Awesome OSCA - 1964 Fiat 1600S

Purity is overrated.

Don't believe it? Consider ice cream: Without blending and freezing, milk, sugar and cream would remain separate--and frankly wouldn't taste like much. But together, their molecules irrevocably mixed, these components transcend their origins and make spoonfuls of a creamy frozen concoction that (for many of us) proves impossible to resist.

Often, when dealing with cars, the result is similar. The 1964 Fiat 1600S OSCA you see before you is the tastiest little ball of gelato you're likely to see: It's part OSCA sugar, part smooth-'n'-creamy Pininfarina goodness, and part milk of Fiat's kindness to hold the whole concoction together.

OSCA, of course, is what the Maserati Brothers did with their lives after selling their names and their lives' work (up to that point) to the Orsi Group in 1937. They were racers at heart, and unlike Ferrari a decade later (and, indeed, the Orsi-owned Maserati marque), didn't want to be fussed with production cars to pay for the venture. The brothers Maserati just wanted to build competition cars--whole cars (chassis, engines, the lot)--and go race 'em. And when their ten-year contractual employment with Orsi ended, they did exactly that.

Once free to follow their muse as they saw fit, they built the MT4 (Maserati Tipo four-cylinder), an SOHC, 1,100cc inline four; it was immediately successful, winning its debut in the Grand Prix of Naples with Luigi Villoresi at the wheel. The four was bored and debored, stroked and destroked, as small as 750cc and (into the early 1960s) as large as 1,491cc with a twin-spark head and twin overhead cams good for 118hp, depending on the racing class. Its on-track success continued into the '50s; Stirling Moss and Bill Lloyd won the 1954 12 Hours of Sebring in a Briggs Cunningham-owned OSCA MT4, Jim Eichenlaub won the American H-Modified title with an OSCA S 187, and in the fight for the World Sportscar Championship, OSCA vehicles ranked as high as 4th (1954 and 1961) in the standings. OSCAs also took class wins in the Mille Miglia on ten occasions and won the Index of Performance at Le Mans.

Front-and-center tach-and-speedo pair provide all the information you need.

Yet as a small company with no road car production to fall back on (as, say, Ferrari had), OSCA could only go so far and do so much, so they asked Fiat for assistance. The result was that the Maserati brothers licensed the MT4 engine design to Fiat, who in turn supplied examples back to them to race. It was a fantastically beneficial agreement for all parties concerned: Fiat would have a fine twin-cam engine for its top-of-the-line roadster, and the brothers Maserati would have a supplier who could build enough engines that they would be easily homologated under then-current, and ever-changing, rules, and escape tooling and labor costs to boot. Aurelio Lampredi, famously of Ferrari, made sure the OSCA was up to mass-production standards, and starting in 1959 it was available in the Fiat 1500S roadster. (The OSCA name was never badged onto the cars themselves.)

Some may confuse OSCA's engine with Fiat's own homegrown 1,500cc pushrod four, which was in production around the same time, and believe that OSCA's alloy twin-cam head (with chain-driven cams and mechanical tensioners) was fitted to a standard-issue Fiat block. Not true: Fiat's 1,500 was derived from the Lampredi-designed 1,800/2,100/2,300 inline-six (indeed, this 1,500 was two-thirds of the 2,100cc version). Part of the confusion, beyond similar displacements, lies with the notion that Fiat themselves built the OSCA engines--although they were hardly mass produced, requiring plenty of fettling by hand. But the cast-iron block is completely different from a production-line Fiat unit, and the pistons, rods and crank were forged, rather than cast as Fiat's passenger-car-engine pieces were. Standard-issue OSCA engines received a single Weber carburetor, while the upgraded S model received twin side-draft Webers; other visual tells between the Fiat and OSCA 1,500s include a tubular header in lieu of an exhaust manifold, the aluminum engine front cover and the finned oil pan.

The 1500 was understood to be an OSCA engine until 1964, when Fiat introduced its own 1,500cc engine (upgraded from 1,100cc); from then on, the older machines were referred to as 1500 OSCAs. Naturally, Fiat's new pushrod 1,500cc engine appeared in the Spider as well. Yet Fiat still wanted a higher-performance OSCA option, and the old MT4 was stretched to 1,600cc (well, 1,568cc). With the twin-carb option, which earned the machine an S designation, the little 1.6 made an honest 100hp in street trim--fairly saucy for its day.

And who actually built these cars? Fiat built the engines, as discussed, but despite Fiat assigning all OSCA-engined roadsters a bespoke chassis series number of 118, it was Pininfarina who styled, and indeed pieced together, the 1200, 1500 and 1600 coupes and cabriolets from 1960 through the model's end in 1966. Thanks to Fiat GM Vincenzo Bono's decision to concentrate on mass production and send the construction of small-volume specialty cars out-of-house, the house that penned the machine also put it together. More than 20,000 of all models listed above were built on the Pininfarina lines during what Pininfarina's own website calls "a particularly fecund period of work together." Pininfarina also oversaw the roadster's late-1963 facelift, consisting of a flat hood (eliminating the air intake of previous models), revised grille and canted twin headlamps per side.

It's not fair to lay responsibility for this machine at the feet of outside vendors, however significant their contributions; the Fiat name was on its nose, tail and hubcaps, after all, and the chassis development was done on Fiat's watch. Unit-body construction kept it low-slung. Car and Driver tested a 1500 model in late 1963, and was generally pleased with its over-the-road manners despite calling out the leaf-sprung, solid-axle rear suspension for not being as compliant or grippy as the front. "...We're a little amazed by some of the high average speeds we maintained over secondary country roads," they wrote. "It's actually faster in this kind of driving than many cars that are called sports cars and lack the Fiat's civilized comforts...the Italians set out to build a Thunderbird and came up with a pretty decent little sports car." C&D also suggested that a low-center-of-gravity sports car, like the Fiat, with a solid rear axle and an anti-roll bar "seems like spreading sugar on the syrup" and that a little more body lean might be in order.

For a race-developed engine, this 100hp, 1,600cc twin-cam variant of the OSCA MT4 is surprisingly torquey and well-behaved.

How many OSCA-powered Fiats were built, and how many remain, is something of a mystery. Fiat was required by the FIA to produce at least 500 units for homologation purposes, and one source puts 1600S production as high as 3,089 units built in the five years from 1962 to 1966--well over 500 units per year. No matter how you slice it, few of the twin-cam OSCA-powered Fiats ended up on American shores--indeed, our photo example, owned by Joseph DeMeo of Santa Monica, California, is a European-spec machine.

When he discovered it languishing in the want ads, Joe stepped out of his Porsche 911 comfort zone and decided to make this rare machine better than factory-new and the best (if, admittedly, one of the very few) on American soil. After a labor-intensive three-year restoration, most would have been happy with the results seen here, but he continues to improve and change and sort things out as he mops the show and concours field, taking home trophy after trophy.

And he let us drive it anyway.

Hop in, and there is surprising room inside--good shoulder room, although your left arm is more comfortable crooked on the door sill, and enough cabin space that you can still maintain intimacy without constantly rubbing elbows. Your author is generally built for the stereotypical Italian driving position--meant for stubby legs and gorilla-length arms--but the recently re-done seats here prop us up too high: My knees are wrapped around the Nardi wheel rather than under it, and my forehead is above the top of the windscreen.

Twist the key, let the growly, burbly MT4 settle into its 1,100 RPM idle, and we're off. Now, one ton of curb weight or not, the 100hp on tap isn't about to put anyone's neck out of joint--not with a quarter-ton of humanity sitting in the seats--but the flexibility and smoothness are both notable here: From 2,000 RPM clear up through the redline, the little twin-cam four pulls without stutter or fuss. Shifting that gigantic stick isn't the muscle-wrenching exercise we had anticipated, instead rewarding us with a delightful mechanical snick as we change, and the clutch is well-weighted and takes up smoothly in the middle of its travel.

While the low-speed ride is a little on the choppy side over the so-so pavement on California's Pacific Coast Highway, things smooth out considerably at speed on the open road. We concur with Car and Driver's thoughts on the chassis attitudes in corners: A unit-body street car on 165-section tires has no right cornering as flat as this one does. And before we slipped behind the wheel for our spin, we worried slightly about the steering--all of those links, from the firewall-mounted steering box to the connecting rods to the idler arm to the drop arm connected to the track rods, look slightly Rube Goldberg and leave a lot of opportunity for slop. Turns out our fears are for naught: Other than a few degrees either side of the straight-ahead, the steering is never an issue. We are caught out once--we misjudge the steering's ferocity and end up steering into the wrong lane, but that is operator error.

The Fiat 1600S OSCA roadster was the result of a confluence of strengths: the power of the Maserati Brothers' engineering and development, the beauty and high style of the Pininfarina-styled (and -built, for that matter) body, and the industrial might of Fiat, which was able to not only put it all together but price it within reach of mere mortals. Everyone brought something to the table, combined their strengths, and came out with something both delicious and soul-nourishing. It might even make you melt.

1964 Fiat 1600S

Owner's Story

When I found this car in the local want ads, it was a well-maintained driver, but my goal was to make it the best example of its kind--and for the past three years, I've been getting it there. I love this car's rarity and pedigree. If I had anything to do over again, I'd have stripped it to bare metal and repainted it the original blue it came with from the factory. It's a neat little Italian car, and I'm glad to be able to preserve it for the future.

- Joseph DeMeo

WHAT TO PAY

1964 Fiat 1600S

Low -- $10,000

Average -- $15,000

High -- $25,000

* For 1964 1500 model. OSCA-powered variants not sold in USA and are inestimable.

CLUB SCENE

Fiat-Lancia Unlimited

www.flu.org

Dues: $35/year; Membership: 500

PROS

Gorgeous

Roomy

Flexible power in all gears and at all revolutions

CONS

Good luck finding OSCA engine parts

Rough ride around town

Not actually all that quick

SPECIFICATIONS

1964 Fiat 1600S OSCA

ENGINE

Type -- DOHC inline-four, cast-iron block, aluminum cylinder head

Displacement -- 1,568cc (95.7-cu.in.)

Bore x stroke -- 80 x 78mm

Compression ratio -- 8.6:1

Horsepower @ RPM -- 100 @ 6,000

Torque @ RPM -- 97.6-lbs.ft. @ 4,000

Main bearings -- 5

Fuel system -- Twin sidedraft Weber 34 DLS2 carburetors

Lubrication system -- Internal pressure

Electrical system -- 12 volts

Exhaust system -- Tubular exhaust header, single pipe

TRANSMISSION

Type -- Fiat four-speed with synchromesh on second through fourth gears, single dry-plate clutch

Ratios:

1st -- 3.39:1

2nd -- 2.08:1

3rd -- 1.38:1

4th -- 1.00:1

Reverse -- 3.38:1

DIFFERENTIAL

Type -- Semi-hypoid, floating axles

Ratio -- 4.30:1

STEERING

Type -- Worm and roller

Turns, lock-to-lock -- 3.25

Turning circle -- 37 feet

BRAKES

Type -- Girling, hydraulic

Front -- 9.3-inch disc

Rear -- 9.2-inch disc

CHASSIS & BODY

Construction -- Unit-body with subframes

Body style -- Two-door cabriolet

Layout -- Front engine, rear-wheel drive

SUSPENSION

Front -- Independent, lower wishbone, coil spring and telescopic damper plus anti-roll bar

Rear -- Solid axle with telescopic dampers and leaf springs

WHEELS & TIRES

Wheels -- Steel, drop-center

Front/rear -- 15 x 4.5 inches

Tires -- Michelin XZX Radials

WEIGHTS & MEASURES

Wheelbase -- 92.13 inches

Overall length -- 161 inches

Overall width -- 60 inches

Overall height -- 51 inches

Front track -- 51 inches

Rear track -- 50.5 inches

Shipping weight -- 2,194 pounds

CAPACITIES

Crankcase -- 7 quarts

Cooling system -- 6.3 quarts

Fuel tank -- 11.9 gallons

Transmission -- 2.3 pints

Rear axle -- 1.9 pints

CALCULATED DATA

Hp per liter -- 63.78

Weight per hp -- 20.4 pounds

Weight per cu.in. -- 21.3 pounds

PERFORMANCE

0-50 MPH -- 9.5 seconds

1/4 mile ET -- 18.7 seconds

Top speed -- 109 MPH

PRICE

Base price -- 1,770,000 lire ($2,830 U.S. equivalent)