Year: 2016

Fiat “125 Samantha”, Vignale, 1968. The Fiat 125 Vignale “Samantha” was made by Vignale on the Fiat 125 frame and unveiled at the 1967 Turin Car Show. It’s a four-seater coupé with pop-up headlights and despite it didn’t arouse a huge admiration, it went into production. The 1608cm3 Lampredi twincam engine came straight from the...

Porsche “911 T”, 1969. Born as the replacement for the 356, the Porsche 911 is one the most-known sports car ever. Its design, drawn by Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, will remain unaffected for decades, from 1964 to 1989 with the 964 series. The car in the Museo is a 1969 911, year when the flat-6 engine...

Maserati “3500 GT coupé”, Touring, 1958 The first mass-produced Maserati Grand Touring car, the A6 1500, was introduced in 1947, after the firm had been moved to Modena following the acquisition by Cav. Adolfo Orsi in 1937. At the 1957 Geneva Motor Show, Maserati introduced the 3500 GT, an elegant and powerful coupé designed by...

Maserati “Mistral 4.0 coupè”, Frua, 1968. Following the commercial success of the 3500 GT Touring, Maserati launched a new 2-seater coupé at the 1963 Turin Motor Show. Designed by Frua, the new Mistral anticipated some styling innovations like the hatchback or the integrated front bumper with the front grille inside, that will be adopted by the...

Lancia “2000 i.e. Berlina “, 1972. The Lancia 2000 was born to replace the missing spot left by the Flaminia in 1970. Lancia needed a new flagship model and by substantially modifying the Flavia berlina, the 2000 Berlina saw the light. Powered by the Flavia’s flat-4 engine, the 2000 will be the first Italian car (and one of...

Lancia “Ardea I° Serie”, 1941 The Lancia Ardea stemmed from the need for a smaller and cheaper alternative to the Aprilia. The result was a 9/10 scale model of the big sister, with the same design, very streamlined for the time, but also the same technical solutions, mantaining the typical Lancia’s class and refinement intact. The Ardea was...

Lamborghini “Espada 400 GT coupé”, Bertone, 1969 Presented in Geneva in March 1968, the new Espada aroused a great deal of interest due to its highly innovative and extremely aerodynamic line, then defined as “artistic”. It was produced to compete with the spacious and wonderfully comfortable coupé vehicles that Maserati with the “Mexico” and Ferrari...

Fiat  “18 P”, army truck, 1914 The Fiat 18 is a military truck made by Fiat Veicoli Industriali, used by the Royal Italian Army during WWI. Together with the lighter 15, the 18 will be the protagonist of motorizing our army forces and built in the BL, BLR, DC and P (pesante – heavy) versions....

Fiat “ 500 Topolino, tipo C, trasformabile”, 1953 In 1934 Fiat gave the designers Antonio Fessia and Dante Giacosa the important job of designing a new small popular car. Two years later the “500” was born, the smallest production car ever produced, with a tiny 569cc engine . Commonly known as “Topolino” (Mickey Mouse), this new car was inspired by the design of her big...

BMW Isetta 300, 1957 The Isetta was introduced in 1953 by Iso Automotoveicoli Spa, a company founded in 1939 with the name Isothermos for the production of heaters and refrigerators. After the war, Iso started manufacturing motorcycles and scooters and later, in the ‘60s, fast GT cars powered by big American V8 engines. In Italy,...

Lancia “Aurelia GT 2500 B20”, Pininfarina, 1957. Introduced at the 1951 Turin Motor Show, the Aurelia B20 is undoubtedly one of the most appreciated and known Italian Grand Touring cars in the world. The V6 engine derived from the one first presented in 1950 and fitted to the B10 saloon. The beautiful body, which surely influenced...

NSU “RO 80″, 1971. The NSU (Neckarsulmer Strickmaschinen Union) was founded in 1873 to produce knitting machines. In 1880 it began to produce bicycles and, by the end of the century, it was producing motorcycles. It began to make cars in 1905 but production was interrupted in 1928 when the Hellsbronn factory was sold to Fiat....