 | |
| Industry | Automotive |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1904 |
| Defunct | 1934 |
| Fate | ceased production, remnants sold to Fiat |
| Headquarters | Turin, Italy |
Key people | Matteo Ceirano, founder |
| Products | Automobiles |
Itala was a car manufacturer based in Turin, Italy, from 1904 to 1934, started by Matteo Ceirano and five partners in 1903.
The Ceirano brothers, Giovanni Battista, Giovanni, Ernesto and Matteo, were influential in the founding of the Italian auto industry, being variously responsible for: Ceirano; Welleyes (the technical basis of F.I.A.T.); Fratelli Ceirano; S.T.A.R. / Rapid (Società Torinese Automobili Rapid); SCAT (Società Ceirano Automobili Torino); Itala and S.P.A. (Società Piemontese Automobili). Giovanni's son Giovanni "Ernesto" was also influential, co-founding Ceirano Fabbrica Automobili (aka Giovanni Ceirano Fabbrica Automobili) and Fabrica Anonima Torinese Automobili (FATA).
In 1888, after eight years apprenticeship at his father's watch-making business, Giovanni Battista started building Welleyes bicycles, so named because English names had more sales appeal. [1] In October 1898 Giovanni Battista and Matteo co-founded Ceirano GB & C and started producing the Welleyes motor car in 1899. In July 1899 the plant and patents were sold to Giovanni Agnelli and produced as the first F.I.A.T.s - the Fiat 4 HP. Giovanni Battista was employed by Fiat as the agent for Italy, but within a year he left to found Fratelli Ceirano & C., which in 1903 became Società Torinese Automobili Rapid (S.T.A.R.) building cars badged as 'Rapid'. In 1904 Matteo Ceirano left Ceirano GB & C to create his own brand – Itala. In 1906 Matteo left Itala to found S.P.A. (Società Piemontese Automobili) with chief designer, Alberto Ballacco. In 1906 Giovanni founded SCAT (Società Ceirano Automobili Torino) in Turin. In 1919 Giovanni and Giovanni "Ernesto" co-founded Ceirano Fabbrica Automobili (aka Giovanni Ceirano Fabbrica Automobili) and in 1922 they took control of Fabrica Anonima Torinese Automobili (FATA).
Three cars were offered in the first year, an 18 hp, a 24 hp and a 50 hp. In 1905 they started making very large-engined racing cars with a 14.8-litre 5-cylinder model which won the Coppa Florio and the year after that the Targa Florio. In 1907 a 7,433 cc (453.6 cu in) 35/45 hp model driven by Count Scipione Borghese, 10th Prince of Sulmona who won the Peking to Paris motor race by three weeks. These sporting successes helped sales dramatically; the company continued to grow. The company experimented with a range of novel engines such as variable-stroke, sleeve-valve, and "Avalve" rotary types and at the beginning of World War I, offered a wide range of cars. During the war Itala built aeroplane engines but made a loss producing them.
After the armistice car production resumed with models based on the pre war cars such as the Tipo 50 25/35 hp and a re-appearance of the Avalve in the 4,426 cc (270.1 cu in) Tipo 55 but financial success eluded the company
From 1924 the company was being run under receivership, and they appointed Giulio Cesare Cappa from Fiat as general manager. He produced a new car, the Tipo 61 with 7-cylinder alloy engine, which was well received, but he then decided to return to motor sport producing in 1925 the Itala mod. 11, a very advanced single seat racing car with a 1050 cc supercharged V12 engine that developed 60 CV at 7,000 rpm. It had front-wheel drive and all-round independent suspension, with a top speed of around 150 km/h (93 mph), [3] but the car never raced. Two Tipo 61s did take part in the 1928 Le Mans 24 hour race, winning the 2-litre class.
The company was bought by truck maker Officine Metallurgiche di Tortona in 1929, and a few more cars were made up to 1935. The remains of the company was sold to Fiat.
A distinctive feature of the pre-World War I 50 hp and 90 hp models was their use of a rotary valve. Each valve fed a pair of cylinders and was mounted alongside, rotating parallel to them. Four ports cast into the valve alternately connected ports to the cylinders through the side of the valve to the inlet and exhaust manifolds at bottom and top of the valves. [4]
Leo Villa began his career as a racing mechanic working on these rotary valve engines for the driver Giulio Foresti. He met Malcolm Campbell, when in 1923, Campbell took over the Itala and Ballot concessions in London. Seeing the publicity potential of racing them at Brooklands, Campbell also bought two of Foresti's race-prepared cars. Foresti and Villa delivered them in person from Paris to Campbell's house at Povey Cross. Impressed by Campbell's wealth and ambitions, Villa accepted an offer to become his permanent mechanic. [5]
Aurea, Societa Italiana Ferrotaie, Fabbrica Anonima Torinese Automobili. Aurea was an Italian automobile manufactured in Turin from 1921 to 1930.
S.P.A. was an Italian automobile, military vehicle and aero-engine manufacturer founded in Turin by Matteo Ceirano and Michele Ansaldi. It was active between 1906 and 1926. In 1908, it merged with Fabbrica Ligure Automobili Genova (FLAG) and the new company, Società Ligure Piemontese Automobili, was headquartered in Genoa while manufacturing in Turin.
Vittorio Jano was an Italian automobile designer of Hungarian descent from the 1920s through 1960s.
The automotive industry in Italy is a quite large employer in the country, it had over 2,131 firms and employed almost 250,000 people in 2006. Italy's automotive industry is best known for its automobile designs and small city cars, sports and supercars. The automotive industry makes a contribution of 8.5% to Italian GDP.
The Fiat 4 HP was the first model of car produced by FIAT, from 1899 to 1900 based on a third party design.
Matteo Ceirano was an Italian businessman in the early automobile industry who co-founded the manufacturers Ceirano; Itala Fabbrica Automobili in 1904 and Società Piemontese Automobili (S.P.A.) in 1908.
Ceirano GB & C was a historic automobile company, founded in October 1888 by Giovanni Battista Ceirano, Emanuele di Bricherasio, Attilio Calligaris, Pietro Fenoglio and Cesare Goria Gatti.
The SCAT was an Italian automobile manufacturer from Turin, founded in 1906 by Giovanni Battista Ceirano.
Giovanni Battista Ceirano was an Italian entrepreneur and car pioneer. The first motorcar he designed and built was the Well-Eyes, but he sold the rights to Giovanni Agnelli of F.I.A.T. who manufactured it in volume as their first motorcar.
Ernesto Ceirano (1875–1953) was an Italian entrepreneur, racing driver and motoring pioneer. Born in Cuneo in 1875, Ceirano was the youngest of four brothers who were pioneers of the Italian car industry. In 1908 he finished third in the Targa Florio driving his brother's S.P.A. automobile.
Michele Ansaldi was an Italian automobile engineer, designer, and industrialist. He is known for creating the Ansaldi automobile in Milan in 1904 which became the F.I.A.T. Brevetti, and for co-founding the S.P.A. in Turin in 1906 which manufactured cars, commercial vehicles, aero engines and military vehicles.
Ansaldi was an Italian automobile manufacturer founded in Milan in 1904 by Michele Ansaldi an engineer, designer, and industrialist. The only car they produced was sold as the F.I.A.T. Brevetti after the company was taken over in 1905.
Società Torinese Automobili Rapid, also known as S.T.A.R. and Rapid, was an Italian car manufacturer founded by Giovanni Battista Ceirano in Turin in July 1904. Rapid was its trademark. In 1921 it was acquired by the S.P.A. company that had been founded by Giovanni Battista's brother Matteo Ceirano, and which, in 1925, was taken over by Fiat.
Ceirano may refer to:
Giovanni Ceirano was an Italian industrialist and automotive pioneer. He cofounded 'Junior Fabbrica Automobili Torinese' in 1905, 'Società Ceirano Automobili Torino' in 1906, 'Fabbrica Automobili Ceirano' in 1917 and 'SCAT- Ceirano' in 1923.
Giovanni "Ernesto" Ceirano (1889-1956) was an Italian industrialist, son of Giovanni Ceirano, co-founder of Fabbrica Automobili Ceirano, co-owner of Aurea and two-time winner of the Targa Florio.
Fratelli Ceirano & C was an Italian automobile manufacturer founded in 1901 by Giovanni Battista Ceirano and his brother Matteo Ceirano after they had left F.I.A.T. Their own automobile manufacturing business, Ceirano GB & C and its Welleyes motorcar, had been taken over by Giovanni Agnelli and his new F.I.A.T. consortium in 1899, whereupon the Welleyes was marketed as the F.I.A.T. 4HP, the first ever Fiat. The Ceiranos were not satisfied as employees and 'Italian sales agents' of F.I.A.T. so they founded Fratelli Ceirano & C in Turin, which, by July 1903 had morphed into Società Torinese Automobili Rapid (S.T.A.R.), and the cars were badged as Rapid.
Ceirano Fabbrica Automobili, or Ceirano Giovanni Fabbrica Automobili or Giovanni Ceirano Fabbrica Automobili was an Italian automobile manufacturer from Turin, founded in 1919 by Giovanni Ceirano and his son Giovanni "Ernesto" Ceirano.
Fabbrica Junior Torinese d'Automobili, Ceirano Junior, Junior F.J.T.A., was an Italian automobile manufacturer based in Turin which was founded by Giovanni Ceirano in 1905. The Junior, often known as F.J.T.A., was made from 1905 until 1909
Automobili Nazzaro was an Italian manufacturer of automobiles from 1911 to 1916, and 1919–1923. Founded by racing driver Felice Nazzaro it produced circa 490 vehicles in total and won both the 1913 and 1920 Targa Florios in Sicily.
Its leading-edge specifications included a just over 1-litre, V12 engine with Roots positive-displacement supercharger, all-independent suspension, reinforced wooden chassis and integral engine, transmission and differential.
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