1901 Isotta Tipo 1 Chassis

When Isotta Fraschini was formed in 1900 in Milan, it initially assembled and sold Renault cars for the Italian market. This modest little Isotta Fraschini is the first automobile to carry the IF badge. Although now best known for its powerful racing cars and the luxury limousines built until the end of the Second World War, Fraschini's first car was a more modest machine. Built in 1901, it is powered by a single-cylinder De Dion Bouton engine, as used in the contemporary Renault Type D, so familiar to the company. But curiously, the car was never given any bodywork - it has remained a rolling chassis. For several years it was used by the factory as a testbed, then it was put away - and it remained at the back of the IF factory until 1931 when it was given to Henry Ford for the museum he was building. The gift was sanctioned by Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini amidst negotiations regarding Ford's plan to build a factory in Italy. The company explained the donation of this 'dear and precious document of (our) mechanics' by saying it 'could not find a more suitable and worthy seat than the one of the Ford Museum in Detroit, which has been created by the prodigious faith of a man who has dedicated his whole life to the mechanical automobile industry.'

The chassis was put on display for a short while before it was again stored in the Ford museum's vaults until the 1980s. Corrado Lopresto bought the car in 2014 and returned it to Italy after 83 years away. The rolling chassis was fitted with these simple wicker seats so it could be driven on the 2015 London to Brighton Run.