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Ermini seiottosei is an Italian Lightweight Barchetta

A long time ago, in immemorial times for most millennials cruising the Internet nowadays, there was a small Italian sports car company which raced against some of the giants of the 1950s.
Ermini seiottosei 6 photos
Photo: Stefan Baldauf / Robert Kah
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Founded by Pasquino Ermini, who was a former Bugatti and Talbot mechanic and driver, the company used to make a range of tiny sports cars in the 1950s, with some of them competing and even winning against renowned brands like Maserati, Alfa Romeo or Ferrari.

One of their most famous models was the Ermini Typo 357, with a body by Carrozzeria Scaglietti and a chassis by famed Gilberto Colombo – both known for their association with Ferrari in later years.

The car raced in the Mille Miglia in 1955 but sadly failed to finish, with the company exiting public view in the upcoming decade, until its name reappeared in the spotlight only a few years ago.

The Ermini seiottosei (six eight six in Italian) in the following photo gallery is an entirely new model from the Italian marque and it has just hit the Geneva Motor Show 2014.

Developed over three years of hard work by Osella and designed by Giulio Cappellini, the tiny barchetta-style sports car is following in the foot steps of lightweight car makers from the 1950s, such as Cisitalia, Osca, Stanguellini or even Lotus.

In case it wasn't already obvious for Latin speakers, the seiottosei name symbolizes the car's extremely low weight in kilograms (1512 pounds), which becomes even more impressive considering that its turbocharged Renault engine develops 300 hp.

Fitted with a set of Toyo R888 tires, the Ermini seiottosei can reach 100 km/h (62 mph) from a standing start in just 3.5 seconds, onwards to an electronically-limited top speed of 270 km/h (168 mph).

While some people might overlook the impressive performance figures and the rather interesting history of the company, they can't possibly overlook the fact that it's one of the last remaining bastions still following Colin Chapman's philosophy - “Simplify, then add lightness.” The Mercedes-Benz climate control vents taken straight from an A-Class W176 should probably go away though.
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About the author: Alex Oagana
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Alex handled his first real steering wheel at the age of five (on a field) and started practicing "Scandinavian Flicks" at 14 (on non-public gravel roads). Following his time at the University of Journalism, he landed his first real job at the local franchise of Top Gear magazine a few years before Mircea (Panait). Not long after, Alex entered the New Media realm with the autoevolution.com project.
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