1947 Cisitalia 202 SMM Spider
Nuvolari
The Cisitalia 202 SMM Spider
Nuvolari is an unusual motorcar, I’d never seen or even heard of the model
before stumbling across it last week and I suspect that it’ll be new to many of
you as well. The story of the little Cisitalia is quite a good one, in fact I
think it’s worthy of its own little Hollywood movie.
The Cisitalia car company was
founded by the Italian entrepreneur Piero Dusio 1946 but the story of the
Cisitalia 202 SMM Spider Nuvolari really begins with the 1947 Mille Miglia,
legendary racing driver Tazio Nuvolari had been suffering from an undiagnosed
illness but still wanted to race in what would be the first post-WWII Mille
Miglia. Piero Dusio was unsure how well Nuvolari would do in the race and so decided
to give him the least capable of the new Cisitalia cars – a 1,100cc version
that was widely known to be the least competitive.
Nuvolari learned that he was in
the slowest of the Cisitalias and one of the slowest cars on the grid for the
race, he was deeply annoyed by this and decided to see what he could do in the
saddle of the little red car.
He raced hard through the field
and had worked his way into 6th place by Padua, by the time the cars arrived in
Rome Tazio was well in the lead, at this point the Cisitalia 202 SMM Spider
suffered an undisclosed mechanical failure and Nuvolari was sidelined for
almost half an hour. Second place man Clemente Biondetti was then able to take
the lead in his Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 Berlinetta, as soon as Nuvolari’s car was
ready he set off in pursuit of Biondetti and managed to take just over 14
minutes out of his lead by the time the race ended. Nuvolari had come second
but it would go on to become one of the most famous second place finishes of
the mid-20th century.
After this stunning performance
the Cisitalia 202 SMM Spiders were all renamed “Cisitalia 202 SMM Spider
Nuvolari” in honour of his extraordinary drive. Only 28 of the cars were ever
built and this is thought to be the best of the remaining chassis.
