London to Brighton

The first Fiat car ever produced enters the world’s oldest and most prestigious rally reserved for veteran cars. The 120th anniversary of the Turin-based company is being celebrated at the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run.

At the turn of the 20th century, the newly founded and ambitious Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (FIAT) company launched the first car in its history. That was the Fiat 3½ HP, a two/three-seater vis-à-vis bodied automobile designed by engineer Aristide Faccioli. Despite resembling a small horse-drawn carriage, what came out of the FIAT workshops on Corso Dante was not just a car, it was a revolution.

Exactly 120 years later, one of three surviving Fiat 3½ HP cars—belonging to the FCA collection and kept at the UK National Motor Museum in Beaulieu—is ready to star in the London to Brighton run, the world’s oldest rally dedicated to the most prestigious veteran cars of all time.

The Fiat brand is also Patron of this year’s event, an honour reserved exclusively for car manufacturers founded before 1905 and which are still making cars for international markets today.