Featured: 110 MPH Terror From Italy: A Tuned Fiat 1100 TV by Pininfarina

110 MPH Terror From Italy: A Tuned Fiat 1100 TV by Pininfarina

By Jacopo Villa
July 10, 2015

Photography by: Rosario Liberti

The summer is dedicated to car enthusiasts: the Mille Miglia, Goodwood, Villa d’Este, and so many others are among the major events that we wait for all year long, plus every weekend, you can go to different local car gatherings.

Even if your Sunday involves a relaxing walk in a park with your beloved better half, you cannot avoid stepping into some vintage iron awaiting for you at your destination…which came as a disappointing surprise for my girlfriend! A surprise car show made me enjoy my Sunday afternoon ice cream even more, however!

A local club parked all the cars inside the park right under the trees. It was a classic combination of Porsche 356s, Jaguar E-Types, Beetles, Giuliettas, and…a Fiat 1100 by Pininfarina!

After this year’s Mille Miglia, I developed quite an affection to the Fiat 1100. It is a fun, usable, and competitive little car. It is fun to drive, light, and mesmerizingly beautiful. You can imagine my surprise when I first saw the Pininfarina bodied cousin of our “Confetto” under the light of the sunset.

This particular Fiat came as a pleasant surprise and I was determined to make an article out of it: it’s not possible to have enough millecento in your life!

The owner of the car you see pictured here is a true gentleman driver: an energetic and generous person who works hard during the week and loves to share his passion for cars with other enthusiasts. His Pininfarina is one of his most treasured possessions, and one of the cars he has owned and raced for a long time. 

After we met at the park, we organized a first meeting in a local mechanic shop and then a photoshoot in the park of the small town of Rovellasca. The owner, Giancarlo, was keen in showing me a particular feature of the car: the Branca tuned engine.

As a long term racing enthusiast, Giancarlo handed over the 1,100-cc inline 4-cylinder to famous Milanese tuner Aquilino Branca, one of the most successful “magicians” of the ’50s and ’60s. With great pride, Giancarlo told me that he sent the engine over to Branca while he was restoring the car in the 1990s. With a big smile on his face, he proudly states that this engine was the last ever made by Branca and that it is capable of 8,000 rpm and has 100 bhp. “You can have it up to 110 mph if you want,” said Giancarlo with a smile on his face: and he wasn’t joking. The engine is probably the single aspect that matters the most to Giancarlo, as it continues the heritage of a great car enthusiast and a legend .

“Aquilino Branca was one of the greatest Italian tuners,” he says. “He was a friend of mine and a capable race car builder: during his career he almost got into Formula 1. He was successful in F3 and Formula Junior, and was a true expert on 1100 engines. On this one in particular, he installed new carburetor, intake, exhaust, ported heads, high compression pistons…the usual tune up. The results were impressive.”

Giancarlo purchased the car from a friend of his in 1985—then it took 20 years to restore. This one is his own special car: he drives it only for occasions, and he doesn’t race it anymore.

“I use it because I want to keep it clean, but it is no garage queen. It’s a fabulous little thing to drive that brightens up your mood. Every time I drive it, I just smile. That’s how it is,” Giancarlo says.  

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Peter J Smith
Peter J Smith
6 years ago

What a gorgeous little car!

Robert Lidstroem
Robert Lidstroem
8 years ago

Yeah! That is one beautiful car (and i own a 1966 Giulia Sprint GT Veloce! )!. Needs video though!

Can Kircioglu
Can Kircioglu
8 years ago

The only thing is, even my right leg would not fit in this.

Stephan P
Stephan P
9 years ago

Beautiful machine. You do not say what year it is, 57?
I too would love to see a video.

Michael Schlenger
Michael Schlenger
9 years ago

Very beautiful car, splendid photos, excellent taste – Petrolicious at its best!

I my opinion, the Fiat 1100 is one of the most underrated European classics from the 1950s and 1960s. This also holds true for the factory versions. Unfortunately, very few of them have survived, even in Italy, whereas its humble little brother – the 500 (Cinquecento) is still used by many Italian drivers, particularly in the South.

By the way, Pininfarina also contributed strongly to the body of the 1100 D factoy sedan (see the attached original press photo from my collection) which was produced largely unchanged until 1997 in India (Premier Padmin).

Being the owner of an unmolested Fiat 1100 Europa from 1964 that was manufactured in Germany (Fiat had acquired a former NSU factory in Heilbronn in the 1930s) with only 65,000 km on the clock, I can say the Millecento was a handsome and very well-made car providing lots of space for 4 passengers. It was equipped with a surprisingly torquey engine produding 48 hp whose origins date back to the late 1930s. The engine provided an excellent basis for tuners like Stanguellini and Abarth after WW2.

Thanks for putting these lovely 1100 Fiat derivatives in the limeleight!

Guitar Slinger
Guitar Slinger
9 years ago

This car is as cute as they come yet in a very sexy kind of way . The Audrey Tautou of automobiles perhaps ? And seriously . How can you not smile just looking at the thing never mind driving it ?

Nice catch Jacopo . Great photos . Great story [ though even more would be welcome ] Va bene . Che ‘sexy ‘ carina machina

Ciao
GS

Guitar Slinger
Guitar Slinger
9 years ago
Reply to  Guitar Slinger

BWTM – If ever there was a feature story just begging to be made into a Petrolicious video … methinks this is it ! Think about it Jacopo/Petrolicious staff

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