Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A Imperial Landaulet

Vehicle Overview

The Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A Imperial Landaulet—chassis no. 1628, engine no. 1628, body no. 6581 by Carrozzeria Castagna from Milan, is a symphony in steel and silence, where the past rolls softly on whitewall tires. Delivered on March 17, 1931, its first destination was not a palace nor a dignitary’s doorstep, but the refined stables and sweeping estates of Jean Boalt Chambers, a name well-known in the rarefied circles of American horse breeding. To Chambers, who understood lineage, prestige, and quiet power better than most, the Tipo 8A was less transportation and more thoroughbred—machine blooded with nobility. The Imperial Landaulet body—regal in every inch—offered a curious duality: open skies for its privileged passengers, and closed quarters for the chauffeur. A stagecoach reborn, not for gallop but for glide. In it, Chambers arrived not merely to be seen, but to declare presence. Whether at racetracks or country auctions, the car whispered of Milanese elegance and transatlantic wealth. Years later, the Tipo 8A would pass into the hands of D. Cameron Peck, a Chicago collector of almost mythic stature. Peck was a man who did not just collect automobiles—he preserved legacies. To be chosen by him was to be recognized as more than a relic; it was to be an icon. In his care, the Isotta joined a pantheon of mechanical aristocrats, each one telling a story of design, ambition, and movement through eras. And this one? It told a tale of a changing world: the final gasp of prewar opulence, when horsepower still had a foot in stables and another under the hood. With its hand-formed panels and imperial lines, chassis 1628 remains a monument—not only to its makers and owners, but to a time when automobiles were the dreams of empires, built to last, and to outlive.