The Testadoro brand was reborn under the guidance of Dario Pasqualini, an artist from Cumiana (Turin), who took over the brand of the car manufacturer active in Turin from 1946 to 1949, when the cars were made in the workshops. The first car to come back is called Testadoro Barchetta 1951 and was built during the pandemic in a workshop on the outskirts of Turin. In reality it is an unfinished project from 1951, a barchetta designed for the 1100 Sport Internazionale class with a heavily modified original Fiat 1100 B engine. Pasqualini completed the build of the car with the support of Martino Colombo of Milan, a cousin of Gilberto Colombo who designed the chassis for the original Testadoros. The bodywork was entrusted to Martelleria Giacometto of Cumiana. A car, therefore, the new Barchetta Testadoro 1951, dedicated to the era of the famous Turin panel-beaters, workshops known as ‘boite’.
The Testadoro name was used for the first time on a special cylinder head designed by engineer Arnaldo Roselli in the late 1930s. Roselli then meets the Turin entrepreneur Giorgio Giusti and the two decide to produce the cylinder head also for the Fiat 508 Topolino, the most popular car which therefore allows for greater diffusion of the product. The Testadoro company, Giorgio Giusti’s “auto house”, lasted only three years but built nine racing cars, initially derived from the Fiat 500 Topolino and then completely original, including the engines. The maximum expression of the brand is the Testadoro Daniela with its 742cc engine delivering 45 HP at 6500 rpm. It is driven by Elio Zagato, the official rider of the Testadoro team, together with Nuccio Bertone, Gino Valenzano, Ugo Puma and Giusti himself.
Source: Ansa
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