automatic overdrive transmission. Later versions
offered even larger engines, including a 5.8-liter version of the same unit, a
6.0-liter V8 from GM, and even some supercharged versions. There was one said
to have been built with an even bigger 7.5-liter Ford V8. But this was one of
the first made for the US market back in 1989, with Dearborn’s tried-and-true,
fuel-injected 5.0-liter engine that has surely proven more reliable than the
’80s Italian assembly, to the rocky conditions for which the vehicle was
designed.
Intrigued? Then we have good news for you because
this example is up for grabs. And it won’t cost you as much as an LM002 – or an
Urus, Levante, or Stelvio for that matter. Heck, it won’t even cost you as much
as a bare-bones new Fiat 500. RM Sotheby‘s will auction off this unusual
Italian creation come this spring in Indiana, where it expects it to sell for
somewhere in the neighborhood of US$ 10,000-US$ 15,000.
By way of comparison, the same auctioneer has a
pristine LM002 on the docket for Amelia Island in March with less than 790
miles on the clock and a pre-sale estimate in the US$ 200-250k range.
