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FIAT 8V (Otto Vu) - 1952 At the Geneva motor show Fiat presented a little sensation to the amazed experts. A two-seater with an 8-cylinder V-engine with 2 litres displacement and high road performance as well as modernest aerodynamic conception. Officially only one single motor show prototype was approved by the Fiat top management. So, on their own initiative, chief engineer Dante Giacosa and Fabio Lucio Rapi decided internally to produce the vehicle in a number of pieces to enable Fiat to take part in races like the famous Mille Miglia. The V8-engine was derived from tests Fiat undertook in the 50s with different engines in order to build a luxury car. Because the Italian tax authorities wanted to tax engines with more than four cylinders significant higher, the production of these luxury saloons was renounced. As the two litre V8 engine was ready the development department of the Turin house decided to use it for a sports car. Even when already existing parts had been used for the chassis, they clearly showed some technical innovations, for example independent front and rear suspension.

Fiat 8V with factory-made body work

Out of the 114 specimens, 40 pieces had been built by Fiat body making. However very soon the most important Italian body workers adopted the Fiat 8V-chassis. While Pininfarina paneled an 8V with bodywork in 1955, which could not deny its stylistic kinship to Ferrari, Ghia produced a series of 50 Coupés. Vignale mounted five or six samples, all showing a different shape. Even a convertible was manufactured.

8V Pininfarina	Vignale 1954	Ghia Supersonic 1954
Elaborata Zagato 1954	Ghia 1954	Vignale 1955

Whereas Ugo Zagato tried to optimize the body work for racing. He accountered 30 specimens. His son Elio Zagato: "Sometimes I ask myself whether my career as racing driver would have given me such a satisfaction without the Fiat Ottovu (8V). Probably not. This car simply gave everything to me. I've never made no secret of it that this car of all Zagato's is the most beautiful. My opinion surely is prejudiced by the fact that I performed my most exciting races with this car. It never let me down and mostly I was waved at with the chequered flag as winner on the home stretch."

8V Zagato (1955) With vaulted double bubble roof	Elio Zagato

Because originally the V8-engine should be mounted into a straight saloon the engineers set great store by suppleness and smoothness. When it was taken over into the 8V it was revised to handle like a sports car. So, above all, the valve control of the light metal engine was redesigned. In the first version the engine equipped with two Weber double carburetors had produced 105 bhp at 6000 rpm and a compression rate of 8.5:1 for all that, later it produced 115 bhp thanks to an increased compression ratio. By cooperation with Siata the last models had 127 bhp. By the way, the name "Otto Vu" was achieved by a mistake. The Fiat technicians thought that the term "V8" was reserved for the American producers, therefore they simply flipped it over to "8V".

Engine: V8 with 70° Displacemet: 1996 cc Leistung: 105-127 PS at 6600 rpm Top speed: 190-220 km/h Weight: 970 kg

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