June 26th, 2009 by admin

Itala 35/45 HP
Itala 61
This manufacturer will always be linked with two great sporting events : Alessandro Cagno’s victory in the first Targa Florio (1906) and the victory of Scipione Borghese, Luigi Barzini and Ettore Guizzardi in the Peking-Paris race of 1907.
In 1903 Matteo Ceirano founded Ceirano Matteo & Compagnia. In 1904 there was a change in both its name (Ceirano Matteo & C. Vetture Marca Itala) and in its premises (from Via Guastalla to Via Petrarca, Turin). The first automobile to be produced was a 4562 cc 4-cylinder 24 HP. Matteo himself immediately gave the company a sporting association by carrying the 24 HP to victory in the Susa-Moncenisio hill-climb of that year. In 1905 Ceirano Matteo & C. Vetture Itala again changed its name, this time to Itala Fabbrica Automobili S.A. With the vital flow of new capital, its founder left and with Michele Ansaldi set up Spa. Matteo was succeeded as designer by Alberto Belloco.

The 35/45 HP was the machine in which undertook their extraordinary adventure in the Peking-Paris race of 1907. For length and difficulty this race ranks as the greatest race in the entire history of the car. They left Peking on June 10, 1907, and arrived in Paris on August 10. The actual length of the race was 10,000 miles and this was covered in 44 days. They reached the French capital 20 days ahead of the car that came second. Apart from modifications to the body, the addition of extra fuel tanks and removable fenders, the 35/45 was a normal production machine and it was obviously the most famous of Itala’s cars. There were, however, quite a number of models in the course of this firm’s rather troubled career before it disappeared from the motoring scene in 1934.