Topic: SOLVED: FW #193 Fiat 1200 Gran Turismo Viotti 1958

[fromwien]

Two-tone elegance...
Please identify this car for one point

[ducamax66]

Viotti Fiat 1100?

[fromwien]

Fiat Viotti is correct, but not 1100. Please complete the car's name and tell me the year, then the point will be yours. LOCKED

[ducamax66]

Viotti Fiat 1200 1959?

[fromwien]

Viotti Fiat 1200 1958, plus a two words name

[ducamax66]

Gran Luce?

[fromwien]

Gran is correct....

[ducamax66]

1958 Viotti Fiat 1200 Gran Luce

[fromwien]

Yes, of course you are right! My mistake! Didn't check your answer correctly! Should never (?) happen again....
Here is your next well earned point!

[Carnut]

When you said you were looking for another name 'Gran ****' I assumed you were waiting for 'Gran Turismo', but I see you have agreed Gran Luce to be correct.

Gran Luce (or Granluce) referred to all Viotti cars with a panoramic windscreen, but particularly to the Fiat 600 Granluce of 1956.

When that was restyled in 1957 Viotti attempted to copy the 600 Granluce concept on the Fiat 1100/103D and 1200 chassis and Michelotti styled the new car re-using some of the features of the smaller model, such as the panoramic windscreen, to create a family-look between the two cars. The new model was called the 1100/1200 Gran Turismo and it featured various slightly different colour schemes.

Your puzzle photo shows the first (1958) Fiat 1200 Gran Turismo., although plenty of websites incorrectly call it the Gran Luce...

[fromwien]

You are so right. My puzzle car is offered as a 'Gran Turismo'. I have exactly the same 'Gran Turismo' pictures, you attached to your last mail. None of them exactly look like the puzzle car. And the year 1958 seemed to me to be more a 'Gran Luce', than a 'Gran Turismo'....
Or am I thinking in a wrong direction?

[Carnut]

As far as I know the car based on the 1100/1200 was never called Gran Luce (or Granluce!) but always Gran Turismo, and appeared with various different two-tone paint schemes.
See below the excerpt from "Carrozzeria Viotti" by Alessandro Sannia:

[ducamax66]

Ha ragione Carnut, la vettura è una Viotti Fiat 1200 Gran Turismo del 1958

[ducamax66]

Rinuncio al punto! 

[Carnut]

Thanks ducamax66!
Translation reads:

"Carnut is right, the car is a 1958 Viotti Fiat 1200 Gran Turismo."

"I give up on the point."

I can't have any point though since I'm a Pro and I couldn't post the answer, only correct it once the puzzle was 'solved' by someone else!

[fromwien]

This puzzle still won't leave me alone. At first, I asked for Fiat 1200 'Gran Turismo' Viotti, as the car is advertised as that. 'ducamax66' answered twice times with 'Gran Luce', so I went deeper in the 1200 Viotti history and checked some historic pictures of the 1200 Viotti in my library.
And found this one, 1958/59, with 'GranLuce' Viotti-lettering on the front wing! Due to the 'panoramica parabrezza anteriore' a logical name, and often used.
Nevertheless I am convinced, that the car shown in my puzzle is real a Fiat 1200 Gran Turismo Viotti from 1958... But why then is the GranLuce-script on the wing of its successor?.... Or did Viotti use the 'GranLuce'-emblem on every creation of its own with panoramic windshield?

[Carnut]

I can't say for sure, but in the Carrozzeria Viotti book it only gives the 1100/1200 the name 'Gran Turismo'.
Gran Luce only means 'Big Light' literally of course and according to Alessandro Sannia, writer of the book Carrozzeria Viotti, "...a four-seater version of the (600) coupé was developed... called the 600 Granluce, a name that identified (also for Fiat) cars with a very large glass area."
Note the spelling of Granluce as one word, which signifies the name of the car, as opposed to two words Gran Luce which means large glass area. It could be that whilst the name of the car is Gran Turismo it also carries the description Gran Luce.
I'm just guessing, but as far as I can see the car in your puzzle is called Gran Turismo but not actually anything else as a name, though it might be called Gran Luce as well because it was part of the series of cars which had panoramic windows, which were just starting to be popular around the time of the car's appearance in 1958.

[Carnut]

A little bit more information from another source.
The caption to the pictures translates as:

"Above, right and below: the Gran Turismo sedan, built on both 1100/58 and 1200 Granluce (1958)."

And the text beneath the big picture says:

"His son Francesco, who succeeded him, made, in 1958, the Gran Turismo sedan, that is a two-door that was offered on both 1100/103D and 1200 Granluce chassis."

So it seems that all the cars were Granluce but the model name of this particular car was Gran Turismo!

[fromwien]

Thank you so much 'carnut', to bring some light in this puzzle. Searching all my available sources, I totally agree with you. It seems that all these Viotti cars were 'GranLuce's', but their model name was 'Gran Turismo'.