Itala

the Itala Company was founded by Matteo Ceirano and Guido Bigio in Turin, Italy, in 1904. Itala’s were high endurable racing cars, equipped with very large engines and were very successful right from the beginning: in 1905 Itala won the Coppa Florio, in 1906 the Targa Florio and in 1907 the Peking to Paris motor race. During WWI the company was forced to interrupt car production in favour of aircraft engines and military vehicles and when the car building was resumed Itala had suffered severe financial losses from which the Company never recovered. In 1929 Itala was purchased by Officine Metallurgiche di Tortona, a truck manufacturer, and built a small number of cars until 1935 when production ceased entirely.