Isotta-Fraschini
Encyclopedia
History
The firm was named for its founders, Cesare Isotta and Vincenzo Fraschini, as Società Milanese Automobili Isotta, Fraschini & C., on 27 January 1900. The motto was, "Import, sell, repair cars". Prior to establishing their own company in 1904, Isotta and Fraschini assembled RenaultRenault
Renault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, and in the past, autorail vehicles, trucks, tractors, vans and also buses/coaches. Its alliance with Nissan makes it the world's third largest automaker...
s.
The first automobile bearing this marque featured a four-cylinder engine with an output of 24 hp. The car, driven by Vincenzo Fraschini, appeared in several races. In 1905, Isotta-Fraschini gained notoriety in the Coppa Florio
Coppa Florio
Coppa Florio was an Italian car race started in 1900, and renamed in 1905 when Vincenzo Florio offered the initial 50 000 Lira and a cup designed by Polak of Paris. The cup was to be offered the manufacturer that wins four or more of the first seven races, the first race held in 1905...
, where they entered aTipo D with an enormous 17.2 litres (1,048.8 cu in) 100 hp engine. For a short time in 1907, Isotta-Fraschini merged with French automobile company Lorraine-Dietrich
Lorraine-Dietrich
Lorraine-Dietrich was a French automobile and aircraft engine manufacturer from 1896 until 1935, created when railway locomotive manufacturer Société Lorraine des Anciens Etablissments de Dietrich and Cie branched into the manufacture of automobiles...
. The firm started out making race cars using this same 100 hp engine, establishing the company's reputation and gave its name considerable cachet. It was also one of the first cars with four-wheel brakes, following their invention by the Arrol-Johnson Company of Scotland in 1909. They were also among the early pioneers of OHC, with an engine designed by Giustino Cattaneo. Isotta-Fraschini introduced their Tipo 8, the first production automobile to be powered by a straight-eight engine, at the Paris Salon in 1919 and began deliveringthem to customers in 1920.
With the growth of the wealthy middle class in North America in the 1920s, Isotta Fraschini marketed deluxe limousines to the new American aristocracy. Early film stars Clara Bow
Clara Bow
Clara Gordon Bow was an American actress who rose to stardom in the silent film era of the 1920s. It was her appearance as a spunky shopgirl in the film It that brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl." Bow came to personify the roaring twenties and is described as its leading sex...
and Rudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino was an Italian actor, and early pop icon. A sex symbol of the 1920s, Valentino was known as the "Latin Lover". He starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Eagle and Son of the Sheik...
drove Isotta Fraschinis. A 1929 Tipo 8A Castagna Transformable is featured in the 1950 film Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard (film)
Sunset Boulevard is a 1950 American film noir directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, and produced and co-written by Charles Brackett...
and another appears in the 1934 film, Death Takes a Holiday
Death Takes a Holiday
Death Takes a Holiday is a 1934 romantic drama starring Fredric March, Evelyn Venable and Guy Standing, based on the Italian play La Morte in Vacanze by Alberto Casella.-Synopsis:...
with Fredric March
Fredric March
Fredric March was an American stage and film actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr...
. An Isotta also makes a featured appearance in the 1946 film Without Reservations
Without Reservations
Without Reservations is a comedy film starring Claudette Colbert and John Wayne, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film was adapted by Andrew Solt from the novel Thanks, God! I'll Take It From Here by Jane Allen and Mae Livingston.The opening shot shows "Arrowhead"...
with John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
and Claudette Colbert
Claudette Colbert
Claudette Colbert was a French-born American-based actress of stage and film.Born in Paris, France and raised in New York City, Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the 1920s, progressing to film with the advent of talking pictures...
.
Seriously affected by the economic crisis of the 1930s and by the disruptions of World War II, Isotta-Fraschini stopped making cars after the war (1949). Only five of the last model, the Monterosa, were produced. The plants were converted to produce marine engines.
The company was still left on the company register and in 1955 it was merged with engine manufacturer Breda Motori and named F.A. Isotta Fraschini e Motori Breda. The company started to produce trolley buses again and in 1960s built a new diesel engine factory in Bari. In the 1980s the company was renamed Isotta Fraschini Motori SpA and it became part of Fincantieri
Fincantieri
Fincantieri - Cantieri Navali Italiani S.p.A. is a shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. It was formed in 1959 and is the largest shipbuilder in the Mediterranean, and one of the largest in Europe...
group, with administrative headquarters in the old factory in Bari
Bari
Bari is the capital city of the province of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, in Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy after Naples, and is well known as a port and university city, as well as the city of Saint Nicholas...
.
In 1990-s attempts to revive the automotive industry of Isotta-Fraschini were made. Concept-car coupe and roadster Isotta-Fraschini T8 were built in 1996, and concept-car roadster Isotta-Fraschini T12 was built in 1998.
Vehicles
- Tipo 8Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8The Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8 is an automobile introduced in 1919 by Isotta Fraschini. The car was equipped with straight-8 engine and it was first serial produced car in the world to have such an engine....
1919 - 1924 - Tipo 8AIsotta Fraschini Tipo 8AThe Isotta Fraschini 8A was a car manufactured by Isotta Fraschini, successor to the Tipo 8 model with a new 7.3 litre straight-eight engine to replace the 5.9 litre unit used in the previous model.This new engine could produce between 115-160 hp....
1924 - 1931 - Tipo 8B 1931 - 1936
- Tipo 8C Monterosa 1948 - 1949
Racing car
- Tipo D 1905 - 1907
Trucks
- D65
- D80
Trolleybuses
- TS 40F1
- F1
Today
Remnants of Isotta Fraschini survive as three Italian companies.- Isotta Fraschini Motori S.p.A.: An engineering firm specializing in diesel products, particularly marine engines, industrial engines, and rail traction engines, but also providing a wide range of civil and military engineering products and services. The company is part of FincantieriFincantieriFincantieri - Cantieri Navali Italiani S.p.A. is a shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. It was formed in 1959 and is the largest shipbuilder in the Mediterranean, and one of the largest in Europe...
group.
The company http://www.isottafraschini.it produces propulsion and generation systems, used in US Navy littoral fast attack surface ships and yachts.
The L1306 T3, V 1312 T3, VL 1716 T2 T3 and GE COLZA V 1312 T3 generation systems produce between 200 kW and 3,000 kW. The largest of these generators are used in the Freedom class
Freedom class littoral combat ship
The Freedom class is a class of littoral combat ships built for the United States Navy.The Freedom class was proposed by Lockheed Martin as a contender for USN plans to build a fleet of small, multipurpose warships to operate in the littoral zone...
of Littoral Combat Ships.
- Isotta Fraschini Milano, s.r.l.: A firm in MilanMilanMilan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
producing handmade Italian luxury goods since 2002.
- Fabbrica Automobili Isotta-Fraschini S.p.A: A firm aiming to revive the automotive industry of Isotta-Fraschini. For some time the brand name belonged to the Italian Government.