1913 S.P.A. 25HP Sport Torpedo

1913 S.P.A. 25HP Sport Torpedo

If the initials S.P.A. or the full name Societa Piemonte Automobili do not resonate with car collectors today, it is perhaps not too surprising, for there are very few cars to survive of this marque. However, those involved with the brand's creation, Matteo Ceirano and Michele Ansaldi are more likely to and the various members of the Ceirano family can count themselves as having underpinned or been involved in many of the best-known Italian motorcar businesses from the earliest days. It was Giovanni Ceirano's 'Welleyes' motorcar, spawned from his bicycle business that Giovanni Agnelli would acquire and make the original FIAT business from. While other more recognisable Ceirano entities include S.C.A.T., the 'C' being for Ceirano, Matteo's Itala, S.T.A.R. or Rapid, F.A.T.A., among others. They were also hugely influential in aviation and military vehicle manufacturing. Michele Ansaldi was an engineer and industrialist of like mind to the Ceiranos and from 1904 onwards had built automobiles under his own name, the first pioneering a pre-fabricated chassis with FIAT power, which quickly was acquired by FIAT and marketed as a FIAT-Ansaldi, and then simply Brevetti.

The S.P.A. story began in 1906 in Turin, when Matteo Ceirano and Chief Designer Alberto Ballacco first penned two four-cylinder side valve powered cars of 28/40hp and 60/70hp mounted in shaft drive chassis and displayed them at the Esposizione di Torino. Their greatest achievement followed not long after when the marque won the 1909 Targa Florio, Francesco Ciuppa piloting a 28/40 to this victory. Those four-cylinder cars were joined by a pair of six-cylinder cars and production grew into the teen era.

Cars like this particular one followed a familiar format of 'L-Head' inline engines with unitary gearboxes, this being believed to be an example of their 25hp model, which was powered by a 100 x 140 four-cylinder side valve engine and to a four speed transmission, and was good for roughly 110 kilometers per hour. In 1916, Matteo and Michele both left, and as the Twenties panned out the business suffered, ultimate with SPA being sold to FIAT. Is a 1913 S.P.A. 25HP Sport Torpedo

Descriptions & Pictures by bonhams