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When did Fiat first come to the UK?
the fiat 24-32HP in 1903
at the time it was easily the best car on earth.
at the time it was easily the best car on earth.
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the fiat 24-32HP in 1903
at the time it was easily the best car on earth.
that's a frickin rocket ship for 1903!
Does the OP mean the first Fiat in the UK or the first Fiat sold by a dealership? No doubt there will have been a few trickle in by owners buying them abroad before they were oficially sold in the UK.
interesting point.
i dont think a dealership network existed until many years after 1902, even in italy. afaik fiat were limited to the Corso Dante site until they opened manufacturing facilites in the US in 1908.
i dont think any of the Faccioli designed fiats made it out of italy. they were only built in very limited quantities (only 8 4HP's were ever made for example). even when Enrico took over they only made 106 examples of his 12HP, and then the 24-32HP was made in a batch of more than 400. the 24-32HP was the first fiat that became well known in europe thanks to its motorsport success in italy and the fact that they made enough of them to actually sell some to the public.
i guess its possible a rich brit found out about this new italian car company before they started real production and they bought one of the Faccioli models in italy to bring back home. they'd be buggered for parts though lol.
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32hp?thats not too shabby for that day 'n' age
That will be Tax or RAC HP......not Brake HP. An early way of determining road tax.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_horsepower
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Is torque the same now as it was then. M-Jetters might be a little put out by what some early Fiat 4 cylinder petrols were putting out back in the day.
700 ib ft around 100 years ago.
700 ib ft around 100 years ago.
yes its been the same thing forever, yet jeremy clarkson still doesnt under stand what it is or even how to use the work correctly.
torques...
numpty.
numpty.
oh! in that case it is much later. i have no idea when a uk dealer network began, but i would be very surprised if it was before the lingotto factory opened in 1923. before that they didnt make enough cars in europe to make a dealer network outside of italy feasible imo. they sold almost all their cars in italy at that time, and only a few were taken abroad by rich collectors and enthusiasts. that isnt enough to justify a dealer network in the uk, so i would be shocked if one existed before 1923.
fiat's international expansion only really happened in the 60s even in europe so i wouldnt be surprised if they didnt have a dealer network until the early 60s and all the fiats in the uk before that time were imports (sold by fiat in italy). i cant find any info to back that up so it is only a logical assumption.
then again, we need to remember that car dealerships were traditionally multi-brand independant outfits. dealers only bought and sold cars, they were independant companies selling whatever they chose. imo its likely that these dealers would have been selling fiat vehicles in the 20s once the lingotto factory had opened. technically they were sold by fiat in italy and then imported to the uk, but they were still sold in the uk as new vehicles (just not by fiat). it depends if you mean the first one sold in the uk by fiat or the first one sold in the uk as a new car. by fiat i'd assume its 1960s, by independant dealers i'd assume its 1920s.
i think i'll go and google it to see if i can find any evidence.
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Is torque the same now as it was then. M-Jetters might be a little put out by what some early Fiat 4 cylinder petrols were putting out back in the day.
700 ib ft around 100 years ago.
Torque depends soley on swept volume and BMEP, so how big the engine is and how well it breaths. So those big old veteran cars could pull tree stumps providing they had 1/2 decent plumbing, the low revs meant they had no valve overlap and only filled well at low speeds. The N1/N2 nomenclature was treasury rating/claimed so how much it would cost to tax it/how well the maker claimed it would go. I do know how and why this worked but will spare you the details
My grandad had a Fiat van in the 1930's, which he used to collect farm produce around the North and West Ridings of Yorkshire, for his grocery store. Unfortunately I don't know where it was bought (although certainly in England) or what model it was. My mum mentioned that there is a photograph around, but I haven't seen it. Maybe next time I visit them I will try to find it.
