GRAND VOYAGE ITALY
  • Piazza
    • Older Posts
  • Travel
    • Our Family's Voyage
  • Cucina
  • Culture
  • History
  • Style
  • Photos
  • Videos
    • Music Videos
  • About
    • Survey
    • Links
  • Shop 🛒
  • Piazza
    • Older Posts
  • Travel
    • Our Family's Voyage
  • Cucina
  • Culture
  • History
  • Style
  • Photos
  • Videos
    • Music Videos
  • About
    • Survey
    • Links
  • Shop 🛒
We're All About Italy

History

Fiat's Rooftop Test Track and Spiraling Assembly Line

3/11/2017

Comments

 
Picture
Fiat's rooftop test/race track in the Lingotto neighborhood of Turin
Unlike Henry Ford's factory line, which went from one end of his huge manufacturing facility to the other, popping out a finished car at the end, Fiat did things a bit different, to say the least. The Lingotto building in Milano was designed by architect Matté Trucco, had five floors, with raw materials going in at the ground floor, and cars built on an assembly line spiraled up through the building. Finished cars emerged at the top level and immediately were driven on the rooftop test track to ensure quality control. Built between 1916 and 1923, it was the largest car factory in the world at that time.

Picture
One of the banked turns at the Turin track
This factory was closed in 1982, but public outcry over a plan to demolish the structure caused it to be redeveloped into a more modern use. The structure was turned into a modern public complex containing a shopping mall, concert halls, theater, convention center and a hotel. The work was completed in 1989. The test track was saved, and can still be visited today on the top floor of the shopping mall and hotel.
Picture
The spiraled assembly line ramp leading up to the rooftop track in Turin
A scene from the film, The Italian Job from 1969 with Mini-Coopers and police in a car chase on the Fiat rooftop track, curiously, they drove Mini-Coopers and not Fiats.
Picture
Fiat also built a test track on the rooftop of its facility in Buenes Aires
Picture
A Google Earth view of the current test track in Turin
--Jerry Finzi

If you CARE, please SHARE. Ciao!
Comments

    On Amazon:
    Roman History!

    Picture

    Archives

    March 2025
    April 2024
    December 2020
    November 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    August 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    September 2018
    July 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    October 2017
    August 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017

    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Ancient Romans
    Archeology
    Architecture
    Famous Italians
    Fine Arts
    Geology
    Heritage
    Holidays
    Immigration
    Inventors
    Italian Americans
    Maps
    Music
    Religion
    Renaissance
    Technologies
    Unification

    RSS Feed

Copyright 2014 - 2024 by GrandVoyageItaly.com
Picture
  • Piazza
    • Older Posts
  • Travel
    • Our Family's Voyage
  • Cucina
  • Culture
  • History
  • Style
  • Photos
  • Videos
    • Music Videos
  • About
    • Survey
    • Links
  • Shop 🛒