Autobianchi Stellina (1964) in White

This Autobianchi Stellina (1964) Resin Model Car is White. It is made by Autocult and is 1:43 scale. During the first part of the 20th century - Edoardo Bianchi had a good reputation as manufacturer of bicycles and motorcycles in Italy. In 1955 - together with Pirelli and Fiat - he founded a new car brand called "Autobianchi". With this company - Bianchi began to develop new models with the technology of Fiat. This would lead him to design his first automobile.

During the Turin Motor Show in late autumn 1963 - Autobianchi was presenting its first car to the public - the "Stellina" - which means "little star". Stellina was the first full production car made with an all fiberglass body.
The designer of the car - Luigi Rapi - was creating a rear-engined cabrio that was constructed of fiberglass reinforced plastics and was based on a box-shaped steel frame. It was powered by Fiat's 600D rear-mounted - water-cooled - 767 cc straight-4 engine. This little engine delivered only 29 hp - which allowed the Stellina to achieve a maximum speed of just 115/km/h. With a length of 3.67 meters and a wide of 1.43 meter - and a weight of 660 kgs - the Stellina was underpowered and therefore it could not achieve the sporty driving performance that the designers wanted.

Very soon - the small spider got the reputation of a women's car because of the paint colors and accessories you could choose. For example - you could choose very bright colors - white sidewall tires - and spoke wheels.

The second series of the Stellina debuted in 1965 - and the car saw some upgrades. The main upgrade was a slightly more powerful engine. A 792 cc motor was used - but power only increased to 31 -5 hp - which was still not sufficient enough to make the car "sporty". The sale of the new version was not significantly better either. With a starting price of 980.000 Italian Lira - the Stellina could no longer compete with the new 1965 Fiat 850 Spider - and production was eventually shut down.

Only 502 Stellinas were made until production ceased in 1965 - and only a few examples still survive today. The main reason that only a few cars still survive was the use of a steel frame - which rusted very quickly.