At the beginning of the 1950’s Fiat handed over the material for the 8V model to Siata, which created a cabriolet and let Bertone have a go at designing a very light racing semibarchetta based on the same mechanics. Nuccio Bertone was in fact a keen race driver, and in that period took part in many Grand Prix, using a version of the Fiat-Siata 8V with modified aerodynamics and about 100 kg lighter. The car was a natural on the race track, as the founder of the Turin bodywork company remembers. Although he himself was forced to give up racing under pressure from his family, his love of cars remained as strong as ever, and from then on Nuccio Bertone turned his attention to designing unmistakeable models with the same passion he had shown on the race track.