From wooden model to sought-after classic in 66 years
06/02/2013
A rare Cisitalia 202 Nuvolari Spider from 1947 was auction ed off at the RM Auction on May 25, 2013 .
What was interesting about this vehicle with the chassis number "002s" was not only that it was one of the prototypes with sheet steel bodywork, but also that it was driven by Piero Dusio, the founder of Cisitalia, and was one of the works cars at the 1947 Mille Miglia, finishing fourth overall. Just over 10 years ago, the car was restored by Bruno Kühnis in Watt/Zurich and was in Swiss ownership until the auction.
The Cisitalia 202 was a modification of the famous D46. Once again, Fiat parts were used from the shelf; the car was designed by the former Fiat aircraft designer Giovanni Savonuzzi. The racing version, the 202 Spider, went on to achieve many outstanding results. Among others, the flying Manuvian Tazio Nuvolari sat at the wheel, came second in the Mille Miglia and the 202 Spyder was given the nickname "Nuvolari" in his honor.
But before the car could win, it had to be built, and our unique historical pictures from production show what this looked like at the time, from the wooden model and chassis construction to the finished car.
Many pictures of the 202 Spyder are of course available in high resolution in the Zwischengas archive and we have also reported on the auction in Cernobbio .
