In 2019, I purchased a recently restored 1923 Ansaldo racing car, one of only a few competition versions left worldwide.
Torpedo tourers were the main products produced by this Italian industrial giant – with its headquarters in Genoa, Gio Ansaldo & C also built railway engines, submarines, ships and armaments.
After the end of WW1, an Ansaldo aero-engine factory in Turin switched to making cars.
Production continued for about 10 years, but fewer than 100 Ansaldo cars in all forms remain today.
Because of the company’s background in armaments, it adopted a crossed-cannon badge for its cars: ‘A shot from the past.’
My interest in this vehicle was stimulated by the fascination I have for mechanical design.
The Ansaldo was quite advanced for its time: a 2-litre engine with a single overhead cam, driven by a vertical shaft connected by skew gears to the crank.
A detachable, crossflow, essentially hemispherical head contains valves that are inclined and are timed to have an overlap.