The Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8 is an Italian luxury car made between 1919 and 1924. 1920 Editing Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8 French Owner's Manual Chassis

1920 Editing Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8 French Owner's Manual Chassis

History

The Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8 is an automobile introduced in 1919 by Isotta Fraschini, a company which underwent a complete change after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Until that time building a wide variety of models, the company adopted a single-series policy. Like many high end vehicles of the day, the car came from Isotta Fraschini as a chassis only. Bodies were typically from Italy's top-tier coachbuilders,

Carrozzeria Castagna Carrozzeria Castagna is an Italian coachbuilding company based in Milan, Italy. History The company history began in 1849 when Carlo Castagna bought the Ferrari coachbuilding business. Carrozzeria Castagna built the first coach automobile with a ...

and Cesare Sala, but other European and American coachbuilding firms lent their hands to the task of supplying bodies. It was the first serial produced car in the world to be equipped with a

straight-8 The straight-eight engine (also referred to as an inline-eight engine; abbreviated I8 or L8) is a piston engine with eight cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. The number of cylinders and perfect primary and secondary eng ...

engine. With this car the company gained great name and success as luxury car manufacturer. The main rival of the car was

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

. The Tipo 8 was offered only with bare chassis and engine for the coachbuilders.

Drivetrain

The Tipo 8's 5.9-liter

overhead valve An overhead valve (OHV) engine, sometimes called a ''pushrod engine'', is a piston engine whose valves are located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier flathead engines, where the valves were located b ...

overhead cam An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine where the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion cha ...

, was the first

inline 8 The straight-eight engine (also referred to as an inline-eight engine; abbreviated I8 or L8) is a piston engine with eight cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. The number of cylinders and perfect primary and secondary engi ...

engine offered in a production car. Initially producing and soon raised to . There was no exterior intake manifold, instead the twin carburetors attached directly to the block. Transmissions were three-speed manual. The car had top speed of around to .

Legacy

The Tipo 8 and its revolutionary straight-8 engine were the basis for its successors, the Tipo 8A and Tipo 8B.

Notes

{{Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8 Cars introduced in 1919 1920s cars