Itala was an exotic car manufacturer based in
TurinTurin is a major city as well as a business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River surrounded by the Alpine arch...
, Italy from 1904-1934, started by
Matteo CeiranoMatteo Ceirano was an Italian businessman in the early automobile industry.His father, Giovanni Battista Ceirano, was an automobile pioneer, and with his brothers Ernesto Ceirano and Giovanni Ceirano, Matteo worked in his father's automobile workshop. With Giovanni, he created the Ceirano Matteo &...
and five partners in 1903.
Three cars were offered in the first year, an 18hp, a 24hp and a 50hp. In 1905 they started making very large engined racing cars with a 14.8 Litre 5 cylinder model which won the
Coppa FlorioCoppa Florio was an Italian car race started in 1900, and renamed in 1905 when Vincenzo Florio offered the initial 50 000 Lira and a cup designed by Polak of Paris. The cup was to be offered the manufacturer that wins four or more of the first seven races, the first race held in 1905...
and the year after that the
Targa FlorioThe Targa Florio was an open road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near Palermo. Founded in 1906, it used to be the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Championship until 1973...
. In 1907 a 35/45hp model driven by Count Scipione Borghese won the
Peking to ParisThe Peking to Paris motor race was a race held in 1907 for automobiles between Peking , China and Paris, France, a distance of 9,317 miles or 14,994 km....
motor race by three weeks.
Itala was an exotic car manufacturer based in
TurinTurin is a major city as well as a business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River surrounded by the Alpine arch...
, Italy from 1904-1934, started by
Matteo CeiranoMatteo Ceirano was an Italian businessman in the early automobile industry.His father, Giovanni Battista Ceirano, was an automobile pioneer, and with his brothers Ernesto Ceirano and Giovanni Ceirano, Matteo worked in his father's automobile workshop. With Giovanni, he created the Ceirano Matteo &...
and five partners in 1903.
Cars
Three cars were offered in the first year, an 18hp, a 24hp and a 50hp. In 1905 they started making very large engined racing cars with a 14.8 Litre 5 cylinder model which won the
Coppa FlorioCoppa Florio was an Italian car race started in 1900, and renamed in 1905 when Vincenzo Florio offered the initial 50 000 Lira and a cup designed by Polak of Paris. The cup was to be offered the manufacturer that wins four or more of the first seven races, the first race held in 1905...
and the year after that the
Targa FlorioThe Targa Florio was an open road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near Palermo. Founded in 1906, it used to be the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Championship until 1973...
. In 1907 a 35/45hp model driven by Count Scipione Borghese won the
Peking to ParisThe Peking to Paris motor race was a race held in 1907 for automobiles between Peking , China and Paris, France, a distance of 9,317 miles or 14,994 km....
motor race by three weeks. These sporting successes helped sales dramatically, the company continued to grow. The company experimented with a range of novel engines such as variable stroke,
sleeve valveThe sleeve valve is a type of valve mechanism for piston engines, distinct from the more common poppet valve. They saw use in some pre-World War II luxury cars, sports cars, the Willys-Knight car and light truck, the British Daimler and French Avions Voisin luxury cars, also used the same...
, and "Avalve" rotary types and at the beginning of WW1, offered a wide range of cars. During the war Itala built aeroplane engines but made a loss producing them.
After the armistice car production resumed with models based on the pre war cars such as the Tipo 50 25/35hp and a re-appearance of the Avalve in the Tipo 55 but financial success eluded the company
From 1924 the company was being run under receivership and they appointed Giulio Cesare Cappa from
FiatFiat S.p.A., an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial and industrial group based in Turin in the Piedmont region. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli. Fiat has also...
as general manager. He produced a new car, the Tipo 61 with 7 cylinder alloy engine which was well received but he then decided to return to motor sport producing the Tipo 11 a very advanced car with front wheel drive, V-12 supercharged engine and all round independent suspension but the car never raced. Two Tipo 61s did take part in the 1928
Le Mans 24 hour raceThe 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since near the town of Le Mans, Sarthe, France...
winning the 2 litre class.
The company was bought by truck maker Officine Metallurgiche di
Tortona*For the medieval scholar, see Marziano da TortonaTortona is a comune of Piemonte, in the Province of Alessandria, Italy. Tortona is sited on the right bank of the Scrivia between the plain of Marengo and the foothills of the Ligurian Apennines.-History:...
in 1929 and a few more cars were made up to 1935. The remains of the company was sold to Fiat.
Itala rotary valves
A distinctive feature of the pre-WW1 50hp & 90hp models was their use of a
rotary valveA rotary valve is a type of valve in which the rotation of a passage or passages in a transverse plug regulates the flow of liquid or gas through the attached pipes. The common stopcock is the simplest form of rotary valve...
. Each valve fed a pair of cylinders and was mounted alongside, rotating parallel to them. Four ports cast into the valve alternately connected ports to the cylinders through the side of the valve to the inlet and exhaust manifolds at bottom and top of the valves.
Leo Villa
The young mechanic
Leo VillaLeo Villa was the long-serving mechanic of Sir Malcolm Campbell and Donald Campbell. He was born in London, of Italian and Scottish parents.- Publications :...
began his career as a racing mechanic working on these rotary valve engines, for the driver Giulio Foresti. He met his later employer,
Malcolm CampbellSir Malcolm Campbell was an English racing motorist and motoring journalist. He gained the world speed record on land and on water at various times during the 1920s and 1930s using vehicles called Blue Bird...
, when in 1923 he took over the Itala and
BallotBallot was a French automobile manufacturer who made cars between 1921 and 1932.The Ballot brothers, Edouard and Maurice, founded their company in 1905. Before the World War I they manufactured automobile and marine engines. The company was re-founded as Etablissements Ballot SA in 1910.Edouard...
concessions in London. Seeing the publicity potential of racing them at
BrooklandsBrooklands was a 2.75 miles motor racing circuit and airfield built near Weybridge in Surrey, England. It opened in 1907, and was the world's first purpose-built motorsport venue. The circuit hosted its last race in 1939, and was also one of Britain's first airfields...
, Campbell also bought two of Foresti's race-prepared cars. Foresti and Villa delivered them in person from Paris to Campbell's house at Povey Cross. Impressed by Campbell's wealth and ambitions, Villa accepted an offer to become his permanent mechanic.