fiat 4 hp

Designed by Aristide Faccioli, this was the first model made by what was to become Italy’s leading automaker, S. A. Fabbrica Italiana di Automobili Torino, and appeared shortly after the company was formed. It has a three-speed gearbox with no reverse and chain drive. Its rear-mounted, two-cylinder engine is water-cooled through a coil radiator and consumed about 8 litres per 100 kilometres. Only 2 of the thirty or so manufactured have survived. The other is in Fiat’s Centro Storico. Three-seat, face-to-face coachwork.

Engine: posteriore orizzontale a 2 cilindri

Capacity:657 cc

Max power output:4,5 CV a 800 giri/min.

Max speed:35 km/h

Weight: 680 kg

The FIAT 4 HP, sometimes called the 3 ½ CV, was the first model of car produced by FIAT. Eight examples were produced in its first year (1899) and total of 24 between 1899 and 1900. The car had a water cooled 0.7-liter (679 cc) 2-cylinder, rear-mounted engine producing 4.2 horsepower at 800 rpm, mounted to a three-speed gearbox. (No reverse gear was included.) With this tiny engine the car could achieve top speed of 35km/h. Despite having such a small engine, the car used fuel 8L/100 km.

This first Fiat was based on work of Ceirano GB & C (car producer) called Ceirano Welleyes. The 3 ½ had coachwork by Marcello Alessio from Turin. Couple of the First Fiats have survived; one is in Automobile Museum of Turin, and the other one in the Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan in the USA.

The 'Fiat 3 ½ HP sometimes also called 'Fiat 4 HP, was the first model of vehicle built by the then nascent Italian factory in Turin Fiat.

Background and Genesis of the Project

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, an automotive excitement was spreading in Europe which also reached Italy. In the early 1890s, in fact, the engineer Enrico Bernardi from Verona created and a small gasoline tricycle, which is regarded as the first Italian car, whose production was initiated by Miari & Giusti in 1894.

1899 Fiat 3½HP (schema)

On the 11th of July, 1899, a dozen of aristocrats who shared a passion for motor racing, established Fiat by the end of that year in Turin and began the production of the 3 ½ HP.

This first model is derived from Welleyes Ing., a car designed by Aristide Faccioli, handmade by "Ceirano GB & C" and acquired by nascent F.I.A.T..

Technical Data

The 3 ½ HP at the National Motor Museum, in Great Britain

The engine, situated to the rear, is a twin water cooled through a heater coil, the cubic to 657 cm³ for an effective power of about 4 ½ HP (nominal power was shown in 3 ½ HP for tax purposes) only 400 rpm, which allows a maximum speed of 35 km/h.

The gearbox had three gears and no reverse gear with freewheel device, the clutch cone and a chain driven Transmission. Dual brake system, placed at the rear: the foot that acts on the one hand on the drive shafts and wheels. The latter are made of wood, fitted with tires 580x55 front and 670x55 rear.

Despite being a four-seater, the Typo vis-à-vis, was a very compact car with a wheelbase of 1470 mm and a 1200 mm wide axel. Fuel consumption was 8 liters of per 100 km.

Production

For the first eight units built in 1899, they added another 18 the following year, with a total of 26 specimens. Four units are know to have survived: one is preserved at Fiat at theCentro Storico museum, Museum of Carlo Biscaretti Ruffia in Turin, one in the Ford Museum in the United States and the fourth at the National Motor Museum in the United Kingdom.