Hi Gang…

For you Atlas / Allied Swallow owners out there… here’s a short one-page article from Motor Magazine in February, 1949.  It’s nice to see how they presented the car with specs on the basics.  It makes a nice comparison for you when showing the history, heritage and presentation of your rare and coveted Allied Swallow sports car.

Let’s see what they had to say about this special car back in 1949.

Have You Seen:  Cisitalia
Motor Magazine: February, 1949

Seven smoothly contoured tiny aluminum-bodied Italian Cisitalia cars have been brought into this country.  The roofline of these extremely low cars is just above the hood level of a Chevrolet, Ford, or Plymouth with no sacrifice in head or leg room. 

Powered by a 66 cubic inch 4 cylinder Fiat overhead-valve engine that develops 55 hp at 5,500 rpm with 7.5 to 1 compression ratio, these cars are capable of speeds around 95 mph.

The coupe illustrated sells for $7,500.  Custom coachbuilder Pinin Farina also makes an $8,500 convertible and a sport special with higher compression ratio which gives speeds in excess of 100 mph.

Summary:

What a beautiful smart little sports car, and you can see why the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) picked this as one of the most beautiful “8 Automobiles” back in 1951.  Click here for more information about this special show back in 1951 at MoMA that featured the Cisitalia Sports Car.

Even more important to us, though, is how we can see why the streamlined styling appealed to Bill Burke – who ultimately put it to use and set new speed records at Bonneville with his brand new fiberglass Atlas / Allied body.

Of course Burke powered his Allied Sports Car with something a bit different than the small Fiat engine – namely an Ardun equipped Ford Flathead V8-60.  Vrrrrrrroooooooom!  More on that story in the future here at Forgotten Fiberglass.

Hope you enjoyed the story, and until next time…

Glass on gang…

Geoff

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