AutoCult Autobianchi Stellina (1964) (Italy)

About the Original:

Little Star quickly burned out

During the first part of the 20^th century, Edoardo Bianchi had a good reputation as manufacturer of bicycles and motorcycles in Italy. In 1955, together with Pirelli and Fiat, he founded a new car brand called “Autobianchi”. With this company, Bianchi began to develop new models with the technology of Fiat. This would lead him to design his first automobile.

During the Turin Motor Show in late autumn 1963, Autobianchi was presenting its first car to the public, the “Stellina”, which means “little star”. Stellina was the first full production car made with an all fiberglass body.

The designer of the car, Luigi Rapi, was creating a rear-engined cabrio that was constructed of fiberglass reinforced plastics and was based on a box-shaped steel frame. It was powered by Fiat’s 600D rear-mounted, water-cooled, 767 cc straight-4 engine. This little engine delivered only 29 hp, which allowed the Stellina to achieve a maximum speed of just 115/km/h. With a length of 3.67 meters and a wide of 1.43 meter, and a weight of 660 kgs, the Stellina was underpowered and therefore it could not achieve the sporty driving performance that the designers wanted.

Very soon, the small spider got the reputation of a women´s car because of the paint colors and accessories you could choose. For example, you could choose very bright colors, white sidewall tires, and spoke wheels.

The second series of the Stellina debuted in 1965, and the car saw some upgrades. The main upgrade was a slightly more powerful engine. A 792 cc motor was used, but power only increased to 31,5 hp, which was still not sufficient enough to make the car “sporty”. The sale of the new version was not significantly better either. With a starting price of 980.000 Italian Lira, the Stellina could no longer compete with the new 1965 Fiat 850 Spider, and production was eventually shut down.

Only 502 Stellinas were made until production ceased in 1965, and only a few examples still survive today. The main reason that only a few cars still survive was the use of a steel frame, which rusted very quickly.