1899 FIAT 3 1/2 HP 0.7

Vehicle Overview

Fiat 3 ½ HP or the Fiat 4 HP. Released in 1899, it was the first Fiat ever produced.

Everything started with a bicycle. Giovanni Ceirano worked 8 years for his father, who ran a watch-making business. Probably inspired by his father and having an idea on how to run a business and build from scratch, in 1888, he began working on developing a bicycle named Welleyes.

10 years later the Ceirano GB & C company came to life. In 1899, they produced the Welleyes motor car. As it was of a great success and people kept ordering them, the company could not cope with the huge number of orders, thus decided to sell the plans and the patents to Giovanni Agnelli who paid $400 for his share (that was worth around $11,500).

During the same year, Agnelli started the production of the Fiat 4 HP – around 8 units were built in 1899 out of a total of 24 produced. The Fiat 4 HP was designed by Aristide Faciolli.

The car used a 679 cc engine which could propel the small vehicle to a top speed of 35 km/h (22 mph). However, fuel economy for this model was great, with just 8 liters of gas for every 100 km on the road. That translated into a fuel economy of 29 mpg. The car weighed 680 kg.

And if you were wondering if the 4HP had a light bulbs for the headlights, well, no. They were using candles 🙂