Padane

Introduce

Officine Padane was founded in 1943. The company goes back to the Modena-based company Orlandi, which from 1921 primarily manufactured superstructures for buses. Antonio Vismara took over Orlandi in the course of 1943 and moved the company to new factory. Initially the company operated as Carrozzeria e Meccanica Padana, from 1950 the name was changed to Officine Padane. Like its predecessor company, Padane mainly produced bus bodies. The chassis came from Fiat, Mercedes-Benz, Lancia, OM and Volvo. Many buses were exported. In the 1960s and 1970s, Padane also took over the manual production of individual cars. These included the Maserati Mistral, the Maserati Indy, the Maserati Bora and the Stutz Blackhawk, a retro-style American vehicle built from 1971. Padane built most of the coupés of the first series (1971) using numerous Italian add-on parts (door handles from the Maserati Indy, taillights from the Fiat 850) before the Carrozzeria Saturn in Cavallermaggiore took over the series production of the Stutz. Padane also produced the four-door Stutz Duplex as a single copy. In the early 1980s, Milan's Società Costruzioni Industriali Milano (Socimi) took over the company. Due to economic difficulties of the new parent company, the Padane also got into economic difficulties and had to close in 1992 after bankruptcy.