Museo Stradale

Dominic's Auto Museum
One man's passionate quest to survey finest motorcars in the world

Photographed: Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, 2009. Owner: Howard & Madlyn Fafard

Isotta Love: Design affects us all differently, and automobiles are an extremely clear expression of this selective affectation. When an Isotta-Fraschini wandered onto the field in the early morning mist along the Monterey coast, my heart and my vision latched onto the imposing shape as it glided into place, wheels pitched slightly, as if ready to depart on a lavish tour of some European campagna. It was the last great Italian luxury car, this single model produced for only a few years in the nascent days of the classic era. Compared to the modernist designs that would close the decade, the Tipo 8A is straight and tall, with reliquary aesthetics dragged up from the brass era and hammered into their ultimate form. Most striking is how the Isotta-Fraschini projects a fine delicacy that belies its size and strength—a massive dose of beauty clad to a heavy, relatively simple chassis for the purpose of depicting fast travel. Again, this is the strange combination of heft and speed that typifies cars of a time when those peripheral physical attributes—wind and weight—were not yet crucial to automotive design.

In similar terms, the Isotta-Fraschini is the only Italian luxury car of exacting standards—Italian counterpoint to Daimler, Duesenberg, Hispano-Suiza, and Maybach. These marques entered the classic era with singular purpose: build the best car that hard labor and technology can muster. Accordingly, these were among the last great marques to rely squarely on one model, which they did by ensuring unparalleled design and quality in their respective markets.

Sources: This short piece remains largely editorial.

 

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