The factory in via Monginevro in Lesna which hosted the company’s activities from 1925 to 1989 Giovanni Moretti it is another place of the automotive soul of Turin. Moretti, a very widespread surname in our country, was also a brand: and the machines that came out of the ‘Automobile Factory and Bodywork Plants‘have always had a very high regard even in the city which later became the domain of Fiat.
Born on 21 July 1904 in Reggio Emilia, at the age of just over 12 Giovanni Moretti had already entered the world of work to compensate for the death of his father. 12 hours of work for 14 lire an hour, at the time. At 16, after also losing his mother, he had the idea of sell his bicycle to pay for a one-way ticket to Turin, where he could pursue his vocation in the field of mechanics. Having found work at Elect, his skills allowed him to quickly rise through the ranks within the factory. Meanwhile, he was studying following a correspondence course as a technical designer. His first motorcycle, a 175, won on the first try.
In 1925 Moretti began with the business, giving birth the following year the first production of three-wheelers and motorcycles. In 1928 he finally had the opportunity to build the first prototype three-seater car with a 500 cubic centimeter, twin-cylinder engine. But there was no hurry, the countryside was still big in Turin: you can become industry in small steps, Moretti thought. During the Second World War he remained out of the clutches of the conflict and created aelectric car‘with a capacity of 30 quintals and an electric car, also with only the electric push, with seven seats. A sort of ante litteram electric minivan.
Moretti took a liking to it, and after the war he presented the most characteristic car of his adventure as a manufacturer: the Appointment (little girl, in Piedmontese). It is a two-seater with a 350 cubic centimeter front engine, to which larger displacements of 600 and 750 were added later. It could be ordered in sedan and cabriolet versions, and then also station wagon, taxi, coupé. The chassis of the Cita was made of square-section steel tubes, rear-wheel drive and four-speed manual gearbox. The maximum power was 14 horsepower, with a maximum speed of 90 kilometers per hour. The car was a great success and accompanied the company’s fortunes before the dawn of the 1950s, a period in which several orders arrived to build bodywork and other special projects. Moretti also participated in the Mille Miglia, at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and also at the Algiers-Cape Town Trans-African Rally.
At the end of that decade, however, the boom was no longer as thunderous as it had been a few years before, due to rising production costs. Being builders, in Italy as in the United States, was costly. In order not to burden too much on future opportunities, Moretti could not help but suspend the production of cars in their entirety, devoting himself more to bodywork, in particular custom-built on a Fiat basis. The friendship between him and Gianni Agnelli had a positive influence on orders, characterized by punctuality in delivery and payments. Fiat obviously appreciated the level of finish and also the design of the Moretti factory, which at one point also gave vent to the inspiration of Giovanni Michelotti.
In the sixties, after the end of the brand’s history as a real manufacturer, several excellent cars were produced: the Moretti 2200 coupé (1960), the 1100 coupé (1961), the 1100 spider (1961), the 2300 cabriolet (1963), the 600 spider (1963), the 850 sports car (1965), the coupé 124, 127 and 132 (1967-69) and the 128 coupé and roadster (1969). Moretti, with its almost 150 employees, built 1500 cars and beyond a year, also considered his Formula Junior single-seaters appreciated by young drivers. And intertwined relations also with Alfa Romeo and Maserati.
The real crisis on Moretti’s typical production was certified in the seventies, again for cost reasons. It was no longer convenient to have a small artisan production, not even by leveraging the privileged relationship with Fiat. So the company fell back on very popular models, carried along by the great relative: 126 and 127, then Rhythm Gold, Panda Rock, Uno Folk. The Panda Rock, in particular, is a small beach developed by the heirs Sergio and Gianni Moretti, also available in a 4 × 4 version: with a strong personality, it is an object of true cult.
In 1989, after the presentation of the Moretti version of the Uno Turbo, which was to be destined for the American market, the family decided to cut the umbilical cord with the automotive world forever, closing the shutters. A beautiful story in any case: that of a small local manufacturer who had the opportunity to experience the evolution of the Italian automobile closely for over 60 years, always giving a touch of personality. Today the Morettis are worth a lot, and at the auctions of RM Sotheby’s and other prestigious auctioneers there is always great interest in this curious brand that has had its well-deserved moments of glory.
(photo Wikimedia CC and courtesy of RM Sotheby’s)
Previous episodes of Lost Builders:
DMC | Innocent | Delahaye | Saab | Stanguellini | Daewoo | Talbot | Isotta Fraschini | Tommykaira | Pontiac | Zündapp | Autobianchi | Matra | Ascari | Iso Rivolta | Th!nk | Miari & Giusti | Trabant | Duesenberg | Detroit Electric | Diatto | Chenard & Walcker | Facel | SO | Packard | Huesca | Chiribiri | Simca | Plymouth
–
