Isotta Fraschini

In 1902, two Italian men, Cesare Isotta and Vincenzo Fraschini, began production of the first car to bear their names and begin one of the first super-luxury car companies. Royalty and the rich waited in line to have their own personalized and exclusive car from these automakers. Each one was a meticulously crafted with well finished coachwork. They were a work of art and no two were alike. Famous Isotta owners have included Pope Pius XI, the Aga Khan, the queen of Romania, the king of Egypt and Benito Mussolini. Publisher William Randolph Hearst and boxer Jack Dempsey owned Isottas while film star Rudolph Valentino had two. In the movie Sunset Boulevard, Erich von Stroheim chauffeurs Gloria Swanson in an Isotta Tipo 8A Town Car Landaulet, and James Dean drives an Isotta Tourer in Giant. The Italian automakers were not only master craftsmen, but pioneers with eight-cylinder engines. In 1912 they produced the Tipo 8, which is regarded as the world’s first mass-production, inline, eight-cylinder engi