CISITALIA mod. 202

Cisitalia (short of Compagnia Industriale Sportiva Italiana) was founded just after the war by Piero Dusio, a Torinese entrepreneur, for the manufacture of GT and racing cars. The firm’s first product, the little single-seater D46, appeared in 1946. Designed as a new approach to racing, it won the Coppa Brezzi on the Valentino circuit the same year. It was almost immediately accompanied by the 202 sports saloon with its tubolar steel chassis and bodywork by Pininfarina that looked ahead to the styles of tomorrow. A striking feature for those days was the horizontal radiator grille and the bonnet set below the mudguards with their built-in headlights. There is another example in the New York’s Museum of Modern Art, where it’s described as “one of the world’s six most beautiful cars”.