For years, the Italians and the French have been renowned for their ability to make small, characterful, basic cars for both the city and the rural motorist. Cheap and cheerful, with an emphasis on functionality rather than power and luxury. Cars such as the Citroën 2CV and FIAT 500 and others captured the hearts and minds of millions of motorists in mainland Europe, and not a few here in the UK. Occasionally, though, something a little more upmarket but that could still be parked almost anywhere, driven through narrow city streets and country roads but which retained the qualities of the basic car was required by those looking to differentiate themselves in some way from the masses.
This desire to be seen to be somehow superior to your neighbour or friends has manifested itself throughout the history of the motor car – why else would someone need a Van den Plas version of an Austin 1100, or a Ghia version of a Ford Escort? Of course, in these two instances, the manufacturer’s badge remains the same, as does the basic shape of the car, so if you really wanted to demonstrate your classier taste or higher income, you needed to trade up to something more exclusive, and for the small car driver in the 1950’s, ‘60’s and ’70’s Italy, one answer was to buy an Autobianchi.
Eduardo Bianchi first began making cars in 1899, having made bicycles since 1885 – in fact, Bianchi is the oldest cycle manufacturer in the world, and the company is still active today. Eduardo’s early cars were high-end, such as the Vetturetta Bianchi 8 HP, and could cost up to ten times a doctor’s annual salary, so they were neither made nor sold in large numbers. The company did manufacture trucks throughout the 1930’s, but their factory was so badly bombed during WW2 that they abandoned motor manufacture, a decision compounded by Eduardo’s death in a car accident in 1946.
However, in 1955, a joint venture with FIAT and Pirelli was formed with the name Autobianchi, with the goal of taking a share of the premium small car market and the first car to come out of their new factory in Desio was the Autobianchi Bianchina.
The Bianchina – like all Autobianchi’s to come – was based on FIAT mechanicals, in this case, the FIAT 500, but it looked nothing like the tiny FIAT. Launched in 1957 at the Museum of Science and Technology in Milan – an interesting choice for the introduction of such a basic small car – it was marketed as a second family car, a city car, and targeted particularly at affluent women, since they obviously weren’t capable of driving bigger cars…
Initially available only in landaulet body style and known as the Trasformobile, a cabriolet was introduced in 1960, as well as a three-door small estate, or Panoramica, and a 2-door saloon, or Berline. Finally, two types of van were introduced – one effectively a two-seater version of the Panoramica, the other with a slightly raised and enlarged cargo section… which leads us nicely to our Prime Find for this week, or it will in a minute or two.
Autobianchi cars were almost exclusively small – the sole exception being the A111, based on the FIAT 128, so still hardly a large car – and were sold primarily (though not exclusively) in their home market of Italy, and over the next four decades numerous re-bodied and re-badged FIAT’s rolled off the Desio factory lines. The one probably most familiar is the A112, by which time FIAT had acquired the Bianchi company’s stake in the business and positioned it under the Lancia umbrella. Over 1.25m A112’s were built over a 17 year period, making it far and away the best-known model from the company.
The marque survived until 1995, its last outing being as a re-branded Lancia Y10, before being absorbed into the great car manufacturer graveyard that year.
Bianchina’s didn’t sell as well as the A112, but nevertheless, over 275,000 examples of all variants were produced between 1957 and 1970, though it’s not known how many were made of our Prime Find, an Autobianchi Bianchina Furgoncino van. A part of me wants to abbreviate this to ABF, but the big name for such a small vehicle is part of its considerable charm!
Basically a premium FIAT 500 van, if you can imagine such a thing, the Bianchina Furgonico was only built for five years from 1965 before being superseded in 1970 by the larger Furgonetta, making our Furgonico a very late one. The engine summoned up the power of just 17.5 horses, so carrying heavy loads was never going to be a realistic option; indeed, delivery of almost anything probably took a while.
There are a number of things that make our Prime Find unusual. First, it’s had only three owners in its lifetime, with the first owner running this miniature van for 36 years. The mileage reads just 29,842, which may be genuine, though the advert doesn’t say that it’s warranted. The bodywork is claimed to be “very presentable indeed” with “no rust or rot anywhere” and is “remarkable for its 50yrs.”
What makes this little cargo carrier really stand out though is that it’s right-hand-drive. I don’t know how many examples of the Furgoncino there are in the UK – there are only 16 of even Autobianchi’s best seller, the A112, so I doubt there are more than a handful of Furgoncino’s.
Being a private sale, there are only a few photos of the van, which we’ve borrowed, but it does look very appealing in a cheeky kind of way and while unlikely to be used for it’s intended purpose, would certainly make a cool marketing vehicle for an Italian restaurant or deli.
The London-based vendor is asking £12,500 for it – is it worth it? I have no idea, but it’s rarity and condition no doubt are key drivers behind this price.There are a small number of other Bianchina’s for sale at the moment, one a Trasformabile for £16,500, the other a Furgonette in The Netherlands for €11,000, so maybe £12,500 is about par. You can see the advert here, and as always, we highly recommend an inspection before purchase if you’re interested in it.
With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us be inspired by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same.
Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro.co.uk