Some time ago, reader Bill Spear emailed a photo taken from Life magazine back in the 1950s. We don’t know when or where the photo was taken but he had no idea what the car is or who built it. So of course he sent it to us. But after that was published, we hear more about this post war classic Stanguellini.
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Fiat
Fiat 1100 Geburth
By Pete Vack and Alex Vazeos
Geburth Fiat Photos courtesy of Alex Vazeos
What about sending an Italian chassis out of Italy to have coachwork built? The normal direction would be to send your chassis to Italy where it would be given a fine set of new clothes by one of the famous carrozzerias that dotted the landscape in the 50s and 60s. It would be unique, well done, inexpensive and probably beautiful. A criss-cross, then, would involve having a chassis made in Italy bodied in some country not particularly known for automobiles and automobile design like Austria.
Italian chassis have been sent outward of their native land to be bodied and re-bodied for years, for example many pre-war Alfa Romeos were sent to the UK and bodied by James Young, Ranalah, or even more obscure firms such as Thornton. There was even a Ferrari 166 bodied by Abbot which did not last too long before being re-bodied again; another example was the couple of early Ferraris bodied by the Swiss firm of Ghia Aigle.
But still, such attempts go against the tide and in many cases were not very successful. Recently another such effort was uncovered in Austria, and therein lies our story…and as our resident car collector, Alex Vazeos, was quick to point out, “There couldn’t have been so many Austrian bodied Fiat 1100’s around so it might be worth a story”. We agreed.
The Fiat in question was a 1938 model, a simple 1089cc 508C four-door sedan, officially still called a “Balilla”, but the name was fading by then. The 508C was one of the most popular and successful Fiats to date, and over 250,000 were built between 1937 and 1939.
This 508C found its way to Austria, but the first ten years of its life are unknown, probably due to the war. It re-surfaced in November of 1948, when a Carl Rainer Harbach duly registered the car in the town of Pörtschach, famous for Johannes Brahms, who worked on his second symphony while staying in the tiny town, about 125Km from Venice. The next year it made its way to a new owner and location in Wein, a suburb of Vienna. After changing hands a few more times, on April 23 1955, it became the property of Dr. Oskar Göhring, the owner of a Heating-A/C firm by the name of Geburth-Kühlanlagen. Little did it know that it would be transformed, given a new life, and unlike most of the other 250,000 examples of 508Cs, be saved for posterity.
Fiat Dino, Body and Soul Part II, Body
Story by Michael Bayer
Photography by Ken Visser
The Body
As we have seen in Part 1 of the Fiat Dino Spider the stunning Pininfarina body was used for both the 2.0 Liter and the 2.4 Liter Fiat Dino Spiders. The overwhelming factor in either case is the body–prone to rust, as were most steel Italian bodies of the era, but no doubt one of the finest designs to have left the PF drawing boards in the 1960s. (ed.)
The Fiat Dino, Body and Soul
Story by Pete Vack
Photography by Ken Visser
The Chassis
Fiat’s Dino Spider has been a classic since it was introduced at the Turin Auto Show in 1966. Like most true classics, the passage of time only increases its appeal.
It was the first Fiat with an engine with four overhead camshafts. The engine was produced by Fiat and “inspired in its general architecture by the Ferrari engine of the same name”, according to Quattroruote’s massive 1970 work, All the Fiats. It was also the same engine used in the Ferrari-made (but never labeled as such) Dino 206 and 246. And for Fiat, variants of the V6 were used in the Fiat Dino Coupe and finally, the Lancia Stratos. It was a remarkable engine, however many fathers claimed it.
The hereditary link with Ferrari, by way of Vittorio Jano, Franco Rochi and “productionized” by Aurelio Lampredi for Fiat has been well detailed elsewhere (Graham Robson‘s Fiat Sports Cars, and Doug Nye’s Dino, the little Ferrari).
VeloceToday First Drive Exclusive: Fiat 500 Sport
While Brian Winer scoped out the new Fiat in California, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, John and Lizzie Sexton high tailed it over to Bergstrom Fiat, where the exclusively Fiat dealership allowed VeloceToday to be the first enthusiast publication to road test the not-yet-available US Version Prima Edizione. They were lucky enough to test the aptly named “Sport” model.
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Fiat 500 Revealed: California Dreamin’
Will it be successful with an ad campaign pitching it as, in essence, the new Mini?
INGLEWOOD, CA. Feb. 15, 2011. Laura Soave, the attractive 38-year old woman in charge of bringing Fiat back to America (for the third time, she says) predicts that the Fiat 500 will be a popular trendy car much like the new Mini. Soave made the prediction to reporters from the Motor Press Guild at a presentation near Los Angeles International Airport. She also showed a commercial embodying that philosophy. The commercial revealed their marketing stance—they are aiming straight at the Mini buyer, i.e. the young fashionable person who already is equipped with ipod, ipad, Blackberry.
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Fiat 850: One Man’s Passion
By Brian Winer
Photos by Mitch Schwartzburg
It sometimes happens that a man falls in love with a car. Not just “falls in love,” no that’s not a strong enough phrase; let’s say “passionately” in love. Because how else could you explain someone buying a $300 Fiat 850 and pouring over $32,000 into it?
Mrs. Hansberry’s Fiat
Story and photos by Ean McDowell
“1965 Fiat Sedan, unable to get spare parts, is unroadworthy, so cannot be sold. I would give it to anyone who is interested in restoring old bodies. Has done approximately 40,000 miles. White in colour and quite dusty as it has been sitting in a carport for several years; Mrs Lorna Hansberry, Landt Hostel.”
The faded notice was in frail handwriting taken down from a noticeboard long ago. It was said the car was given away four times but no-one ever collected it and sadly Mrs Hansberry passed away in late 2009. [Read more…] about Mrs. Hansberry’s Fiat
Just for Fun—Fiat 500 Brochure
We present a full Fiat 500 brochure, printed for the U.S. market circa 1960. Pages are published in order of appearance in the four sided brochure.
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The Racing Fiats: Tiremarks on America PIII
Fiat 1100 powered Formula Juniors were popular at Watkins Glen in 1959 with three entered in the Seneca Cup–an unrestricted Formula Libre race contested by many large engine sports cars and specials as well as pre-war Grand Prix Maseratis.Walt Hansgen, driving the Cunningham Stanguellini Formula Jr., is greeted by race organizer and director Cameron Argetsinger after winning the race. Photo courtesy of Argetsinger family collection.
By Karl Ludvigsen
Getting by with a little help from its friends
The Fiat-based Cisitalias that made their racing debut in September of 1946 hit the post-war motoring world like an earthquake. They were developed from the 500 cc Fiat chassis and 1100 cc engine and refined with such niceties as a tubular frame. Designer-builders such as Alfredo Vignale and Pinin Farina helped give Cisitalia its reputation of being the car of tomorrow.
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The Racing Fiats: Tiremarks on America PII
Part II brings us to mid-century, when Fiat was offering very sporting small displacement cars such as this rare 1100 S driven here by Tony Pompeo at Waktins Glen. Photo by Frank Shaffer.
By Karl Ludvigsen
The Saga of David Bruce-Brown
David Bruce-Brown, an 18-year-old prep-school lad whose mother was listed in New York’s social register, came on the scene in time for the American Grand Prize races. Driving Fiats for most of his brief but meteoric career, Bruce-Brown broke Willie Vanderbilt’s mile record at Daytona Beach in 1908. [Read more…] about The Racing Fiats: Tiremarks on America PII
The Racing Fiats: Tiremarks on America
Louis Wagner with the Fiat at the Savannah races in 1911. Almost as tall as an average man, the huge Fiats won two of the three American Grand Prize events at Savannah.
Part I
From the Vanderbilt Cup to Indianapolis, from the Grand Prize at Savannah to Sebring, cars by Fiat of Turin, Italy, have competed with distinction in the greatest American racing events since 1904. With the news of Fiat’s deal with Chrysler, Karl Ludvigsen’s three part article about Fiat in America may be more relevant than ever.
by Karl Ludvigsen
Louis Chevrolet, Louis Wagner and Walt Hansgen are among the best-known racing drivers the world has seen. What do they have in common with Don Parkinson, Pietro Bordino and Paul Richards? Just this: all of them were race winners in America driving Fiat-or Fiat-based racing cars. For over a century Americans and racing Fiats have been linked together in the world of auto competition.
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