The Isotta Fraschini #1: an unique gem from the Lopresto Collection.

Photo courtesy of Lopresto Collection

In an interview I did in November 2013 to Horacio Pagani about his Automotive philosophy, he pointed out that "we can say that a brand has to maintain its own character, and it has to be this way (...) they all have their characteristics, their philosophy which were imposed at the beginning by the manufacturer". Meaning, the beginning of a car manufacturer is always a personal statement. When a car is born, a new idea goes right with it and contributes to making it the object of desire, admiration, need and lust for years to come.

True to this fact, finding the #1 model of a Car Company, best if a legendary one like Isotta Fraschini, is an event deserving a respectful attention by the enthusiast Community.

As a matter of fact, not many companies have still their original #001 car still around: most of the times it was lost somewhere, crushed, rusted beyond restoration or simply waiting in a barn somewhere just to be found. It is like this for Rolls Royce, where the first prototypes of the 10HP were lost, for Porsche, where the 356 Gmund 001 is said to have been crushed. Remeber the first car ever, a Mercedes Benz? A replica sits in their Museum and the original is nowhere to be found. It is a sad destiny for many #1 vehicles of most Manufacturers, let alone pre-war Legends like Isotta Fraschini.

Much to my surprise and joy in a hot day of July, I had the pleasure to discover on the Facebook page of  Italian Collector Corrado Lopresto a short video of this old, tiny motorcar starting up in a remote street of Milan.
As much as I love Isotta Fraschini, this was an event that defined my 2014 of motoring enthusiasm. Despite, not having seen this little car yet, I think it's about time to write a couple of lines to make this beautiful array of steel and wood, justice.

Photo Courtesy of Lopresto Collection

Not known by many Italians, the Isotta Fraschini name is a very important one. If you ever boarded a boat, chances are that you came to your destination thanks to a big diesel engine bearing this name. Or if you ever saw an old Italian truck which was not an Iveco or an OM, well, that may have been an Isotta Fraschini as well.

Back in its time, the IF factory of Milan was building among the finest, most powerful, expensive and beautiful cars to ever come out from Italy. Rich leather, wood, tasteful color combination and an unmistakable elegance and traveling comfort, they were the right competitors for Roll Royce, Hispano-Suiza, and Bugatti. If you know the 2006 Villa d'Este winner, the IF 8ASS Castagna, (also from the Lopresto Collection) which was also exhibited at the Mulhouse Museum taking the place of a Bugatti Royale, you know what I am talking about

The first one made by IF of Milan is the car pictured above. It never had a bodywork fitted to it, and this makes the car look like a steel rectangle with some wheels at the sides and engine placed on top. But it was just more than this. It was the beginning.

Photo Courtesy of Lopresto Collection

Completed in 1901 and labeled Tipo 1902, the first Isotta Fraschini was inspired by the Renault D-Type, a Brand of which Cesare Isotta and Vincenzo Fraschini were official importers. In fact, it is similar in the technic: a single cylinder De Dion-Bouton engine #1246 and identical front bonnet and chassis. As I pointed out before, it is the only model never to receive a bodywork, in opposite to the next models produced, which were "dressed" by the Carrozzeria Belloni of Milan.

In 1931, 30 years after the foundation of Isotta Fraschini, the car was donated to the Ford Museum in Dearborn, where it remained for the next 50 years. As awkward this my seem, it is possible that behind this donation was the Italian Fascist Government seeking a symbolic act to increase the good relations with the United States. As a matter of fact, the Isotta Fraschini of the time was a symbol of great Italian engineering, let alone a well accepted foreign representative of Italy as a Country by donating the very first car made by the Factory to an important Nation like the U.S.A. was an act of great generosity.

After remaining in the Dearborn Museum until the mid eighties, it was put on sale and it has been in private hands ever since.

The car has never been restored and it has its original patina. It was recently put on sale and acquired by Corrado Lopresto this Summer. It has appeared at the Chantilly Concours of Elegance and it is now a cherished and much-loved piece of motoring history 

Photo courtesy of Lopresto Collection