Description
1954 Fiat 1100/ 103 TV – Ex Mille Miglia 1954 & 1955
As a sporty variant of the popular Fiat 1100, the TV (standing for Turismo Veloce) was debuted to the world at the Paris Motor Show in 1953. The engine was upgraded to a power output of 48HP which was 12HP more than the regular 1100.
In those years, this model captured prestigious victories in competitions include class wins at the Mille Miglia in 1954 & 1955 and, thanks to the capable driving skills of Luciano Ciolfi, the ’TV’ won the Italian Touring Championship.
This Fiat 1100/ 103 TV was produced in the Carrozzerie Speciali Fiat department Turin in December 1953. It was first registered on 15th January 1954 on the name of Guglielmo Franchi with the license plate BO 64215, which it still owns today.
Mister Franchi was a great sports car enthusiast and a true gentleman driver.
He immediately had his new Fiat 1100/ 103 TV thoroughly tuned to make it competitive in the Turismo Speciale category for the upcoming Mille Miglia.
The main works carried out were: replacement of pistons, camshaft, valves, carburetor jets, spark plugs, coil; head polishing and compression increase; suspensions set-up; flywheel lightening, muffler modification.
On 1-2 May 1954, the 21th edition of the 1000miglia took place in Brescia. Franchi and his co-driver Zanasi, with start number 121, would have been very exited!
Unfortunately they weren’t able to finish the race because of an engine failure.
A short time later the engine of this FIAT 1100 TV was completely replaced with a new one.
So time to take revenge…
In 1955 team Franchi/ Zanasi showed up again with the car at the start of the Mille Miglia and curiously they were assigned the same race number as the previous year: 121!
Franchi and Zanasi did well and they finished the race in 115th position out of 534 teams and 11th in there category. Mission accomplished!
A few days after finishing the Mille Miglia, on May 18, the car was sold to Giuseppe Sangiorgi.
After being found by a well-known researcher and car historian, it became part of the collection of an Italian enthusiast.
Nowadays this genuine ex-Mille Miglia car is still wearing proudly it’s start number ‘121’ on her gleaming grey/ bleu body. It’s still being registered in Italy on the first original license plate, is well documented with charming period photographs, official documents and has the Mille Miglia Registro document which confirms it’s authenticity.
Needless to say that this car is ready for a next Mille Miglia chapter.
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