767cc Overhead Valve Inline 4-Cylinder
Single Carburetor
32bhp at 4,800rpm
4-Speed Manual Transmission
Four-Wheel Independent Suspension
Four-Wheel Hydraulic Drum Brakes

* Unique Pininfarina concept car and design study
* Fully functional after recommissioning
* Impeccable Pininfarina/Harrah's/National Automobile Museum provenance
* 8,032 km showing and highly likely all it has covered
* Preserved, original and a rare example of 1960's Italian concept execution


THE FIAT 600D

When it came to automobiles the decade from 1955 to 1965 was extraordinarily fecund.

Manufacturers, designers and engineers freely entertained new ideas. Wind tunnels were built for assessing and measuring aerodynamic drag and stability. Fuel improved in both performance and consistency. Tuning magicians achieved better and better performance from largely conventional engines. Drivetrain components were somewhat freely moved around the automobile's envelope. Front-, mid- and rear-engines took their turn.

Examples? In 1959 British Motor Corporation responded to the Suez Crisis and fuel shortages with the Morris Mini Minor and Austin Mini, a transverse front-engine front wheel drive box that forever revolutionized automobile layouts.

In 1960 General Motors, the bastion of conventional sedans, created the rear-engined air cooled six-cylinder Corvair.

In Italy, FIAT introduced a replacement for its tiny Topolino in 1955, the overhead valve 4-cylinder 633cc/22hp 600, an egg-shaped 4-seater with the engine and 4-speed gearbox at the rear. It was FIAT's first rear-engined car and had transverse leaf spring independent front suspension and coil spring independent rear suspension. In 1961 the 600D increased displacement to 767cc and power to 32hp. It had a claimed top speed of 110 kph (68 mph).


THE CAR OFFERED

Faced with a fiercely competitive market for assembly and coachwork of series production cars, Italy's top carrozziere were the most prolific and imaginative builders of far-out concepts. Designed to showcase their design imaginations and construction skills coachbuilders created a steady series of unique designs.

Bertone, with the Franco Scaglione designed Alfa Romeo B.A.T. series (Berlina Aerodinamica Technica) built from 1953 to 1955, was a leader.

But it was Pinin Farina (name changed by legislation in 1961 to "Pininfarina") that came up with some of the most unusual concepts, designs that challenged not only design and appearance but also the conventional wisdom of an automobile's physical shape.

In 1960 Pinin Farina introduced the "X", a car that from above was somewhat like the letter chosen to designate it. The "X" had a single front wheel for steering, a single rear wheel for traction and wheels on each side just behind the passenger compartment's rear doors that provided lateral stability. The teardrop-shaped body's rounded nose widened into a four-seat passenger compartment, then a flat rear deck over the 1,089cc 43 horsepower FIAT engine. The rear deck was flanked by two tall tailfins needed to stabilize the slippery but aerodynamically unstable teardrop design in crosswinds. It claimed a coefficient of drag of just 0.23. Shown at the Turin Auto Show in 1960, the Pinin Farina X was more than a concept, it was a fully functioning self-propelled automobile that Batista Farina is said to have driven on public highways to show to interested (or simply intrigued) manufacturers and constructors.

X was an imaginative but ultimately impractical solution to minimizing fuel consumption and achieving superior performance from small displacement drivetrains. A year later Pininfarina addressed the practicality issues by applying similar design ideas to the new FIAT 600 D platform to create the next alphabetical iteration of the X idea, the Y Berlinetta, the car offered here.

The 600 D with four-wheel independent suspension and a rear engined drivetrain was proven in production since 1955 but now had slightly more power. Its layout lent itself to the teardrop shape of the Pininfarina Y Berlina. Pininfarina adapted the X nose, protecting its two headlights behind a clear plastic compound curved shield. The wraparound windshield and rear window were similarly compound curved while the curved side windows blended into the roof. If the 600 D earned "egg-shaped" as a description, the Pininfarina Y carried it to a new level.

Beyond the enthusiast focused Nardi woodrim steering wheel, Pininfarina had begun to think of interior safety with absorbent material on rear-facing surfaces. The spare wheel and tire are located ahead of the passenger compartment, also for collision impact absorbance. Front seat seams have started to pull, the switch panel is discolored from age and the rear package tray is UV toasted. The engine compartment and wheelwells are impressively original and little more than museum-dusty.

Painted in a subtle silver-grey that lets the unique body design stand on its own without flamboyant and distractive paint, the interior is upholstered and trimmed in black vinyl with contrasting blue carpets. In addition to the Nardi wheel the Pininfarina Y has an Autovox radio and rides on 5.20-12 CEAT tires.

Pininfarina's data sheet claims that with a stock FIAT 600 D engine the Pininfarina Y was clocked at 128 kph, a 16% increase from the standard 600 D Berlina's 110 kph top speed.

It was acquired by Harrah's Automobile Collection in 1970 as a gift directly from Pininfarina. It is titled by its FIAT engine number, but the Pininfarina invoice records the chassis number as 600-D-1085991. The transfer was facilitated by L. Scott Bailey, Publisher of Automobile Quarterly, an arrangement documented in a letter in file from Sergio Pininfarina.

The Pininfarina Y Berlinetta has been preserved in largely original and as-received condition in the Pininfarina, Harrah's and National Automobile Museum collections since new. Its odometer shows just 8,032 km (4,991 miles), a reading that is endorsed by the condition of the chassis and the engine's preserved and unblemished original finishes.

With impeccable provenance directly from Pininfarina and ground-breaking original design this is a premiere example of Italian design from the 1960s, a car that has affected automobile design and will be welcomed to prestigious events based on its history, provenance, design significance and originality.