The announcement of an Isotta Fraschini-branded hypercar to compete in the WEC and the subsequent landing on the road with a road range has rekindled the spotlight on one of the most iconic Italian automotive brands of the early twentieth century. There Milanese Automobile Company Isotta, Fraschini & C., which made cars from 1900 to 1949 produced some of the hottest and most popular cars of the first half of the last century. Exponents of luxury, the Isotta Fraschini of Milan were appreciated by industrialists and heads of state all over the world, bewitched by the elegance of the lines and also by a little competition: showing oneself with an Isotta Fraschini was a way to rise above everyone, in terms of pure automotive class. So let’s retrace the history of this iconic brand in our Lost Builders column.
Cesare Isotta, with Vincenzo, Oreste and Antonio Fraschini, had started working in the world of automobiles as importers. They dealt with Mors, Pieper, Renault with De Dion engine. And the Aster engines. Precisely with the De Dion and Aster engines they began to assemble vehicles very similar to the Renault, which they knew well. But there was ambition under fire that would fuel the auto boom. The primary group of entrepreneurs also included Riccardo Bencetti, Paolo Meda and Ludovico Prinetti of Prinetti and Stucchi. The designer Giuseppe Stefanini designed for them the lines of the first authentic Isotta Fraschini 24 HP: the model, presented in 1903 and produced the following year, was a notable success in Milanese environments. Stefanini, Isotta and the Fraschinis welcomed a man in 1905 who became a symbol of the technological mastery of the brand: Giustino Cattaneo. At Stefanini’s court, the young engineer brought freshness and ideas, so much so that he replaced his teacher: he ended up leading the technical department of the Isotta Fraschini for more than half of the brand’s history, also building several highly appreciated aero and marine engines.
Cattaneo began to get his hands on a racing car: the Type D. The vehicle, which participated in the 1905 Florio Cup, which was fitted with a 100 horsepower overhead camshaft engine, with a remarkable displacement: 17 203 cm³. The first satisfactions arrived at the Coppa Florio: in 1907, in the second edition, Ferdinando Minoia’s Isotta Fraschini won. But there was a victory as well Targa Florio, in 1908 with Vincenzo Trucco. The famous driver raced on a 50 HP (7964 cm³) in 7 hours, 19 minutes and 26 seconds, at a remarkable average of 57 kilometers per hour on the Grande circuit of the Madonie, with a total distance of 446,469 kilometers. Behind him came Vincenzo Lancia, in a Fiat. Isotta Fraschini, thanks to these successes, began to be known throughout the boot. Despite a crackling start in racing, few other expeditions of this type were organized in Milan: only with the Type FE of 1908, the work of Stefanini in this case, was there any registration that was useful mostly in terms of testing.
The reason for this retreat from racing is linked to the collaboration with the French De Dietrich: the French brand acquired a good deal of Isotta’s shares, recognizing the high quality of its chassis. However, he also didn’t want an Italian shadow over his activities to come from Milan. Oreste Fraschini, Stefanini and Cattaneo therefore concentrated on ‘road’ cars, and in the years preceding the First World War they gave life to the KM Type, a sports car with an overhead camshaft engine of 10,618 cm³, whose brakes on the front wheels were were designed by Oreste Fraschini. Before and during the war Isotta Fraschini occupied part of the production of the factory in military terms, establishing the primary foundations for a lasting relationship with the police, first of the Royal Army and then of the corps still in activity today. In fact, in 1908 the production of aircraft engines began: a 150 horsepower engine was designed, installed on the Albatros aircraft of Commander Miraglia and then on the famous Caproni 450. Space was also given to marine engines, which equipped the fast Mas torpedo boats, which in the hands by D’Annunzio, Ciano and Rizzo found space in the newspapers. In a certain sense, this type of commitment was the key to landing in the sector of luxury carthanks to a network of contacts of the highest level to which post-war models would then be successfully proposed.
The turning point came, in fact, with the Type 8 by Cattaneo. A remarkable car, dressed by all the best coachbuilders of the time, destined to become one with the Isotta Fraschini brand. Eight is the number of Isotta: this is the consonance linked to a model that covered, in its various versions and improvements, a period between 1919 and 1935. The Tipo 8 was the first car in the world produced in series with front 8-cylinder engine with overhead valves (5,900 cm³) controlled by rods and rocker arms. In the first examples the power delivered was between 75 and 80 hp at around 2200 rpm. The adjustment of the engine tuning was done through three levers on the steering wheel, one for the advance, one for the proportion of the air-petrol mixture and one for the position of the accelerator. The power was later increased to 90 hp and the top speed reached 140 km / h. The car was equipped with four-wheel brakes with mechanical pedal and lever control. The suspensions were rigid axle with semi-elliptical leaf springs and Houdaille hydraulic shock absorbers at the rear. Isotta Fraschini mounted the chassis and the engine; the rest were done by the coachbuilders.
In its most luxurious meanings, it was bought by Benito Mussolini (September 1927, chassis number 1408): it was a dorsey limousine model released by Carrozzeria Garavini. Mussolini bought two more through the interior ministry. Umberto of Savoy he had a Coupé de Ville with bodywork delivered by Farina, while Pope Pius XI, who was born in Desio, received a sedan from the Royal Automobile Club of Italy in Milan as a gift. Even the surly Josef Stalin he was captivated by the Isotta Fraschini design. But most of all they were in love with it Rudolph Valentino (he had two, one of which was a Coupé de Ville fitted out by Fleetwood) e Gabriele D’Annunzio, actor and poet respectively: two who knew what the word art meant. The fact that she was loved by the poet makes it clear that today Isotta Fraschini is still known as the ‘House of Winged Victory’.
In 1924 the Tipo 8 was updated, with the Tipo 8A (7,372 cm³), followed by the Tipo 8B from 1931. In 1926 the super sports version was also released, called 8A SS (with SS which stood for Super Spinto): it had a of over 130 horsepower, almost thirty more than the basic version. Towards the end of their career the Tipo 8s had lost some of their polish, particularly due to excessive steering weight, while driveability was the strong point of cheaper cars. In 1929, due to the great crisis, Isotta Fraschini was forced to devalue her capital up to 9 million lire: at the time, after the death of Oreste Fraschini and the abandonment of the other brothers and also of the lawyer Isotta, the president it was Count Lodovico Mazzotti. The latter and Cattaneo tried to sell the company to Ford, but between the intervention of Giovanni Agnelli, dissatisfied with the arrival of the legendary founder of the American company, and a Mussolini not entirely convinced of selling a company with the which there was a continuous exchange of military information due to aeronautical production, nothing came of it. From Isotta was born therefore the Gazzera reads, which provided for the consent of the Ministry of War for anyone who wanted to build new factories or expand existing ones. Henry Ford’s primary idea was to build a factory in Livorno, then he only proposed the continuation of the Milanese production in via Monterosa 89; loving the brand very much, it was sad for him to have to abandon the project.
With the close relationship between Isotta Fraschini and the aeronautics, in 1932 the engineer Giovanni Battista “Gianni” Caproni joined the company, who concentrated on the production of diesel for trucks (under license from Man). Cattaneo stopped working for Isotta and so only the crumbs remained of the founding nucleus of the company. And in the Second World War the brand was distinguished by the production of trucks. All that lost heritage of elegance and style, surmounted by the harshness and lack of grace of military vehicles, laid the foundations for decline.
The designer Fabio Luigi Rapi and the designer Aurelio Lampredi immediately after the war they conceived the Tipo 8C Monterosa, which was to continue the 8-cylinder and luxury traditions. 3400 cm³ displacement engine, rear-wheel drive, a platform chassis with cross members, independent wheels, hydraulic shock absorbers, 4-wheel hydraulically controlled drum brakes: the right potential was there. However, the model, set up in the “Touring Superleggera” body shop in Milan, was probably ahead of its time, with a very extravagant and rounded line. Probably only 20 were built, with little demand. The lack of interest was also determined by a superficial investment: after the war the orders for aeroengines had been rather low, and therefore there was no space to continue with an activity, the automotive one, which was not sustainable.
Thus ended the story of the four-wheeled Isotta Fraschini. A dream that has cyclically returned to vogue. Who came closest to it? The Bodywork Fissore by Giuliano Malvino, who taking over the brand in 1993 tried to propose the T8 derived from the Audi A8 (300 horsepower, design by Tom Tjaarda and Pierluigi Porta). Presented in 2008, it was produced in only 4 units, 2 with an Audi engine and two with the same engine as the Ford Mustang. The T12, whose name recalls the number of cylinders, was the derivation of the T8: only one was built. The agreement between Fissore and Audi closed in 1998, at the dawn of the purchase by the Germans of the Lamborghini brand. It is probably more nostalgia than sustainability that drives every type of dream of rebirth, and for this reason today we speak of ‘IF’ essentially only in the classics. The current brand that most resembles the Isotta Fraschini is Rolls-Royce, not only for luxury – but also for the great commitment in the world of aeronautical and naval engines.
Previous episodes of Lost Builders:
Episode 1 | DMC
Episode 2 | Innocent
Episode 3 | Delahaye
Episode 4 | Saab
Episode 5 | Stanguellini
Episode 6 | Daewoo
Episode 7 | Talbot
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