Born: 1952 Died:1954Perhaps the most beautiful Fiat ever built, and one which came in many guises because the bodywork was provided by several of the top carrosseries of the day. Only 114 Fiat 8Vs were built, and most of these are believed to be still in existence in private collections and museums.
The name is a mistake, because for some reason the designers thought that Ford Motor Company had a patent on the V8 engine configuration in name terms, so they simply reversed the designation for the 2.0-litre V8 around which the car was developed. That engine itself had been designed for a new Fiat luxury car which was never built because of changes in Italian tax laws.
The 8V car was from the outset designed as a "homologation" special, to allow the engine to be used in Gran Turismo competition. The rules at the time required that 100 production cars should be built.
The original engines produced 105hp, with fuel metered by a pair of double-chamber Weber carburettors. The first 34 cars came with factory produced bodywork by Carozzeria Speciale Fiat, and when the 8V - also known as the "Otto Vu" - was introduced at the 1952 Geneva Motor Show, its somewhat bulbous but aerodynamic shape was an instant hit. The slogan "designed by the wind" was a reference to the use of a wind tunnel by designers Dante Giacosa and Fabio Luigi Rapi. Rear wheel covers, or "spats", weren't there just for show they were responsible for the last 4 km/h of the top speed.
The bodywork was self-supporting, in two light steel shells, the exterior of which gave the car its shape. Coachbuilder Elio Zagato also bought 32 chassis from Fiat, and used aluminium in his designs, five of which notably had a Zagato trademark of "double-bubble" raised sections in the roof which gave the driver and passenger more headroom. The designer also used a single-glass windscreen.
Other body experts who built variants of the 8V included Ghia and Vignale. The latter designer produced more angular bodies, notably the 1954 Demon Rouge which was painted in very distinctive red and black. A transparent roof and tail fins, and a rather ugly rear window style, all set it off from its siblings. A small number of open-top spiders were produced by Vignale. The Supersonic design by Ghia in 1953 was to be a template for many luxury sports cars for more than a decade afterwards, though only eight copies of the version were built.
In 1953 the Fiat-produced versions got a restyle to the front, which mainly took the two headlight units which had been set in the grille out to join the other lights on the wings. The cars retained the original split windscreen, and this "second series" 8V also had more power, with 115hp now available. A 127hp version of the engine was also produced.
Many 8Vs cars were driven successfully in road races right through the 1950s, including the Targa Florio and the Mille Miglia. Zagato himself raced his own lightweight Berlinettas and won a number of races, and his 8Vs won the 1954 Italian Championship. The cars were noted for their good handling, thanks to their independent suspension. They were considered to be more than a match for the Ferraris, Maseratis and Lancias of the day, though drivers had to be careful not to over-rev the three-bearing engine.
One of the external motor companies which had worked closely with Fiat on the 8V's original development, Siata of Turin, also bought a bunch of "spare" V8 engines from Fiat and produced its own 280S sports cars with a different tubular chassis, mostly powered by the Fiat V8. Farina and Vignale produced bodies for Siata, in both coupé and roadster form.
Known in the business today as the "obscure" sports car, partly because so few were built and partly because they are only occasionally given outings in classic sports events, the 8V nevertheless represented a brief but brilliant supernova in the Fiat automotive timeline.