OM Tipo 469 History

The Tipo 465 (1,327 cc, 1919) started OM's four-cylinder sports-car lineage, quickly joined by the 467 (1,410 cc) and 469 (1,496 cc) in 1921. The numbering convention encoded the cylinder count (4) and bore diameter (65 mm, 67 mm, or 69 mm), a system OM carried forward to the six-cylinder 665.

The Tipo 469 Sport produced roughly 30 bhp from its 1,496 cc four-cylinder and was capable of approximately 100 km/h. It proved itself in competition immediately, winning the Coppa delle Alpi (1,500 cc class) and events on the Garda and Mugello circuits in 1922. A surviving example is preserved at MAUTO (Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile, Turin) and has participated in the modern Mille Miglia retrospective. The four-cylinder cars remained in the catalogue into the early 1930s (sources vary on the exact end of production), by then overshadowed by the six-cylinder 665.

The 469 was the direct technical parent of the Superba: the six-cylinder 665 was developed by scaling up the 469's architecture, adding two cylinders and enlarging the bore to 65 mm × 100 mm to reach 1,991 cc.