Thursday, November 21, 2019

Cisitalia 202



Seen at the Auburn Cord Deueenberg Museum

 The Cisitalia 202 was designed by Battista "Pinin" Farina in 1945 and put the Pininfarina name on the map. At a time when most cars were a repeat of prewar vehicles, this car was a leap into the future. Its presentation at the 1947 Paris Auto Show was a great success and MoMA included the car as part of its "8 Automobiles" exhibition in 1951.
 Cisitalia as a manufacturer struggled along and only 170 were produced before the company quit in 1952.

4 comments:

JP said...

I once came across a cogent explanation of the reason why many Italian cars of the period (Lancias among them) were produced in right-hand drive form for their domestic market, but can't recall it. Do you know, Mister G ?

Mister G said...

Sorry, I have no idea. Doesn't seem sensible when most of the world drives on the left. Maybe hoping for acceptance in the British market? Maybe someone will know and comment.

JP said...

I found the answer in the Wikipedia article for the Lancia Ardea.

"Early Italian images of Ardea interiors confirm that Lancias of the period were still right hand drive, a position elsewhere taken to imply driving on the left side of the road. However, right-hand drive is practical even where drivers drive on the right-hand side of the road as it allows a better view of the edge of the road, which is useful when driving on rough roads in mountainous districts.
Lancia would continue, through the 1950s, to supply right hand drive cars in areas viewed by other automakers as left hand drive markets."

Mister G said...

Look at this American ad! https://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2017/10/americans-should-produce-their-own.html