Barrett's #297 - Solved - OSCA 1600GT by Carrozzeria Corbetta

[barrett]

Make, model, coachbuilder and year please

[dzima1985]

Osca 1600GT Coupe Corbetta 1964

[barrett]

Yes, well done!

[als15]

No help form Google Images Search?

Surely not... So, have you any further information about Carrozzeria Corbetta? It's quite a mistery company for me...

[barrett]

I believe they were a boat-building firm, and as far as I know this was the only car body they built. There is another photo of a similar car with a different nose treatment (I think it was shown in an issue of QR at the time) so it seems like they built at least two examples.... More than that I have no idea!

[Allemano]

This car got a polyester body obviousely that's the reason why they charged a boat building company. I don't know if it was a "Carrozzeria" at all.

[SACO]

The badge on the 1600 coupé :

[als15]

Indeed a Carrozzeria (as per the badge posted by Saco). And they also made the smaller OSCA 850.
I think they were based near Milan but not even Ing. Alfieri Maserati remembers anything about them.

[Wendax]

According to the ASA Register, Corbetta also built the bodies for this one: http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=5356.0

[Allemano]

Interisting! Thanks!

[barrett]

That is interesting!

This is the other car I have seen but looking again I guess this is actually the 850, not a restyled 1600GT?

[als15]

This is indeed the OSCA 850 (a one off).

[Allemano]

Obviousely driven from the same design spirit. I like it though it's not a beauty at first sight..
It's the same sympathy like I have for all these Italian avantgarde designs of that era.

[sixtee5cuda]

I gathered information on this strange car (the 1600GT) in October, and didn't remember it in time to answer the puzzle.

My research found a rear-view of the car, as well as another brochure page.

[Carnut]

I believe this car was featured in Auto Italia magazine recently but I haven't been able to find my copy to check.   That might explain how it was solved using the (almost unknown) Corbetta name.

[barrett]

Great to know the car still exists, I just assumed it had been lost as I couldn't find any recent photos of it!

[sixtee5cuda]

I hadn't realized until you mentioned it, that the rear photo is the only modern image I have seen of this car.

[dzima1985]

2014 Auto D'Epoca, Firenze -

[Allemano]

Thank you. The design of the front is not bad at all, but the door and roof treatment is um... let's say strange.. but as said before I love it any way.

[als15]

I get the opportunity to relaunch an unsolved open question... Does anybody know where Carrozzeria Corbetta was located?

[Allemano]

I'm not sure, but remember I've a PDF-file on this car at home in which the builder and location is probably mentioned.

[thorax]

there are a lot of "Corbetta" where I live (near Monza)

[als15]

I know, and a town as well... This is why it's not so easy to understand the actual location...

[Iluvatar]

Luckly I had the opportunity to recieve a lot of informations about this car, during the organization of the Florence exhibition (pics posted by dzima1985), when I've have written all the descriptions of the cars showed.
Unluckily I didn't recieve the informations directly from the present owner of the car but from someone else from the organization of the show, and I'm not sure about their reliability... but they are really accurate so I guess they are also good.
I post the description text in english:

The OSCA, acronym for Officine Specializzate Construzioni Automobili (Automotive Workshop Specialized Construction), is founded by the Maserati Brothers after the transfer of the House of trident to the Orsi family. After the brilliant successes of the competition models built in the '50s, at the beginning of 1960 starts the production of a GT coach meant also for the road, the 1600 GT. In 1963, the OSCA is sold to Count Domenico Agusta, who plans a complete renovation of the vehicle concept, creating an ultra modern car. This new car is presented at the Turin Motor salon in 1964 and is a futuristic coupe built on the 1600 TC frame, standing for “trave centrale” (“central beam”).

The frame is built by Gioachino Colombo and is dressed with a fiberglass body, built in a single piece by the body shop of the Corbetta Brothers of Milan, already collaborating with Agusta for the construction of helicopters. The design is by Franco Scaglione and the development is followed by engineer Michel Liprandi, expert in working with fiberglass.

The car travels thousands of miles in testing, but the project is stopped without the construction of another copy. The prototype is sold in 1967 at the liquidation of the company and remained hidden until now, shown for the first time since 1964.

[Allemano]

So it's apparently another F. Scaglione design. Interisting!