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The Cisitalia D46 Monoposto by Motto.
The Cisitalia D46 Monoposto is a captivating example of innovation and resilience during challenging times. Designed by Dante Giacosa and Giovanni Savonuzzi, the car was commissioned by Piero Dusio, an industrialist and president of the Juventus Football Club. The story of its creation is as fascinating as the car itself, shaped by determination, creativity, and a touch of wartime adversity. In late 1944, Giacosa was introduced to Dusio through Mr. Casalis, a trusted associate of the Turin industrialist. At the time, Cisitalia was a modest mechanical workshop located on Corso Peschiera, primarily producing Beltrame bicycles. Despite his full-time role at FIAT, Giacosa undertook the design of the D46 in his spare time. Dusio, eager to support the project, extended a generous offer to Giacosa to reside in his villa on Corso Galileo Ferraris. Though the villa had been abandoned after a bombing, it remained habitable and provided a quiet space for Giacosa to focus on the car’s development. The project faced significant challenges due to the war. Giacosa, alongside designer Edoardo Grosso, persevered to bring the vision to life. One notable setback occurred when the first 1:5 scale plasticine model was destroyed by a German police patrol searching for Dusio. Despite such obstacles, Giacosa remained deeply involved, even contributing to the physical construction of the prototype. The D46 featured a simple yet striking aluminum body. The prototype’s bodywork was shaped by coachbuilder Motto with Giacosa’s assistance. Among its unique features were the fairings over the front suspensions, which Giacosa humorously referred to as “aesthetic coquetry”—elements designed to conceal suspension parts rather than serve a practical racing purpose. The Cisitalia D46 Monoposto represents more than just a racing car; it is a testament to the ingenuity and passion of its creators during a tumultuous era. Its legacy endures as a symbol of automotive artistry and the unwavering spirit of innovation.
The Cisitalia 202 is particularly important to automotive history both because it was the first car in the world to be permanently exhibited in a modern art museum, the MoMA in New York, and because it can be considered the first example of the postwar Italian-style granturismo.
