1952 Cisitalia 303 F
Offered by Coys | Essen, Germany | April 13, 2013
The Cisitalia 202 is a well-known, sought after Italian sports car from the 1950s. Cisitalia only built cars from 1946 into the 1950s. They also built single seat race cars for use in a one-make series as well as various Formula series around Europe.
In the early 1950s, Cisitalia was losing money faster than they could make it back. The 202, while beautiful and renowned, was very costly to produce and company founder Piero Dusio was trying to field a mid-engined Formula One car at the same time – which has always been an inherent money loser. Cisitalia wanted to keep the 202 around, but they had to make some concessions. They moved the chassis to that of a Fiat 1100 and renamed it the 303 F (with the F standing for “Fiat”).
The bodies weren’t as fantastic as the 202 and the engine was the 1.1-liter straight-four making about 51 horsepower. These were the last of the Cisitalias (Dusio had to flee Italy due to tax issues) and only 12 were built with only eight or nine still around. This one has had three owners from new. Good luck finding another one – either for sale or at auction. It should bring between $95,000-$110,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.