Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A

The Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A was a luxury car made by the Italian manufacturer Isotta Fraschini. It was the successor to the Tipo 8 model, with a new 7.3 litre straight-eight engine to replace the 5.9 litre unit used in the previous model. This new engine could produce 115–160 brake horsepower (86–119 kW).[2] This was the most powerful mass-produced straight-8 engine in the world at that time.[3] The Tipo 8A was offered only with bare chassis and engine for the coachbuilders.[4]

Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A
Overview
Manufacturer	Isotta Fraschini
Production	1924–1931 950 produced[1]
Body and chassis
Class	Luxury car
Layout	FR layout
Powertrain
Engine	7370 cc / 449.7 cu in straight-8
Transmission	3-speed manual
Dimensions
Wheelbase	145 in (3,683 mm) 134 in (3,404 mm) (S/SS)[1]
Chronology
Predecessor	Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8
Successor	Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8B

The Isotta Fraschini car company promised that every car could do 150 km/h (93 mph). The car was very luxurious and it cost more than a Model J Duesenberg. Around one third of these cars were sold in the United States. The characteristic car body was made by Swiss manufacturer Carrosserie Worblaufen.

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  1928 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A half page ad
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  1930 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A ad

Drivetrain

The Tipo 8A's inline 8-cylinder engine displacement was up to 7.4-liters, with overhead valves and cam — and like its predecessor, the Tipo 8, there was no external intake manifold, the twin carburetors being attached directly to the block. Transmission was a three-speed manual. The 8ASS (Super Sprint) package was also an option.[5]

On today's market

In 2012, a barn find of an unrestored 1931 Isotta-Fraschini Tipo 8A with Lancefield Faux-Cabriolet 2-door coachwork was publicly offered for the first time since 1961 and fetched $186,500.[6] In March 2013 a restored 1929 Isotta-Fraschini Tipo 8A with Convertible Sedan coachwork by Floyd-Derham sold for $473,000.[7]

In Sunset Boulevard

A 1929 landaulet limousine example of the car with "coupe de ville" bodywork by Castagna of Milan, is featured in the 1950 film Sunset Boulevard as the car of lead character Norma Desmond, a forgotten silent movie star who in the film says

...we have a car. Not one of those cheap things made of chromium and spit but Isotta Fraschini. Have you ever heard of Isotta Fraschini? All hand-made. It cost me twenty eight thousand dollars.

(Adjusted for inflation, and assuming she bought the car in 1929, $28,000 would be equivalent to $416,907 in 2019.) William Holden as Joe Gillis, an unsuccessful screenwriter said, telling the story, "The whole thing was upholstered in leopard skin and had one of those car phones. All gold-plated." The "Sunset car" has been on display at Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile in Italy since 1972. Gloria Swanson's character Norma Desmond's initials are on the rear doors of the car.[8][9]

The car used in the film was the #1587 owned in 1980s by Tom Monaghan.[10]

Notes

1. "Isotta Fraschini 8A Castagna Torpedo". ultimatecarpage.com. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
2. "1928 Isotta Fraschini 8A SS LeBaron". conceptcarz.com. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
3. "1929 Isotta Fraschini 8A". supercars.net. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
4. "1st Concours d'élégance Paleis Het Loo 1999". ritzsite.net. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
5. "1929 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A SS Castagna Roadster". Salon Collection. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-07-12.
6. "Bonhams Preservation Sale Highlights (10/12) | Classic Car Weekly". Classiccarweekly.wordpress.com. 2012-10-13. Retrieved 2014-07-12.
7. ClassicCarWeekly (2013-03-31). "isotta fraschini | Classic Car Weekly". Classiccarweekly.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2014-07-12.
8. "Museo dell'automobile - ISOTTA FRASCHINI mod. 8 A". Museoauto.it. Retrieved 2016-11-04.
9. "1929 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A Castagna Transformable in "Sunset Blvd., 1950"". IMCDb.org. Retrieved 2014-07-12.
10. http://www.coachbuild.com/2/index.php/encyclopedia/coachbuilders-models/item/castagna-isotta-fraschini-8a-transformable