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Battista "Pinin" Farina was 18 when he designed the radiator for the all new (late 1911) Fiat Zero. The selection of this radiator design by Fiat set him on to forming the Pininfarina design house of today.
The Fiat Zero, known also as the Fiat 12/15 hp, was a car produced by FIAT from 1912 to 1915. (The letters 'hp' defined its fiscal horse power rather than its bhp.) At launch it sold for 8,000 lire, which later was reduced to 6,900 lire, the equivalent of 23,250 € in 2003. It was equipped with a 1.8-liter, 18 PS (13.2 kW) engine that achieved about 19.6 miles per gallon and could reach about 50 mph (80 km/h). It was the first Fiat to sell more than 2,000 similarly bodied units and most of these were four seater bodies. In 1915 production came to an end when the factory was converted for war production.
There were also light bodied version produced which claimed various speed records.
The 1912 Fiat Zero Torpedo was the first Italian design to offer an elegant motorcar at an affordable price. The Fiat Zero was both a very popular and successful design.
📚: Fiat Group, "History," (Retrieved December 27, 2005); kasravi.com; www.heacockclassic.com
📸: Fiat; Pininfarina spa.