The first model will mark the car Cisitalia D46, 1946, produced by young engineers Dante Giacosa and Giovanni Savonuzzi. The car was equipped with a 4-cylinder engine of the Fiat 1100 increased to 60 hp. The launch of the D46 will be at the "Cup Brezzi" on the circuit Valentino, Turin, September 3, 1946. Seven cars were lined up by the new constructor Turin, with the pilot Dusio, Tazio Nuvolari, Raymond Sommer, Louis Chiron, Taruffi Franco Cortese and Clemente Biondetti. This Dusio who will win the race. Nuvolari be noticed because it will pass the finish line with the wheel detached from the steering column.
With repeated success of the D46, Dusio began thinking about a new car, it will be the Cisitalia 202 which will begin in 1947. This car, a small GT designed by master coachbuilder Pininfarina is also the result of the engineer Giacosa. This car will mark its innovative design and very modern, the Cisitalia 202 mark his time to the extent that yours will be on permanent display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York with the caption "sculpture in motion. "
The consecration of Cisitalia arrived with the famous Mille Miglia race in 1947. At the resumption of tests of the race after the Second World War in 1947, the Mille Miglia race of "Freccia Rossa" not less than 151 cars were lined up at the start. Essentiellemnt cars dating from before the war although reworked, with the exception of Ferrari 125 S, Maserati A6 GCS, and Cisitalia. The Cisitalia was not the favorite in the race but took advantage of the drop favorites to bring Nuvolari leading the race. From Asti the Alfa Romeo 8C Biondetti he will head. With its more powerful engine, it will come to Brescia with 16 minutes in advance but it will still Nuvolari at the wheel of the Cisitalia that wins the victory.
Strong ties were formed from a technical standpoint but also human in 1947, with Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche, so much so that it will Piero Dusio who pay a very large ransom for the release of his father Ferdinand Porsche, held in France as a prisoner of war. That is why, in recognition, Ferry Porsche Dusio to create a Grand Prix car that could call into question the obvious superiority of the Alfa Romeo 158. The new car will be named Porsche 360, she had a 12 cylinder boxer engine surralimenté 1500 cm3, mounted at the rear, which developed 500 hp at the bench. She had the AWD and inspired by the Auto Union Grand Prix "of the 30s.
Just because of the very large sum of money disbursed by the corporation for the release of Ferdinand Porsche and the significant costs spent on producing and developing new prototypes, the Cisitalia company experienced a severe financial crisis, made even more severe Following the decline in sales of the 202. Thus the manufacturer will be under court supervision in 1949 and forced the following year to accept a composition.
Dusio managed somehow to save the draft of the new "360" company by moving to Argentina. He then created the holding company Cisitalia controlled by its creditors, but which remain Dusio shareholder. This new entity will continue production of the 202, without much success. Ferry Porsche had always considered it a huge debt to Dusio for the generosity he had shown towards him. In 1953 he added the name of its new model the name Porsche 550 Spyder, a tribute to Dusio who was the first in the world used for its Cisitalia 202 Spyder Mille Miglia.
The last opportunity to revive the company introduced in 1952, when an agreement with an Italian manufacturer of marine engines, BPM, Forni an engine of 2.8 liters. Mounted on a "202", the car took part in the Mille Miglia race that year, with Dusio as a pilot, who had to abandon when he was in a good position because of a clutch problem.
In 1953, Dusio withdrew permanently from the company he had created. The company was transformed into "Cisitalia Autocostruzioni" whose activity is reduced to the transformation of cars. Cisitalia activity ceases permanently in 1963. The last model produced, the Cisitalia 750 GT was a derivative of the Fiat 600.
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