1954 Fiat 8V Coupe

Toward the close of 1951, Fiat designer Dante Giacosa created a new high-performance sports car, the legendary 2-liter 8V, or Otto Vu in Italian. Designed to take on the 2-liter class of the Italian sports car championship, the Fiat 8V made its debut at the Geneva Auto Show in March of 1952. Only 114 examples of Fiat's 8V were built, the first of which featured Fiat's own body by chief designer Fabio Luigi Rapi. The cars were built at Fiat's Lingotto factory and were identified by a Carrozzerie Speziali badge. The most famous and highly collectable of the Fiat 8Vs are the 30 or so with coachwork by Zagato.

The Fiat 8V made its debut at the Geneva Auto Show in March of 1952. A high performance coupe, it was intended to bring prestige to Fiat's line of economy cars. About 40 of them were fitted with lightweight alloy bodies by Carrozzeria Zagato of Milan. The cars were powered by a 1996 cc overhead valve V8 of 105 hp, and raced successfully against the Alfas and Maseratis in the mid-fifties.

The particular car shown is one of only five 8V 'double-bubble' coupes bodied by Zagato, and was raced by Elio Zagato himself (his height is said to be the origin of the unusual roof-line!). Following its restoration, it participated in the 1990 and 1991 Mille Miglia and later on the Colorado Grand.