of 60 km/h. Between 1936 when first introduced until the end of production in 1948, 122,000 were made of this original version. Giacosa's subsequently designed the Fiat 508C, replacing the 508 Balilla, the 508C or as it became known as the "Millecento", had a short-stroke engine, with overhead valves (the 500 engine had side valves), an outstanding chassis design that earned it a reputation for good handling and ride quality. It was with a 508C chassis that as engineering manager Giacosa led a team that developed the Fiat 508CMM a streamlined coupe. Fiat used the car to win the 1100 cc class in the Mille Miglia of 1938. This model was produced in small numbers until 1940. The 508C was produced from 1937 to 1948, when it was replaced by an updated versions the 1100B and 1100E which was produced until 1953. Wealthy Italian industrialist Piero Dusio approached Giacosa in 1944 with a request to design a single seat racing car that could be purchased for a relatively low price. This he did in his free time away for the Fiat factory. The design utilised components from the Fiat 500 and 508C. The resulting car the Cisitalia D46 was on sale in 1946. The space frame chassis was designed using steel tubes and the body consisted of light alloy panels - this was the famous superleggera ("super-light") construction technique. The Fiat 1100 cc fitted to the car was tuned to produce 60 bhp. A maximum speed of 175 km/h was claimed. A batch of twenty cars was laid down in 1946 and the cars were raced successfully throughout the rest of the 1940s. Giacosa did the initial design work on the next Cisitalia model, a two-seat sports car, the Project 202. Again he used a multi tube space frame chassis. The design being an adaptation of the single seat model. The prototype was fitted with a coupe body similar to the Fiat 508CMM. Before series production commenced, he passed over responsibility for the design to Giovanni Savonuzzi. Though Giacosa had become director of the engineering division of Fiat, it didn't mean he could follow his own inclinations regarding the design of any new cars. The Fiat sales department had an overriding influence on new the model produced, and thus, the Fiat 1400 of 1950 was only a qualified success. Fiat wanted to produce a car that satisfied the needs of