The ultimate italian coachbuilder site
The ultimate italian coachbuilder site
One of only three , the Cisitalia 202 CMM (Coupe Mille Miglia) is one of the most successful examples of the application of aerodynamic studies in the car world.
The Cisitalia 202 CMM: His project dates back to 1946 when, after the war, Piero Dusio, founder of Cisitalia, decided to be present with one of his cars in the year of the recovery of the Mille Miglia after the interruption (in 1941) caused by the world conflict. The appointment is for 1947, but already in 1946 Dusio has build, with the collaboration of Dante Giacosa, the D46, a single-seater equipped with a revolutionary tube frame. With a Fiat 1100 B tuned engine it could reach 170 km / h. In 1947 Savonuzzi’s arrival in Cisitalia to replace Giacosa (he returned to Fiat) corresponded with the transformation of the D46 into a two-seater berlinetta. Carried by the coachbuilder Rocco Motto of Turin, it had a sort of hump on its tail that didn’t make it very pleasant to look at. Beauty and functionality did not combine well but superior aerodynamic efficiency was evident. It was called “Cassone“. Even Savonuzzi was not very satisfied and he modeled a second version with his own hands. The Cisitalia 202 CMM was built in March 1947 by Alfredo Vignale based on the chassis 001 / CMM. Thus was born the Type 202 CMM, a very aerodynamic and innovative car, with a racy tail and two very showy rear fins reminiscent of those of sharks. Their function is the same as that of directional stabilizers on airplanes, which means keeping the car’s attitude constant even at high speeds. And if the “berlinetta a cassone” had registered top speeds of more than 150 km / h on the Turin-Milan, this Cisitalia 202 CMM version, equipped with the same 4-cylinder engine of 1089 cm3 but more evolved from an aerodynamic point of view, managed to get even at 201 km / h. Forty years after a test in the Pininfarina wind tunnel, it will reveal that it had a CX of 0.29, equal to that of the best sedans of the 1990s. Piero Taruffi, who brought it to the 1947 Mille Miglia, had to retire in Cattolica due to a broken piston. A pity, because until then he was in charge of the race. The same fate also happened to the third and last aerodynamic berlinetta the following year, always driven by Piero Taruffi.
In the late 1800s, the Farina family, hailing from Cortanze d’Asti, embarked on a journey that would reshape the automotive landscape in Turin. Their story is one of passion, innovation, and resilience—a narrative that laid the foundation for the renowned Società Anonima Stabilimenti Industriali Giovanni Farina.
The Cisitalia 202 is particularly important to automotive history both because it was the first car in the world to be permanently exhibited in a modern art museum, the MoMA in New York, and because it can be considered the first example of the postwar Italian-style granturismo.
The story of Carrozzeria Vignale represents one of the many somewhat forgotten success stories born against the backdrop of an Italy that was torn apart by the Second World War and which, starting from the end of the 1950s, was able to recover enough to know a real miracle. economical just a few years later.
