1947 Fiat Stanguellini 1100 Berlinetta Special

At the end of WWII, the Modenese Vittorio Stanguellini returned to racing with unchanged energy and got to work on the new series of 1100 Sport National, which were raced by several drivers at the 1947 Italian Championship. During the season the 1100 Stanguellini obtained 10 overall and 37 class wins and Nuccio Bertone was one of these successful drivers. But the meeting between Bertone and Stanguellini also led to a business agreement with the birth of a small series of a lightweight “4-seater Berlinetta Special” or “Sport”. It was designed for Carrozzeria Bertone with ponton styling by Fabio Luigi Rapi. Bertone exhibited the first specimen at the 1947 Villa d'Este concours. The Berlinetta was introduced with a Fiat 1100B chassis and a tipo 108 engine (the standard 32CV improved by Stanguellini to 43CV). Later it was built on a Fiat 1100 E chassis and fitted with the 60 bhp Stanguellini 1100 engine. Bertone bought the Fiat chassis, Stanguellini improved the engine in Modena and later Bertone made the body and fitted up the rest. The Berlinetta was produced between 1947 and 1954, in two different versions with an alloy or steel body. Some Fiat 1500 6 cylinder and Lancia Aprilia were based on this model, built with a welded steel one-piece shell. The price in 1948 was 2.8 millions liras as like as a Lancia Aprilia Pininfarina cabriolet. Thanks to the shape and to the weight it could compete with the Fiat 1100S (51CV) because it had a max speed of 150Km/h.

Chassis 290996 ran the Coppa Inter-Europa in 1951 and a special feature of this car is that in 1954 the Ditta F.lli Giannini in Rome gave the engine a tune-up, as confermed by the motgage indicated on the chronological documentation.