The Lancia Jota (from the Greek letter

iota Iota (; uppercase: Ι, lowercase: ι; ) is the ninth letter of the Greek alphabet. It was derived from the Phoenician letter Yodh. Letters that arose from this letter include the Latin alphabet, Latin I and J, the Cyrillic І (І, і), Yi (Cy ...

) is a series of

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

and

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

chassis produced by

Lancia Lancia () is an Italian car manufacturer and a subsidiary of FCA Italy S.p.A., which is currently a Stellantis division. The present legal entity of Lancia was formed in January 2007 when its corporate parent reorganised its businesses, but it ...

between 1915 and 1935. The original 1915 Jota was the first true Lancia truck; throughout the following two decades it was made in a number of different series and variants, each identified by a progressive Greek

numeral prefix Numeral or number prefixes are prefixes derived from Numeral (linguistics), numerals or occasionally other numbers. In English and many other languages, they are used to coin numerous series of words. For example: * unicycle, bicycle, tricycle (1 ...

added to the name, from Djota to the last Eptajota. While

axle track In automobiles (and other wheeled vehicles which have two wheels on an axle), the axle track is the distance between the hub flanges on an axle. Wheel track, track width or simply track refers to the distance between the centerline of two wheels ...

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

and equipment gradually grew, the original layout and 4,940 cc four-cylinder

petrol engine A petrol engine (gasoline engine in American English) is an internal combustion engine designed to run on petrol (gasoline). Petrol engines can often be adapted to also run on fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas and ethanol blends (such as ''E ...

were retained. Though most were used as basis for military trucks, goods transport vehicles, or buses, Jota-series

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of an artificial object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

had diverse applications, including special purpose trucks and

artillery tractor An artillery tractor, also referred to as a gun tractor, is a specialized heavy-duty form of tractor unit used to tow artillery pieces of varying weights and calibres. It may be 6x6, wheeled, continuous track, tracked, or half-tracked. Trac ...

Models

Jota

The Jota was Lancia's first truck, designed for military use. Production for the

Royal Italian Army The Royal Italian Army ( it, Regio Esercito, , Royal Army) was the land force of the Kingdom of Italy, established with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. During the 19th century Italy started to unify into one country, and in 1861 Manfre ...

began in 1915, and continued throughout

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 ...

, making up two thirds of Lancia's total wartime production of roughly 3,000 vehicles. The Jota was powered by the ''Tipo 61'' 4,940 cc side valve, monobloc

inline-four A straight-four engine (also called an inline-four) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The vast majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the e ...

, with 70 hp at 2,200 rpm, from the 1912

Lancia 1Z The Lancia 1Z was a light military truck produced by Italian manufacturer Lancia between 1912 and 1916. From a mechanical standpoint, it was closely related to the 1913 35 HP Theta passenger car. It was Lancia's first military vehicle. Developm ...

military light truck and 1913 35 HP Theta passenger car. Front and rear the Jota used

solid axle Solid is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being liquid, gas, and plasma). The molecules in a solid are closely packed together and contain the least amount of kinetic energy. A solid is characterized by structura ...

s on semi-elliptic

leaf spring A leaf spring is a simple form of spring commonly used for the suspension in wheeled vehicles. Originally called a ''laminated'' or ''carriage spring'', and sometimes referred to as a semi-elliptical spring, elliptical spring, or cart spring, it ...

s; brakes were on the transmission and on the rear wheels, and the transmission was a 4-speed

gearbox Propulsion transmission is the mode of transmitting and controlling propulsion power of a machine. The term ''transmission'' properly refers to the whole drivetrain, including clutch, gearbox, prop shaft (for rear-wheel drive vehicles), differe ...

with a multi-plate dry

clutch A clutch is a mechanical device that engages and disengages power transmission, especially from a drive shaft to a driven shaft. In the simplest application, clutches connect and disconnect two rotating shafts (drive shafts or line shafts). ...

Djota

A short-wheelbase version of the Jota, it was produced in comparatively small numbers and almost exclusively for the military during the war.

Triota

The postwar 1921 Triota adopted a modified ''Tipo 64'' engine as well as a different ''Tipo 107'' gearbox, in place of the previous ''tipo'' 61 and ''tipo'' 106.

Tetrajota

Also launched in 1921, the Tetrajota had widened axles front and rear, carried over to all subsequent models.

Pentajota

In 1924 Lancia replaced Tetrajota with the Pentajota. Available in ''normale'' (4.3 m) or ''corto'' (short, 3.8 m) wheelbase, with almost 2,200 made it was the most successful model in the series. A Pentajota normale had a loading area of and could carry 5.3

metric ton The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton (United States c ...

s of goods, more than twice as much as the first Jota. It introduced to the series four wheel brakes (front pedal-actuated, rear hand brake) and a new 'Tipo 111'' gearbox.

Esajota

The Esajota was a very long wheelbase bus chassis. It was built in 13 examples during 1926, and was replaced by the dedicated

Lancia Omicron Lancia Omicron is a bus chassis produced by the Italian manufacturer Lancia. Production of the Omicron started in 1927 and ended in 1936 after 601 total models were built. History This chassis was fitted with many different body types, a short ...

in 1927.

Eptajota

The final 1927 Eptajota was available in ''normale'' (4.7 m) or ''allungato'' (extended, 5.0 m) wheelbase. Eptajota buses were used for the needs of public transport by ATAG in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, as well as in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

and other towns and cities in Italy.

Specifications

References

Bibliography

* {{Lancia industrial vehicles timeline

Jota Jota may refer to: __NOTOC__ * Iota (Ι, ι), the name of the 9th letter in the Greek alphabet; * (figuratively) ''Something very small'', based on the fact that the letter Iota (lat. i) is the smallest character in the alphabet; * The name of the ...

Vehicles introduced in 1915