Yep! A Laforza. Slightly anemic Ford 5 liter V8, Italian designed leather interior, strange amateur repair job on hood, Ferrari badging, basically it was a conundrum. Amazingly it was still on the road and didn’t sound overly obnoxious when I cruised by. For those of you that have no idea what this is, make the jump to find out.
The Laforza has a short history. Back in the early 1980’s Tom Tjaarda designed his only SUV. The Rayton Fissore Magnum was based off an Iveco chassis and marketed in Europe as an Italian military and police vehicle. The company also produced some civilian based models which were fancied up with leather interiors and introduced state side as the Laforza in late 1988/early 1989.
The major difference was that unlike its European counterpart the US version housed a Ford 5 Liter V8. It also had a few significant chassis modifications and a redesign of the bumpers, exterior lights and grill.
The Laforza was marketed as a direct competitor to Land Rover’s Range Rover but unlike Land Rover, production of the Laforza was minimal and the vehicles were riddled with severe mechanical problems from day one. Because of this the company was virtually bankrupt before 1990 selling less than 50 cars per year in the United States. Laforza Automobiles North America finally went bankrupt in 1991 and all assets were sold off to a Saudi Arabian company who continued to make the vehicle until roughly 2003.
If you see one on the road, know you’re looking at something exceptionally rare.
V.I.S.I.T. – Forgotten but Not Quite Gone Edition
By Hooniverse
May 30, 2010
Antti Kautonen 
Joel Strickland 
Kamil Kaluski
I have only ever seen one in traffic- in Plano, TX about 10-12 years ago.
Looked like a 4/3 scale A2 Golf.
wow, that's a real white whale……..only heard rumors of these never seen a picture of one even
Tjaarda has designed some very cool stuff that never made it beyond full scale prototype (and a few that did). Instead, we got this.
I saw a few of these around Miami in the '90s. Not bad looking at a distance, but a close inspection revealed poor fit and finish. Add Italian electrics and it's understandable why I haven't seen one in at least 15 years.
Doesn't matter how much you think you know about cars, something will pop up that you've never heard of. Tom Tjaarda has designed some beautiful cars. And this.
I saw a very clean white Laforza on the road here in Carlsbad, CA a couple of months back. Alas, I was out on my road bike and didn't have a camera handy.
When I was a Teen in the mid 80's I worked at a Ford Dealer in upstate NY. We had a local that brought his in for service frequently.
It was quite an oddball amongst all the Escorts, Tempos, and Crown Vic's being serviced. Every time it came through we all had to crawl all over it trying to figure out exactly what it was trying to be. We even had a few 4 door Bronco Centurions come through there as well.
The operative word being "frequently." The info I've read about them is that it wasn't just the engine that had problems, it was everything from the interior to the wiring to the tires. Sad, because it probably could have been a pretty cool SUV.
All the photos I've seen of these have been of white examples, so this threw me for a brief moment. I've never encountered one in person, nor do I really expect to. They're like a video-game generic version of a ZJ Grand Cherokee…
It was so underwhelming. What caught my attention (and you probably can't see in the pic) is the Ferrari badge above and to the right of the driver side tire. I checked all over the net and found that some people think that the Ferrari badging is actually factory, some think it's an add on. I found a pic of an interior that shows the badging on the wheel, side of the car and a few other spots…that same picture has people poking fun at the owner trying to Ferrari-ize it, so I got nothin'. The Ferrari boards even have a convo about it, but again conflicting info…so it shall remain a mystery!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Other-Makes-LAFORZ…
"…but unlike Land Rover, … Laforza(s) were riddled with severe mechanical problems from day one. "
Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuure.
ALL, that is my first Laforza in the pic.. I had just picked it up and was in the process of getting it up to par. Over the last 2 years I've already put 15k on it. Like many of you, I knew very little about them before buying it, and as such I've gone through quite a learning curve with the Laforza. I can tell you that I have come to learn that the truck is truely an Italian tank. After all, it was the only vehicle to break through the crash test barrier, when being U.S. DOT approved. So, a over grown Yugo or fiat uno, I can assure you, it is not. Eventhough the previous owner had let it go for many years, after only minor work (mostly on the American bits-engine and cosmetic) the truck has never let me down. To make a long story short, I ended up buying a second one and am just as happy with that one. With regard to the ferrari badges, it is my understanding that many of the red ones were sold as tow vehicles to ferrari owners, and used much of their life in that capacity.
This website is impressive I am going to put this in the bookmarks before I misplace the url I don’t think I’ll ever make it back again otherwise.
If you want some info and through facts about this interesting and rare vehicle visit my site. http://www.laforzafissore4x4.bravehost.com
I have/had 5 Laforza V8 since 2000 and 1 original Magnum Turbo Diesel back in 1986. I still have 2 Laforza (one is 23 years old with over 200000 miles) and probably never sell them in the future.
These were the only cars among many others (BMW, Ford, Alfa, Merc, Maserati, Jeep, Range Rover etc.) that never let me down once. They are very easy and relatively cheap to maintain, fun to drive on and off road, have a mysterious (not for me anymore) and fascinating history. Unfortunately many samples (since the original company went bally up in 1991 in USA) did not have any official dealer/service capable to take care in the proper way of the car. Many owners did let them down. I have also encounter many Laforza that have been mistreated with “pouch up” works and unbelievable since fiction work ( especially in USA), leading to annoying issues caused from lack of knowledge and also missing info.