The Ceirano GB & C was a historic automobile company, founded in October 1898 by Giovanni Battista Ceirano

Giovanni Battista Ceirano

Giovanni Battista Ceirano was an Italian entrepreneur and car pioneer.Born in Cuneo in 1860, Ceirano is the eldest of three brothers who were pioneers of the Italian car industry...

, Emanuele di Bricherasio, Attilio Calligaris, Pietro Fenoglio and Cesare Goria Gatti.

The headquarters of the new company was set at Turin, where in 1899 it began to build a small car with two seats, the Welleyes designed by Aristide Faccioli. Welleyes was a great commercial success for Ceirano, but managers found themselves unable to cope with the orders of the vehicle. Then in July 1898 Ceirano decided to sell the plants and patents to Giovanni Agnelli

Giovanni Agnelli

Giovanni Agnelli was an Italian entrepreneur, who founded Fiat car manufacturing in 1899.-Early life:The son of Edoardo Agnelli and Aniceta Frisetti, he was born in Villar Perosa, a small town near Pinerolo, Piedmont, still the main home and burial place of the Agnelli family...

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The car

The Welleyes was presented on 30 April 1899, and was designed by Aristide Faccioli, one of the most brilliant car engineers at the time. The car was equipped with two horizontal cylinders, transmission with leather belt and with two gears. The first Fiat made car FIAT 3 ½ HP

Fiat 4 HP

The FIAT 4 HP, sometimes called the 3 ½ CV, was the first model of car produced by FIAT. Eight examples were produced in its first year and total of 24 between 1899 and 1900. The car had a water-cooled 0.7-liter 2-cylinder, rear-mounted engine producing 4.2 horsepower at 800 rpm, mounted to...

was direct derivative of this model.