Fiat 1100
The Fiat 1100 is a small family car produced from 1953 until 1969 by the Italian manufacturer Fiat. It was an all-new unibody replacement for the Fiat 1100 E, which descended from the pre-war, body-on-frame Fiat 508 C Balilla 1100. The 1100 was changed steadily and gradually until being replaced by the new Fiat 128 in 1969. There were also a series of light commercial versions of the 1100 built, with later models called the Fiat 1100T, which remained in production until 1971. The Fiat 1100 D also found a long life in India, where Premier Automobiles continued to build the car until the end of 2000.
Background
Like other manufacturers, after World War II Fiat continued producing and updating pre-war types. The first clean-sheet design was the 1950 1400, the first Fiat with unibody construction, which replaced the 1935 1500.Fiat's intermediate offering between the 1500 and the diminutive 500 was the 1100 E, the last evolution of the 508C Nuova Balilla 1100, first launched in 1937.
Its replacement was codenamed Tipo 103; like the 1400 was to use unibody construction, with the 1100 E's 1.1-litre engine carried over unaltered.
1100
1953: 1100/103
The Fiat Nuova 1100, or Fiat 1100/103 as it was called after its internal project number, was introduced at the April 1953 Geneva Motor Show. Unlike the 1100 E it replaced, the 103 had a modern four-door saloon pontoon body topping new unibody construction, both pioneered in Fiat's range by the 1950 1400.If the 103's body was all-new, its engine was well-tested; the car's engine debuted in 1937 on the predecessor of the outgoing 1100 E, the 508 C Balilla 1100. Updated as type 103.000, the overhead valve four-cylinder was fed by a single Solex or Weber downdraught carburettor, and put out at 4,400 rpm—just one horsepower more than on the 1100 E. The 4-speed manual transmission had synchromesh on the top three speeds and a column-mounted shifter, fashionable at the time. The car could reach a top speed of. The new model was offered in two different versions: the spartan Tipo A and richer Tipo B. The former was only available in a grey-brown paint colour, had separate front seats instead of a bench, reduced, non-chromed exterior trim, and lacked a heater and ventilation. The Type A right hand drive export models were only available in black. They were also equipped with a heater and ventilation system as well. The Type A cars also came with slightly broader body trim strips compared to the Type B. On left hand drive versions of both the Type A and Type B cars, the dashboard contained a large plastic badge stating "Millecento" covering the orifice where a radio could be installed. However on the right hand drive cars, this badge which was located on the left hand side contained the wording Fiat 1100 on the Type A cars and Millecento on the Type B cars. The type B came in a choice of paint hues and interior fabrics, and could be ordered with factory-fitted whitewall tyres and radio.
A distinguishing feature of 103s throughout the 1950s were the doors, both hinged on the centre pillar; this would only change in 1960, when the 1100 started to adopt the more modern bodyshell of the Fiat 1200 Granluce saloon. Unlike the earlier, body-on-frame 1100 series, there was no NSU-developed two-door sedan model.
1100 TV
At the October 1953 Paris Motor Show, Fiat launched a sporting version of the 103, the 1100 TV—standing for Turismo Veloce, "Fast Touring". The TV was fitted with an improved engine, which developed at 5,400 rpm rather than the of the regular versions, mainly thanks to a twin-choke Weber carburettor and a higher 7.4:1 compression ratio. Later in 1954, compression ratio was raised further to 7.6:1 and power reached. Top speed was. Another notable mechanical difference was the propeller shaft, two-piece instead of one-piece in order to dampen torsional vibrations, intensified by the increased engine output.The TV's bodyshell, outfitted by Fiat's Carrozzerie Speciali special bodies department, differed from the standard in having a larger, curved rear window and prominent rear wings, supporting differently shaped tail lamps. A distinguishing trait of the TV was a single front fog lamp, inset in the grille and flanked by two chrome whiskers. Specific exterior trim included thicker chrome spears on the sides with "1100 TV" and "Fiat Carrozzerie Speciali" badging, a taller bonnet ornament, special hubcaps, and whitewall tyres. As standard the TV was painted in a two-tone livery, with the roof and wheel rims in a contrasting colour. Inside it featured a tortoiseshell celluloid two-spoke steering wheel, two-tone cloth and vinyl upholstery, colour-coded fully carpeted floor, and until the end of 1954 reclining buckets which could optionally be fitted instead of the standard bench seat. At the 1100 TV was markedly more expensive than the standard Tipo A and B saloons, priced respectively 945 and 975 thousand lire.
The TV was appreciated by Fiat's more sporting clientele, who entered it in numerous races in period; its most prestigious victories include class wins at the 1954 and 1955 Mille Miglia, and an outright win at the 1954 Cape Town to Algiers trans African rally.
1100 Familiare
A new 1100 body style was introduced at the 1954 Geneva Motor Show, a five-door estate named 1100 Familiare on its home market. Abroad, it was alternatively known as the 1100 Family, 1100 Familiale, 1100 Kombiwagen, or 1100 Familiar in English-, French- German-, and Spanish-speaking markets respectively.The rear door was side-hinged, and the vinyl-covered rear bench could be folded down to form a flat loading surface, able to carry a load of. A third row of two forward-facing jump seats allowed to carry a fifth and sixth passenger, folding level with the boot floor when not in use. From a mechanical standpoint, aside from taller tyres, the Familiare was identical to the standard saloon.
1100 TV Trasformabile
The 1100/103 TV Trasformabile, a two-seater roadster, was introduced in March 1955 at the Geneva Motor Show. As its name implied, it was based on mechanicals from the 1100 TV. Like the Turismo Veloce saloon, the American-inspired design of the Trasformabile was the work of Dipartimento Carrozzerie Derivate e Speciali, the special bodies department of Fiat, rather than of a third-party coachbuilder; it was penned by the department's head, engineer and designer Fabio Luigi Rapi. 571 of these first series Trasformabiles were built. In 1956 it received a more powerful engine and a modified rear suspension; 450 more of these were built.During 1957, a transitory model of the 1100TV Trasformabile was produced, featuring updated exterior styling but with an identical interior, for a short period before the introduction of the 1200 Trasformabile. These transition period cars are exceptionally rare, and were primarily destined for export markets. When the 1200 Trasformabile was released that same year, it was now equipped with the more powerful "1200" engine. Production of this model continued until 1959, with circa 2360 of the 1.2-litre Trasformabiles built. The 1.2 also received slight changes to the front and rear design, with bigger headlights being the most noticeable difference.
1100 TV coupé Pinin Farina
From 1954 to 1956 Italian coachbuilder Pinin Farina independently built and sold a 2-door 2+2 coupé based on 1100 TV mechanicals, in a small series of about 780 examples. The design was first seen on a one-off displayed at the 1953 Paris Motor Show and entered by Umberto Agnelli at a race event held in 1954 near Turin, the Orbassano 6 hours Cup. The hand-built body was steel with aluminium doors, bonnet and boot lid; starting from 1955 a panoramic rear window was used, similar to the one found on coeval Pinin Farina-bodied Ferraris.1956: 1100/103 E
In June 1956, after three years and 257,000 cars built, the entire 1100/103 range was updated. The new series bore the type code 103 E. All models—saloon type A and B, Familiare, TV and TV Trasformabile—were continued. Compression ratios were raised to 7:1 for the standard engine and 8:1 for the Turismo Veloce's, for a PS and PS gain in power respectively. Suspension was made softer, and the steering geometry altered.Standard saloons wore new chrome trim and a new radiator grille with vertical bars and a rectangular fog lamp in the middle, à la TV; the TV also had a similarly redesigned grille, but now had two rectangular driving lamps, one under each headlight. The TV's contrasting paint colour was extended the body sides, from the side trim down.
Inside the dashboard was new, and featured a strip speedometer, an ivory plastic steering wheel, and a lower padded fascia; new features were a glove compartment, armrests to all four redesigned door cards, two-tone seat upholstery, and a windscreen washer.
Luggage space was improved by adopting a fold-down rear backrest and moving the spare tyre under the boot floor.
The Trasformabile roadster was updated too to the new TV specifications; the 103 E TV Trasformabile can be identified from details like the turn signals, no more supported by chrome stems but rather attached directly to the front wings.
1958: 1100/103 D
In September 1957 the 1100 was updated again as a [|1958 model], most notably with a completely redesigned rear end, and took on the new type code 103 D. It premiered at the Paris Motor Show in October, together with the new 1200 Granluce. The latter was an elegant saloon, developed from the 1100 designing a more modern bodyshell and enlarging the engine to 1.2 litres, and replaced the 1100 TV. Therefore, the 1100 range was left temporarily without an upmarket variant, and consisted of just two models: saloon and estate, both sporting contrasting colour roofs as standard. The saloon's new tail was longer and carried tailfins. Boot space had increased, and the rear window had also been enlarged. On the other hand, the estate's sheetmetal was unchanged; body-colour buttresses were added to fit the new tail lights to the 1954-vintage body.Almost all of the exterior trim was new, including door handles and turn signal repeaters. Exterior distinguishing features of the 1958 model were a new grille made of thin vertical bars crossed by four horizontal ones, with a Millecento script on its centre, and "stepped" chrome spears on the sides.
From a mechanical standpoint the main improvement were the uprated brakes, with self-centering brake shoes and wider drums, transversely instead of longitudinally finned. Engine output went up from 40 to at 4,800 rpm, thanks to a larger carburettor, a new aluminium cylinder head, and a water-cooled inlet manifold with an individual duct per each cylinder. Top speed rose accordingly to.