1953 Zagato Fiat Elaborata Up for Auction at Pebble Beach

As everyone expected, Gooding &Co managed once again to “pull rare vehicles out of a magic hat”. It's a well known fact that legendary models have passed by Pebble Beach, like Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa Prototype or the Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic and also Ettore Bugatti’s personal car.

The time has come for another "star" to make its appearance at the famous auction. The one that we are referring to is the 1953 Fiat Zagato V8 Elborata. The car made its debut at the 1952 Geneva Auto Show with clear intentions to challenge Ferrari, Masserati and Lancia.

The car featured four-wheel independent suspension, and a manual transmission that sends power to the rear axel.

The “beating heart” of this vehicle was designed by Dante Giacosa. The engineer managed to make the small 1996cc, OHV V8 engine to put out 110hp at 6,000rpm. The Italian manufacturer called the engine “8V” because it was believed that Ford held the “V8” trademark, which was not true.

There were built only 200 units in order to get the homologation approval. From 1952 to 1954 there were built only 144 chassis. In order to spice up the interest Fiat decided to send the chassis to various coach builders, including Carozzeria Zagato.

The model was called “Elaborata” because Zagato “elaborated” the car that was brought in by Fiat. The coachbuilder delivered 32 8V chassis including the one that is set up for Gooding &Co. Pebble Beach auction this August. We also have to mention the fact that despite its chassis No.106.000022, this was the third 8V that came out out Zagato’s workshop.

It is expected raise the bar at more than $1 million at the Gooding&Co. Pebble Beach auction.