We Owe A Debt Of Gratitude To Early Luxury Automotive Products

 You may have noticed the huge and awesome cars in the classic movies. What happened to these automakers? Were they innovators or just producers of boats or other terrible things of little creative value? Kind of like a big S.U.V tank. Trucks these days are $3 a gallon for gasoline. In fact, you may have seen cars like the Italian-made Isotta Fraschine in classic films like "Sunset Boulevard," which starred Gloria Swanson. Not only were these cars the top luxury models of their day, but they introduced early on many advanced features in automobiles as well as moving forward and enhancing the reliability and durability standards of automobiles. The thin edge of the wedge until then. Back in 1929 when the Tippo 8A primo was delivered to its first waiting owners, the Isoto Fraschini name and models were in the same stature, prestige and level as Rolls-Royce and Hispano-Suiza. The story began in Milan, Italy thirty years ago when Cesare Isotta and Vincencio Fraccino joined the 'newfangled' automobile business.

At the time Italy was a poor country, and they soon realized that with the limited car marketHowever, at that time the country of Italy was very poor, yet they understood that knowing the poor car market and the high value luxury car market, there was a need, even a necessity, to export their cars to other countries. The enterprising partners first shipped an automobile to the United States in 1902 and established the Isotta Import Company in New York just five years later. In 1908, Isotta won the ultra-difficult Targea Florio race in Sicily and won more than several important automobile races in America. Two years later, the Italians released the powerful KM, which was equipped with a 10.6-liter, four-cylinder, sixteen-valve engine. You'll be blasting 90mph at a time when few planes can achieve that in flight.

After World War I, Isotta Fraschini decided to focus on the lucrative and prestigious end of the car market. The 5.9-liter Tipo 8 engine of 1909 powered the world's first production lines, and was replaced by the Tipo 8A. Customers bought a chassis and ordered any body they fancy from an automaker. Most of them were taken over by the famous coachbuilders of the time Sala and Castanga. Others built for the likes of Fleetwood and Parker.

One of the lighter and more powerful Super Spinto versions of the A* finished sixth at the first Mille Miglia, driven by Count Magee, one of the founders and creators of the 1,000-mile road race. He was accompanied by Bindo Maserati. Bindo and his brother Alfieri were then employed by Isota Fraschini as testers. Most of the parts for the first Masaerati cars were made at the Isotta plant on Via Monterosa in Milan.

The Tipo 8B was launched in April 1931 and is generally considered Isotto Fraschini's finest automobile product. It offered more performance than its predecessor. About 950 of these luxury motor vehicles were built and sold. The Tipo 8B line faced strong opposition from the likes of Rolls-Royce, Hispano, and Bugatti. By the mid-1930s, the Isotta Frascnini car production system and enterprise was out of the car business. It made a comeback around the time of the post-WWII era when the Tipo 8C Monterosa appeared to the fanfare of post-war horns. The post-WWII Tipo 8C Monterosa was the most interesting car of its time - a very large car with a V-8 on its tail. Incredibly rather, or perhaps

We owe a debt of gratitude to these early innovators and producers of luxury automobiles in that what we take today for automotive features, engineering and reliability began early with the expectations of buyers of these luxury automobile products.