The mighty Fiat sports car on the '50s racing track.....

Fiat is known to have served the global high-volume automotive market with reliable and low-cost products since its inception in 1899. On the other hand, for the high-performance, low-volume and high-cost automotive markets, it's left to third parties.

1953 Fiat 8V Series 1 Berlinetta coachwork by Fiat Carrozzerie Speciali. (Picture from: https://bit.ly/3dBkkTD)

But something different happened in 1952 when the manufacturer started with the production of a high-performance two-seater sports car named Fiat 8V that used a two-litre V8 engine or "Otto Vu" in Italian. The car project lead by Dante Giocosa who was the company's Technical Director at the time.

1953 Fiat 8V Series 1 Berlinetta coachwork by Fiat Carrozzerie Speciali made its debut at the 1952 Geneva Auto Show held in March. (Picture from: https://bit.ly/3dBkkTD)

Where all the work on the car was done by its own and secretly, though with partialy of the work transferred to Rudolf Hruska, who was working for Siata at the time. Finally, the Fiat 8V made its debut at the 1952 Geneva Auto Show held in March.

Steering wheel and dashboard view of 1953 Fiat 8V Series 1 Berlinetta coachwork by Fiat Carrozzerie Speciali. (Picture from: https://bit.ly/3dBkkTD)

The car is available in different body styles offered under the Fiat's brand and Siata's, both as the Fiat 8V and partly as the Siata 208S with slightly modified. Then the Italian manufacturer ended the Fiat 8V production in September 1954, although many were not finished until 1955 and even 1956. Only 114 Fiat 8Vs were made and 96 others were made under the Siata name.

A pair of bucket seats of 1953 Fiat 8V Series 1 Berlinetta coachwork by Fiat Carrozzerie Speciali. (Picture from: https://bit.ly/3dBkkTD)

However, during its journey, it turned out that this car did not sell well in the automotive market, but was able to make good achievements on the racing tracks. The Fiat 8V sportscar continued to win the Italian GT 2-liter Championship every year until 1959, where Fiat faced other Italian tough competitors such as Maserati, Ferrari and Lancia, etc.

1953 Fiat 8V Series 1 Berlinetta coachwork by Fiat Carrozzerie Speciali uses a 70 degree V configuration 1,996 cc engine able to produced power of 105 hp at 5600 rpm, and in standard form giving a top speed of 190 kph (118 mph). (Picture from: https://bit.ly/3dBkkTD)

After production was discontinued, of which 34 car units had the bodywork produced by Fiat's Reparto Carrozzerie Speciali (Special Bodies Department). Then the Italian manufacturer sells the remaining units to the another Italian coachbuilder company. 

1953 Fiat 8V Elaborata Zagato coachwork by Carrozzeria Zagato known made as many as 30 units. (Picture from: https://bit.ly/3dBkkTD)

It is known that Carrozzeria Zagato made 30 units which were labeled Elaborata Zagato. Then Ghia and Vignale also made bodywork based on the Fiat 8V model, most of which were coupes, but some cabriolets were also made. Then there is an example equipped with a factory-style glass fiber reinforced plastic body shown at the 1954 Turin Motor Show.

The composite bodyshell was manufactured by Fiat's experimental bodywork department and is known to weigh just 48.5 kg (106.9 lbs). And the video below shows the 1954 Fiat 8V Rapi Series 2 Berlinetta while on the test drive.

Today, one of these Fiat 8Vs is at the Centro Storico Fiat in Turin. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | WIKIPEDIA | ]

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