Italian Car Tales
By Patrick Henz
()
About this ebook
Italian cars often offer a bit more fun than their competitors and this independent from the vehicle’s price class. This book presents some of the industry’s pioneers, as Enrico Bernardi, Alexandre Darracq, Nicola Romeo, Enzo Ferrari and many more.
Without them cars would be different today, as one step let to another and their creations inspired automobile companies worldwide. Different chapters are not only about these individuals and their cars, but also the cultural background, which supported the development.
Some of the tales are directly related to particular automobiles as the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale or the Ferrari GTO.
A book about entrepreneurs, sportsmen and adventurers!
Patrick Henz
Patrick Henz holds a master degree in business economics of the University Cologne, with focus on marketing, distribution and business- & social-psychology. After working in marketing and new economy in Germany, he went to Mexico City and started in 2007 his Compliance career, first being responsible for implementation and then as Compliance Officer for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. In this time he became co-founder of the Mexican Ethics & Compliance Forum, panelist at The Economist Mexico Summit 2015 and publisher & co-author, of the Mexican Ethics and Compliance Manual.
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Italian Car Tales - Patrick Henz
DEDICATION
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To the Reader, Explorer and Adventurer.
CONTENTS
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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Again, it was a pleasure to travel back in time to let these automotive pioneers speak again. Without them cars would be different today, as one step let to another and their creations inspired automobile companies worldwide. Special thanks to Jack Koobs de Hartog (Author and Bizzarrini expert) and Massimo Neri (Stanguellini S.p.A.) for information and photos.
one – Pioneers
1.1 Enrico Bernardi
Northern Italy at the end of the 19th Century was a place with strong technical universities and innovative engineers. As others did in different countries, in 1882 Enrico Bernardi experimented with a fuel combustion engine. His so called Motrice Pia
was finished on the 5th August, a short time before his German competitors Karl Benz (25th October) and Gottlieb Daimler (16th December). To find a practical use for his invention, Bernardi added his invention first to a sewing machine and later integrated it into his son’s tricycle. This machine he presented 1894 at the National Exposition of Turin. Two years before Benz presented an adult-tricycle with integrated engine.[1]
Later in ’96, Bernardi founded the company Miari, Giusti & Cia
with the goal to commercialize such automobiles. In 1899 he left the company to found Societa Italiana Bernardi
, this to develop and sell the machines under his own name. In opposite to his German competitors, the organization had only a short life until 1901.
As in many other industries the fast second one
should win the race. In July 1899 entered the Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino
the market or better known as Fiat. Originally founded by nine persons, the most-known today Giovanni Agnelli Sr. Coming from a rich family, he took the ’88 Daimler Phoenix car, not the Bernardi-creations, as example to sell similar models. Even if in their early years the company manufactured also race and luxury cars, soon they changed their business model to target the growing middle class. Following the Ford way, which started in 1908 the mass production of their Model T, only four years later, the Italian company started with the production of the compact car Zero. The car featured a 1,8 liter engine what produced 18 HP and could give the Zero a maximum velocity of 80km/h. The second World War stopped three years later the production, as the factory had been needed to manufacture war machinery. With the end of the war, the company continued with this strategy and created the success models Topolino and 500.
Italy’s development after World War II was somehow similar to Germany. The country was included in the Marshall Plan, what gave it the opportunity to build up its major cities, including Turin, Milan and Rome. For this the period from 1950-63 should be remembered later as il miracolo economico
. Source of the economic miracle
had been the high demand after the war, the money from the Marshall Plan and relatively cheap human labor. As the country developed unevenly, many immigrants came from the poorer agricultural structured south to the industrial north of the country, especially to the economic triangle
, the area between Turin, Milan and Genoa. In this period Italy as country could reach economic growth rates of over 6% and the triangle should become one of Europe’s most important industry regions.
Besides a better life for all citizens, the 50s should boost the Italian economy, likewise it produced a new generation of business men and company founders, with fresh ideas and determined to reach their goals. As the financial situation of most of its citizens became better, also the cultural life should develop new quality standards. Italy became famous for its movies, created by the movie city in the outskirts of Rome, Cinecittà
. One of its most famous ones, 1957’s La Dolce Vita
(The sweet life) analyzed the new Italian upper class, which tended to life in decadence, similar to the Old Romans, who lived over thousand years ago.[2]
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1.2 Alexandre Darracq
The French engineer Alexandre Darracq was born 1855 in Bordeaux, but his biography looks like from a modern-day startup founder. He started his career at Hurtu and the design of sewing machines, where he received for one of his machines the gold medal at the 1899 World Fair, hosted in Paris. The exposition’s most famous building became since that year the symbol of the city and the whole country: the Eiffel Tower.
Hurtu not only produced sewing machines but also bicycles. Based on the gained experience, Darracq left the organization and established in 1891 the Gladiator Cycle Company
to produce bicycles, motorcycles and automobiles. Already five years later he sold his participation with profit to a British group. The gained capital he invested into the new electric car industry, before he founded Automobiles Darracq
to focus again on cars with traditional fuel-engines. In opposite to many other pioneers, he was not emotional affected to his products, but read the signs of the times and understood the need for these machines.