This unusual Fiat 1100 driving school model was made by Werner Degener to give driving students a detailed understanding of exactly how cars work – including an X-ray look inside the engine, gearbox, and steering system.
The model is based on Fiat 1100 mechanicals and uses carefully positioned cutaway sections to show students what’s actually going on inside the car when they’re driving. It uses an electric motor mounted under the engine to get the parts moving – from the valves and pistons to the gears and differential.
Though the model was originally designed to run on 220 volt power in Europe it’s been converted to run on 110 volts so it can be used in the United States.
The driving schools in many countries used to dive relatively deep into the actual engineering that goes into making automobiles work. This has become less commonplace today and this trend is likely to continue as cars get more and more adept at driving themselves.
The Fiat 1100 that this display car is based on was first released in 1953 and would remain in production until 1969, covering a number of model iterations and upgrades.
As the model name suggests the car came with a 1,100cc engine, or 1,089cc to be precise, and it provided cheap transportation to many in Italy and around Europe.
The 1100 was built under license in signficant numbers in India, Argentina, Taiwan, Australia, Iran, Morocco, Yugoslavia, and West Germany, with its native production occurring in Italy. Due to their abundance and low cost the 1100 was a popular first car, which is likely why it was used as the basis of the model you see here.
RM Sotheby’s will be offering the model in May with a price guide of $4,000 to $6,000 USD, it’s being alongside a plethora of other items from the DFW Elite Toy Museum in Texas. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.
Images: Rasy Ran ©2021 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
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