The gentle revolution
It’s a bit of a mystery why no one has yet come up with the idea of making a Netflix series about Piero Dusio (if someone wants to, I’ll be happy to write the script). Probably only Giotto Bizzarrini brought together as much automotive history as Dusio, and what’s more, world history. Born on 13 October 1899 in Scurzolengo near Asti, Dusio was a talented footballer who probably even played three times in the first team of Juventus Turin. After a knee injury, he decided to pursue a career in the textile business, founded his own company in 1926, also produced bicycles (Beltrame) and tennis rackets, and soon found himself in the highest circles. It was there that Dusio also met Benito Mussolini – and in 1932 received the order to produce uniforms for the Italian army. This made him rich, he bought a couple of Maseratis, came seventh in the 1934 Mille Miglia, and in 1935 even won his class in a Siata-F . In 1938, he came in third in the race in an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300. Then came the war, and it is not known exactly what Dusio did during those years.



Then things start to get exciting. As early as 1944, Piero Dusio founded the company Consorzio Industriale Sportive Italiana, better known as Cisitalia. He commissioned the ingenious Fiat engineer Dante Giacosa to construct a racing car that was affordable for privateers. Giacosa, who remained employed by Fiat, was given three rooms on the top floor of the industrialist’s villa on Corso Gallileo Ferrari and designed a monoposto with a tubular grid frame into which a 1.1-litre Fiat engine was installed (Project 201). When the war ended and Giacosa had to return to Fiat, Dusio hired Giovann Savonuzzi as chief engineer and Piero Taruffi as test driver. In September 1946, the first post-war race took place in Italy, the Coppa Brezzi, with seven of the Cisitalia D46s at the start. Dusio invited some of the most famous drivers of the pre-war period to drive for him: Nuvolari, Biondetti, Cortese, Sommer and Chiron. Dusio also drove – and won. As an aside, he was also president of the Juventus Turin football club during those years; he was succeeded by Giovanni Agnelli.











And then there is this rather strange interlude with Porsche. It is said that Dusio had posted the bail for Ferdinand Porsche, who was a French prisoner of war, and organised his release. Whether Ferry Porsche and his team began work on the Cisitalia Tipo 360, a Formula 1 monoposto with a mid-mounted engine and switchable four-wheel drive, as a thank you or on behalf of Dusio is not entirely clear. Because the project cost him a lot of time and money, Dusio effectively handed over the management of Cisitalia to Carlo Abarth, who had probably put him in touch with Porsche. Which brings us full circle.






On the basis of the D46, Giacosa and Savonuzzi had also developed a road car, the Cisitalia 202. These vehicles also had the tubular frame and were powered by the 1.1-litre Fiat engine, which was given a Cisitalia cylinder head and thus produced between 50 and 65 hp. But it was not this that made the little Cisitalia famous, but a design by Pininfarina (then still: Pinin Farina) from 1947, which gave the little 202 its first pontoon body, which was groundbreaking and completely different from all other vehicles of the time. The aluminium body was cast in a single piece, the lines flowing, harmonious, simple – a revolution. Although this must be put into perspective somewhat, because Giacosa had already made a first draft of a coupé, Savonuzzi then had a first refined draft built by Rocco Motto (this 202 is known as the ‘Cassone’ came in third in the 1947 Mille Miglia), after which Dusio and Savonuzzi turned to Giovanni Farina (Stabilimenti Farina), where Alfredo Vignale took charge of designing two prototypes. These already looked very much like the car that Battista ‘Pinin’ Farina would eventually produce, with the final touches of a lower bonnet and a much more elegant rear end.







Probably 170 of these Cisitalia 202s were built, most of them as coupés, with a few convertibles among them. The car we are showing here, #165SC, is attributed to Vignale, even though it looks very similar to the Pininfarina design; the bodies executed by Stabilimenti Farina also look the same, apparently the templates were simply moved back and forth between the two workshops. #165SC will be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s in Paris in February 2025. The vehicle has a long history in Argentina, which brings us back to Piero Dusio. He had overextended himself financially with the Tipo 360 in particular (and also massively ripped off Piero Taruffi in the process), but in 1948 he found a new patron in the Argentine dictator Juan Peron. Dusio was supposed to set up an automobile production plant in the southernmost country of the Americas, but he failed miserably. Dusio died in Buenos Aires in 1975.





Of course we want to show more of these Cisitalia 202s, a Pininfarina example is a must, this is #038, for sale at Heritage Cars B.V. (December 2024).


























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