Dante Giacosa was an Italian car designer. His work covered a large range from minicar

Minicar

Minicar or mini car may refer to:*City car, a European car classification*Kei car, a Japanese car classification*Obvio!, is a Brazilian car*The Mini, a popular British small car made from 1959 to 2000...

s to sports car

Sports car

A sports car is a small, usually two seat, two door automobile designed for high speed driving and maneuverability....

s, using all the different layouts as and when they were the best solution at the time to meet the design parameters.

Born at Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, where his father was undertaking military service, Giacosa's family roots were in Neive

Neive

Neive is a comune in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 50 km southeast of Turin and about 60 km northeast of Cuneo...

 on the southern edge of Piedmont

Piedmont

Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...

. He studied engineering at the Polytechnic University of Turin

Polytechnic University of Turin

The Polytechnic University of Turin is an engineering university based in Turin, northern Italy. Established in 1859, Politecnico di Torino is Italy’s oldest Technical University. In 2011 it was ranked as the best engineering university in Italy in the Academic Ranking of World Universities.It is...

 until 1927. After completing his compulsory military service he joined Fiat

Fiat

FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...

 in 1928, at first working on military vehicles and then in the aero engine division. The director of the aero-engine division was Tranquillo Zerbi, designer of Grand Prix

Grand Prix motor racing

Grand Prix motor racing has its roots in organised automobile racing that began in France as far back as 1894. It quickly evolved from a simple road race from one town to the next, to endurance tests for car and driver...

 cars for Fiat. In 1933 when work commenced on the Fiat 500, the director of the aero-engine division was Antonio Fessia. He had sufficient confidence to entrust the design of all the mechanical components of the car including the chassis to Giacosa. Giacosa was engineering manager at Fiat by 1937 and he had become director of the engineering division of Fiat by 1950. He retired from his full time position with Fiat in 1970, but retained close association with the company courtesy of a position which translates as "Consulting Engineer to Fiat's Presidency and General Management and a Company's Ambassador with National and International Organizations". Following his retirement he wrote several volumes of memoirs concerning his professional life.

Giacosa served as President of FISITA

FISITA

The Fédération Internationale des Sociétés d'Ingénieurs des Techniques de l'Automobile is the world body linking together the national automotive engineering societies in 38 countries....

, the International Federation of Automotive Engineering Societies, from 1967 to 1969.

He died in Turin in 1996.

His economy and light car designs

The Fiat Topolino

Fiat Topolino

The Fiat 500, commonly known as Topolino , is an Italian automobile model manufactured by Fiat from 1936 to 1955.-History:...

 was a state of the art

State of the art

The state of the art is the highest level of development, as of a device, technique, or scientific field, achieved at a particular time. It also refers to the level of development reached at any particular time as a result of the latest methodologies employed.- Origin :The earliest use of the term...

 two-seat miniature car that soon proved popular when production commenced in 1936. It was a two-seater and had a 569 cc side-valve engine, but the chassis with independent front suspension using a transverse leaf spring

Leaf spring

Originally called laminated or carriage spring, a leaf spring is a simple form of spring, commonly used for the suspension in wheeled vehicles...

 and wishbone

Wishbone

Wishbone may refer to:* The wishbone, a Y-shaped bone found in birds* Wishbone suspension, an automobile suspension design.* Wishbone , an children's educational television show...

s and neat packaging was a big advance, with the engine located over the front wheels and radiator behind it over the four-speed synchromesh gearbox, also excellent hydraulic brake

Hydraulic brake

The hydraulic brake is an arrangement of braking mechanism which uses brake fluid, typically containing ethylene glycol, to transfer pressure from the controlling unit, which is usually near the operator of the vehicle, to the actual brake mechanism, which is usually at or near the wheel of the...

s. With fuel consumption around 18 km/l and a maximum speed of 90 km/h, but with handling good enough to allow average speeds of 60  km/h. Between 1936 when first introduced until the end of production in 1948, 122,000 were made of this original version.

Giacosa's next design was the Fiat 508C. A completely new car to replace the 508 Balilla, the 508C or as it became known as the "Millecento", had a 1100 cc short stroke engine, with overhead valve

Overhead valve

An overhead valve engine, also informally called pushrod engine or I-head engine, is a type of piston engine that places the camshaft within the cylinder block , and uses pushrods or rods to actuate rocker arms above the cylinder...

s (the 500 engine had side valves), an outstanding chassis design that earned it a reputation for good handling and ride quality. It was with a 508C chassis that as engineering manager Dante Giacosa led a team that developed the Fiat 508CMM a streamlined coupe. Fiat used the car to win the 1100 cc class in the Mille Miglia

Mille Miglia

The Mille Miglia was an open-road endurance race which took place in Italy twenty-four times from 1927 to 1957 ....

 of 1938. This model was produced in small numbers until 1940. The 508C was produced from 1937 to 1948, when it was replaced by an updated versions the 1100B and 1100E which was produced until 1953.

A wealthy Italian industrialist Piero Dusio

Piero Dusio

Piero Dusio was an Italian soccer player, businessman and racing driver.Dusio was born at Scurzolengo, province of Asti. His active soccer career ended in a knee injury, after which he started a textile business , which evolved into sporting goods as well as becoming supplier of military uniforms...

, with a request to design a single seat racing car approached him in 1944, that could be purchased for a relatively low price. This he did in his free time away for the Fiat factory. The design utilised components from the Fiat 500 and 508C. The resulting car the Cisitalia

Cisitalia

Cisitalia was an Italian sports and racing car constructor. The name "Cisitalia" derives from "Compagnia Industriale Sportive Italia", a business conglomerate founded in Turin in 1946 and controlled by the wealthy industrialist and sportsman Piero Dusio...

 "D46" was on sale in 1946 at a price in Italian lire equivalent to around 1000 pounds sterling. The space frame

Space frame

A space frame or space structure is a truss-like, lightweight rigid structure constructed from interlocking struts in a geometric pattern. Space frames can be used to span large areas with few interior supports...

 chassis was designed using steel tubes and the body consisted of light alloy panels - this was the famous superleggera

Superleggera

Superleggera is an automobile chassis construction technology developed by Felice Bianchi Anderloni of Italian coachbuilder Carrozzeria Touring. The company was located just north of Milan, near Alfa Romeo, Italian Citroen, and the former Isotta-Fraschini plant...

 or 'super-light' construction technique. The Fiat 1100 cc engine that was fitted to the car was tuned to produce 60 bhp. A maximum speed of 175 km/h was claimed. A batch of twenty cars was laid down in 1946 and the cars were raced successfully throughout the rest of the 1940s.

Giacosa did the initial design work on the next Cisitalia model, a two-seat sports car, the Project 202. Again he used a multi tube space frame chassis. The design being an adaptation of the single seat model. The prototype was fitted with a coupe body similar to the Fiat 508CMM. Before series production commenced, he passed over responsibility for the design to Giovanni Savonuzzi.

Though Dante Giacosa had become director of the engineering division of Fiat, that didn't mean that he could follow his own inclinations regarding the design of any new cars. The Fiat sales department had an overriding influence on new the model produced. Therefore Giacosa may be excused that his next design the Fiat 1400

Fiat 1400

The Fiat 1400 is a model of car produced by Italian automotive manufacturer Fiat between 1950 and 1958. The car was introduced in 1950 Geneva Motor Show. It was the first chassisless Fiat automobile...

 of 1950 was only a qualified success. Fiat wanted to produce a car that satisfied the needs of countries with a poor road system that had previously been supplied by American manufacturers before their cars had become bloated. They wanted a car with good stability, good visibility, and room for six people and their luggage, a speed of 120 km/h and a fuel consumption of 10 km/l. Unfortunately they also wanted the car with a modest size engine that wasn't too expensive to run in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. Despite Giacosa's best efforts they got a car that nether one thing or another. Only one hundred and twenty thousand examples were produced in eight years.

His next light car design was the 1100-103; this model perpetuated the name Millecento previously given to the 508C. This Millecento was a compact unitary construction saloon fitted with wishbones and coil spring

Coil spring

A Coil spring, also known as a helical spring, is a mechanical device, which is typically used to store energy and subsequently release it, to absorb shock, or to maintain a force between contacting surfaces...

s at the front and a live axle and half-elliptic springs at the rear. Its excellent handling and good performance was in the tradition of its predecessor. Of conventional design for its period, with a water-cooled OHV

Overhead valve

An overhead valve engine, also informally called pushrod engine or I-head engine, is a type of piston engine that places the camshaft within the cylinder block , and uses pushrods or rods to actuate rocker arms above the cylinder...

 inline four-cylinder engine of 1089 cc, that at first produced 33 bhp rising to 44 bhp but much more when tuned. Features that would unfamiliar to us today were the steering column change for the four-speed gearbox, and the transmission handbrake. Through a series of models culminating with the 1100R, (The 1100D had a 1221 cc engine.) the Millecento was in production until 1970 and one and three quarter million examples had been produced.

Next Giacosa and his team designed a replacement for the Fiat Topolino

Fiat Topolino

The Fiat 500, commonly known as Topolino , is an Italian automobile model manufactured by Fiat from 1936 to 1955.-History:...

. The last version of the 500C had been discontinued the previous year 1954. The 600 was a totally new car, and for Fiat a new layout with the engine at the rear as well as unitary construction. When the 600 were introduced in 1955, rear engine cars had been produced for well over a decade and their advantages and disadvantages [were] by then well known. Giacosa used the advantages to produce a four-seat car, although with limited luggage space, that had a reasonable performance from an engine of only 633 cc, due to its low weight of 585 kg and also compact dimensions. Capable of almost 100 km/h (62 mph) and returning a fuel consumption of 16 to 20 km/l and the ability to cruise at 80 km/h (50 mph). He overcame the stability problems associated with other rear-engined designs by identifying that the problem was not the weight distribution of the cars, but the simple swing axle rear suspension used in those designs. His answer was to use a semi-trailing arm type of rear suspension that eliminated the large change in the camber of the rear wheels that was inherent with the simple swing axle suspension system.

The mini people carrier may seem to be a concept of the 21st century, that is not so. Within a year of the launch of the 600 a six-seat version was in production, the Multipla. By replacing the transverse leaf spring used in the front suspension by upper links and coil springs, the mechanic components of the 600 were utilised in a forward control unitary body, removing the front luggage compartment and any trace of crumple zone

Crumple zone

The crumple zone is a structural feature mainly of automobiles. Crumple zones have also been incorporated into railcars in recent years.They are designed to absorb the energy from the impact during an accident by controlled deformation. This energy is much higher than is commonly recognized...

 (similar to the VW Type 2 Kombi/Bus, but considerably smaller), therefore needing only a small increase in wheelbase to accommodate three rows of seats. Over seventy six thousand of this first version of the Multipla were produced by 1963. The 600 was replaced by the 600D in 1960. The engine size was increased to 767 cc, with a maximum speed up to 110 km/h. Production ceased in Turin

Turin

Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...

 in 1970, but carried on in the SEAT

SEAT

SEAT, S.A. is a Spanish automobile manufacturer founded on May 9, 1950 by the Instituto Nacional de Industria , a state-owned industrial holding company....

 factory in Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

. Before then the 600 had been produced by NSU

NSU Motorenwerke AG

NSU Motorenwerke AG, normally just NSU, was a German manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles and pedal cycles, founded in 1873. It was acquired by Volkswagen Group in 1969...

/Fiat

Fiat

FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...

 in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Zastava

Zastava

Zastava can refer to:*Zastava Arms*Zastava Automobiles*Zastava Trucks...

 in Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

 and Concord in Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

. Over two and a half million were eventually produced.

Giacosa's next rear engine car for Fiat was the Nuova 500 of 1957, with a similar layout to the 600, but with a two-cylinder air-cooled engine instead of the water-cooled inline four-cylinder unit, and an unsynchronised 4-speed gearbox (the shortcomings of which being blunted by its own low inertial mass, plus that of the engine and entire vehicle), a layout kept for the entire lifespan of the model. Being a two/plus/two-seat car, it was the true replacement for the "Topolino", at the bottom of the Fiat range. With a wheelbase fractionally over six feet and a length under nine feet, it was also a lightweight weighing less than five hundred kilograms. The 479 cc engines in the early production cars were so underpowered with only 13 bhp that they were recalled and an uprated engine that produced 16.5 bhp was fitted. The final 500-F of 1965 had a 499 cc engine producing 18 bhp, sufficient to get to 110 km/h and a fuel consumption 20 km/l. In 1960 Fiat introduced the "Giardiniera", a 499 cc station wagon with a similar inline twin-cylinder engine as the "500", but with cylinder horizontal. The engine was located under the floor at the rear of the car. With a slight increase in wheelbase and the weight increased to 570 kg, it was newer a four-seat car with a luggage area over the engine. In parallel with the Fiat models, the "500", platforms where clothed in prettier bodies by Autobianchi

Autobianchi

Autobianchi was an Italian automobile manufacturer, created jointly by Bianchi, Pirelli and Fiat in 1955. Autobianchi produced only a handful of models during its lifetime, which were almost exclusively small cars, with the biggest being the short-lived Autobianchi A111, a small family car...

 at their Desio factory. Named the Bianchina, a convertible, later a convertible, a four-seat saloon, an estate car and a van version on the Giardiniera platform where produced. A version of the Nuova 500 was made by Steyr-Puch in Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

 in 1957, with their own boxer air-cooled engine and swing axle drive and suspension. The Steyr 650TR of 1965 to 1969, was the hottest 500 model made and a competent rally car.

Fiat introduced a roomier four-seat two-door saloon in 1964, to run alongside the "600". The "850", had an 843 cc engine and a 270 centimetre increase in the wheelbase, but the specification was the same as the "600". An 850T version of the "Multipla" was also available the following year. Fiat also produced coupé

Coupé

A coupé or coupe is a closed car body style , the precise definition of which varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, and over time...

 and spyder

Roadster

A roadster is a two-seat open car with emphasis on sporty handling and without a fixed roof or side weather protection. Strictly speaking a roadster with wind-up windows is a convertible but as true roadsters are no longer made the distinction is now irrelevant...

 versions using the "850", platform with an engine that produced 47 bhp at 6200 rpm

Revolutions per minute

Revolutions per minute is a measure of the frequency of a rotation. It annotates the number of full rotations completed in one minute around a fixed axis...

, later 52 bhp from a 903 cc engine. A total of over a half of a million of these were produced by 1972. Spyder production had ceased by 1973. Many special versions were produced by the legion of specialist coachbuilders at work in Italy at the time. The "850", saloon and coupe models were also produced by SEAT in Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. The "600" had been discontinued by Fiat in 1970.

Dante Giacosa's first front wheel drive car was the Autobianchi Primula

Autobianchi Primula

The Autobianchi Primula is a small car from the Italian automaker, Autobianchi , built between 1964 and 1970. It was Fiat's first automobile with the front-wheel drive, transverse engine setup, as well as the first Fiat group car with rack and pinion steering...

. Autobianchi

Autobianchi

Autobianchi was an Italian automobile manufacturer, created jointly by Bianchi, Pirelli and Fiat in 1955. Autobianchi produced only a handful of models during its lifetime, which were almost exclusively small cars, with the biggest being the short-lived Autobianchi A111, a small family car...

 was a subsidiary of Fiat. Ready for production in 1964, it had a four-cylinder water-cooled engine of 1221 cc that was already fitted in the Fiat 1100D. The rest of the car was of all new design. The engine was transversely mounted with the four-speed gearbox located inline with the crankshaft

Crankshaft

The crankshaft, sometimes casually abbreviated to crank, is the part of an engine which translates reciprocating linear piston motion into rotation...

. With a gear train

Gear train

A gear train is formed by mounting gears on a frame so that the teeth of the gears engage. Gear teeth are designed to ensure the pitch circles of engaging gears roll on each other without slipping, this provides a smooth transmission of rotation from one gear to the next.The transmission of...

 to the offset differential

Differential (mechanics)

A differential is a device, usually, but not necessarily, employing gears, capable of transmitting torque and rotation through three shafts, almost always used in one of two ways: in one way, it receives one input and provides two outputs—this is found in most automobiles—and in the other way, it...

 and final drive and unequal length drive shafts. This is the arrangement we see under the bonnet of most front wheel drive cars today. Other features of the design are not so familiar, such as the gearchange on the steering column, also the wishbone and transverse leaf spring front suspension and the rear dead axle with half-elliptic springs. The steering was by rack and pinion

Rack and pinion

A rack and pinion is a type of linear actuator that comprises a pair of gears which convert rotational motion into linear motion. A circular gear called "the pinion" engages teeth on a linear "gear" bar called "the rack"; rotational motion applied to the pinion causes the rack to move, thereby...

, a first for Giacosa, but almost twenty years after its first use by Issigonis

Alec Issigonis

Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis, CBE, FRS was a Greek-British designer of cars, now remembered chiefly for the groundbreaking and influential development of the Mini, launched by the British Motor Corporation in 1959.- Early life:Issigonis was born into the Greek community of Smyrna ...

.
The "500", series of cars was twenty-five years old by 1972 when Fiat introduced their last rear-engined saloon car the "126", a four-seat car the size of a BMC

British Motor Corporation

The British Motor Corporation, or commonly known as BMC was a vehicle manufacturer from United Kingdom, formed by the merger of the Austin Motor Company and the Nuffield Organisation in 1952...

 Mini

Mini

The Mini is a small car that was made by the British Motor Corporation and its successors from 1959 until 2000. The original is considered a British icon of the 1960s, and its space-saving front-wheel-drive layout influenced a generation of car-makers...

 on the wheelbase of the "500". The engine was increased in capacity to 594 cc, producing 23 bhp (17 kW) and a top speed of 105 km/h. The 126 was in production until 1987 and almost two million examples were produced.

The Fiat 128

Fiat 128

The Fiat 128 is a small family car manufactured by the Italian manufacturer Fiat from 1969 to 1985. The engine was designed by the famous Ferrari racing engine designer Aurelio Lampredi.-History:...

 of 1969 was the final break through by Dante Giacosa. After a lifetime of exceptional car designs both conventional front-engined and also rear-engined cars. In the 128 he brought together all the features that are considered conventional today. Belt driven OHC transverse engine/gearbox/ offset final drive with unequal length drive shafts, in conjunction with MacPherson strut

MacPherson strut

The MacPherson strut is a type of car suspension system which uses the axis of a telescopic damper as the upper steering pivot. It is widely used in modern vehicles and named after Earle S. MacPherson, who developed the design.-History:...

 front suspension

Suspension (vehicle)

Suspension is the term given to the system of springs, shock absorbers and linkages that connects a vehicle to its wheels. Suspension systems serve a dual purpose — contributing to the car's roadholding/handling and braking for good active safety and driving pleasure, and keeping vehicle occupants...

. Rack and pinion steering and disc brake

Disc brake

The disc brake or disk brake is a device for slowing or stopping the rotation of a wheel while it is in motion.A brake disc is usually made of cast iron, but may in some cases be made of composites such as reinforced carbon–carbon or ceramic matrix composites. This is connected to the wheel and/or...

s on the front wheels. The 128 had wishbone and transverse half-elliptic spring independent rear suspension.

Fiat had dealt with all the bugs associated with a new concept in the Primula and the 128 was a great success with one and a quarter million were produced by 1972. Although the wheelbase was 2.45 metres, the overhang each end was minimal, resulting in a compact car but with ample passenger space.