{"id":498923,"date":"2020-09-22T12:51:50","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T19:51:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=110735"},"modified":"2024-12-02T19:50:57","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T19:50:57","slug":"intrepida-fides-a-short-history-of-isotta-fraschini","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/intrepida-fides-a-short-history-of-isotta-fraschini\/","title":{"rendered":"Intrepida Fides – A Short History of Isotta Fraschini"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a>Members of Hagerty Classic Insurance\u2019s Driver\u2019s Club were recently asked what car was the most luxurious ever. The answers ranged from Studebakers to Rolls-Royces. No one suggested either Hispano-Suiza or Isotta Fraschini, the world\u2019s truly most luxurious marques. Of those two, Isotta Fraschini is my pick. Gianni Rogliatti wrote an article titled \u201cThe Fabulous Isotta Fraschini \u2013 Majesty in Motion\u201d in Automobile Quarterly<\/em> Volume XII, Number 1, First Quarter 1974. In it, he said the marque\u2019s badge, with its block letters \u201cIF<\/strong>,\u201d could appropriately stand for either \u201cIsotta Fraschini\u201d or \u201cIntrepida Fides,\u201d which translates loosely to \u201cIntrepid Faith.\u201d Owners of these automobiles could be fearless in their faith in these cars \u2013 they were that good.<\/p>\n

Isotta and Fraschini<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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IF was very familiar with the Renaults of the early 1900s, so it is probalby not a surprise that their first car looked like a Renault.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/a>As the world closed on the end of the 19th<\/sup> century, it was not uncommon for adventurous men of wealth to think about building their own automobiles. Cesare Isotta and Vincenzo Fraschini were two of these men. Isotta, a lawyer and scholar, was the dreamer. Fraschini, the automobile enthusiast, was the practical partner. They began their adventure in 1898, as did others in Italy, by importing cars built in other European countries. Renaults and de Dions, as well as Aster engines, were imported. But these cars did little to satisfy the passionate nature of Italians, and the two friends began planning to build their own automobile. The first cars to display the IF badge were assembled primarily from foreign firm\u2019s parts. Those first cars, in 1902, looked very much like Renaults but with an Aster single-cylinder engine. The company shortly became a family affair. Vincenzo Fraschini\u2019s brothers, Antonio and Oreste joined the company. Then Isotta and both Vincenzo and Antonio Frashchini married sisters in Bianchi Anderloni\u2019s family, making them brothers-in-law. This extended family would continue to intertwine for many years. In 1926, Felice Bianchi Anderloni joined with Ponzoni and Vittorio Ascari (brother of Antonio) to form Carrozzeria Touring partly because IF needed a reliable source of bodies for their cars.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n