This paper deals with transient nonlinear vibration of a rigid body suspended on a foundation by elastic springs and constrained in a plane. In such a three degree-of-freedom vibration isolation system, we assume that ‘2-1-1’ internal resonance exists between the vertical and horizontal vibrations of the rigid body and the rotational vibration about its center of gravity. Our main purpose is to examine theoretically the transient behavior passing through resonance under the condition that the D.C. motor directly drives the unbalanced rotor. Numerical simulation was carried out to clarify effects of rate of increasing V(t) on the peak amplitude of the vibration of the rigid body and on the driving torque of the D.C. motor. Moreover, experiment was conducted with a physical model of a three degree-of-freedom vibration isolation system, and the transient behavior passing through resonance was observed and compared with theoretical results in a typical case with internal resonance.