FIAT Zero

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FIAT were producing some of the finest sporting machinery at the start of the last century, their range of cars for 1908 starting at a shade under five litres, their range-topper having no fewer than nine litres under its bonnet.

A specialist 2.1-litre FIAT taxi with a lightweight chassis showed what could be achieved with modest power and FIAT’s founder, Giovanni Agnelli seized on the idea of making a smaller, cheaper type of car.

Their first conventional offering of modest proportions was appropriately named the Tipo 1 and used a robust 1,847cc engine in a conventional chassis, some 2,000 being sold between 1910 and 1915. Two years after its debut, the factory introduced a lighter, smaller version called the Tipo Zero which used the same engine, fitted in an all-new chassis.

Retaining the same quality of manufacture that was to be found in its more expensive stablemates, the Zero was a proper big-car in miniature. It opened up the market for FIAT, selling for 8,000 Lire at launch, a price which soon fell to 6,900 Lire in 1913, sales remaining strong until 1915 when FIAT’s factories ceased car production, focussing instead on the manufacture of armaments.

In all, some 2,000 Tipo Zeros were produced, most with elegant factory four-seater tourer coachwork, the model being superseded after WW1 by the excellent 1,493cc 501 model in 1919. By then, the all-new purpose-built Lingotto factory was able to propel FIAT into the big league, with over 70,000 501s being produced over a seven year period thanks to the latest mass-production techniques.

The FIAT register records just 13 Zeros extant world-wide, with three cars residing in the UK. One is on display at the Beaulieu Motor Museum, so this extremely rare and original example represents a superb opportunity to get your hands on a very early example of this beautifully engineered model. The file carries the VCC dating plates stating its year of manufacture as 1913.

Purchased by the vendor in June 2013 from its long-term owner, the car had been in storage since the early 1980s. It had been carefully put away, the lovely acetylene headlamps being boxed-up, the car retaining its lovely patina, originality and wooden wings.

Sadly though, its orignal paperwork had been destroyed in a flood and so there is scant information about its early history. A plate on the windscreen shows that the two-seater body was made for its first customer by coachbuilders G Farina of Torino, while another plaque indicates that at some time it has passed through the hands of M Ross Browne and Co in Nottingham.

When exhumed from its long term place of storage, the vendor undertook a thorough recommissioning which included some minor metal stitching to some damage on the block and a rebuilt water pump and magneto. Described as a delight to drive, it has been used regularly and is described as a ready starter – adding credence to the folklore of the period that FIAT stood for ‘Fires In All Temperatures’.

Light, easy to handle and gorgeously pretty, this lovely Edwardian would be the perfect car in which to enjoy the events organised by the ever growing Light Car and Edwardian section of the VSCC, or the activities of the VCC. One of three in the country and only 13 known worldwide, it will be assured of a warm welcome wherever its fortunate new owner chooses to take it. We like it very much.