Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8B History

Introduced in 1931 to revive flagging sales as the Great Depression devastated the luxury-car market, the Tipo 8B featured a revised 7.4-litre straight-eight with pistons, connecting rods, and engine block machined from a new nickel-steel alloy, producing 160 bhp at 3,000 rpm — a meaningful gain over the 8A. A four-speed Wilson pre-selective gearbox was offered alongside the standard three-speed manual.

Production was desperately small: only 30 examples are confirmed, though some sources report as many as 82. The last Tipo 8B left the factory in the summer of 1934, ending passenger-car output for over a decade. By then, Isotta Fraschini had pivoted almost entirely to aircraft engines — a business that would sustain the company through the war years — and its cars had become the preserve of a vanishingly small clientele.