Rayton Fissore

Rayton Fissore was an Italian car body manufacturer, best known in the 1980s for the development of the luxurious Magnum SUV . The company was not identical to the renowned Carrozzeria Fissore , although indirect relationships existed.

Company history

There are numerous contradicting statements about the background of the company. In particular, the degree of connection to Carrozzeria Fissore is unclear.

The Carrozzeria Fissore was an established design studio that had designed numerous bodies for Italian, German, South American and Japanese series vehicles in the 1960s and also produced its own creations in small series. Since 1969, the Savigliano- based company has been closely associated with the Swiss car manufacturer Monteverdi , which had its sports and off-road vehicles manufactured here. In the mid-1970s, Monteverdi gradually took over the majority stake in Carrozzeria Fissore, which was finally dissolved in 1982.

The body manufacturer Rayton Fissore was founded in 1976. Some sources claim that Rayton Fissore was founded by Bernardo Fissore, the son of an owner of Carrozzeria Fissore, which had recently been partly acquired by Monteverdi. According to other sources, Giulio Malvino was the founder of the body shop. In order to accelerate the success of his company, Malvino, the son-in-law of one of the owners of Carrozzeria Fissore, named the company after his wife's maiden name, which was established in the automotive industry.

The company's headquarters were in Savigliano until 1988. The Carrozzeria Fissore also had its production facilities there. From 1988 the company headquarters was in Cherasco ( Province of Cuneo ).

Rayton Fissore initially manufactured bodies for trucks and commercial vehicles. In the passenger car sector, it appeared with three vehicles. In the 1990s, Rayton Fissore ceased operations.

vehicles

Rayton Fissore Gold Shadow

The first passenger car presented by Rayton Fissore was the Gold Shadow, which was first shown at the Turin Motor Show in 1978 . The Gold Shadow was a small car that used the drive technology of the Autobianchi A112 and had a separate body that combined the style features of the Porsche 928 and the AMC Pacer. Whether it stayed with a study or whether series production came about is not clear. Some sources believe that approximately 500 copies of the Shadow were made from 1979 to 1982 (or 1984). The fact that no photo of a Gold Shadow in traffic has yet been published speaks against such a spread. Other sources write that the vehicle remained a one-off and that an attempt by a Spanish company to market the project under the Guapa name failed.

Rayton Fissore Magnum 4x4

Rayton Fissore Magnum (here the version for the USA called Laforza)

Another development was the Rayton Fissore Magnum SUV , the body of which was designed by Tom Tjaarda . It was a station wagon with all-wheel drive, which was positioned in the market niche of the Range Rover , but unlike this one had a body that picked up on Italian style features. In this respect, the Magnum followed the concept of the Monteverdi Safari, which was discontinued in 1982 (and until then produced by Carrozzeria Fissore) . The vehicle, which was primarily intended for the American market, was based on a modified Iveco chassis and was available with different engines. It was presented at the Turin Motor Show in 1985. It was manufactured by Rayton Fissore until 1990, after which the American importer took over the manufacture. There it was produced under the name Laforza Magnum well into the new millennium.

Alfa Romeo 75 Sport Wagon

In 1985 Rayton Fissore presented a station wagon version of the Alfa Romeo 75 . The car called Sport Wagon and an identically designed but more powerfully motorized vehicle called the Turbo Wagon remained unique pieces.

Body tuning

In addition to the design and manufacture of complete vehicles, Rayton Fissore also dealt with body tuning in the early 1980s. The company offered body conversion kits for the coupe and the HPE version of the Lancia Beta . The conversion kits contained front and rear spoilers, special aluminum rims and a modified exhaust system. The Rayton-Fissore versions were only available on the Swiss automotive market.

literature

• Georg Amtmann and Halwart Schrader : Italian sports cars . Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-613-01988-4 .
• George Nick Georgano : The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile, Volume 3 P – Z. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 (English)

Web links

Commons : Rayton Fissore  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See Amtmann / Schrader: Italienische Sportwagen, p. 378.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Short portrait of the Rayton Fissore Shadow on the website leroux.andre.free.fr (accessed on February 26, 2012).
3. ↑ www.laforzafissore4x4.bravehost.com ( Memento of the original from March 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on February 26, 2012). 
4. ↑ Brief description of Tom Tjaarda's works on the website www.tom-tjaarda.net (accessed on February 26, 2012).
5. ↑ ^{a b c d} Georgano: The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. 2001.
6. ↑ See brief description of the car on the Autolexikon-thyssen.de website (accessed on February 27, 2012).
7. ↑ Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : The International Automobile Encyclopedia . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 .
8. ↑ Presentation of the model history of the off-road vehicle by Tom Tjaarda on the website www.laforzafissore4x4.bravehost.com ( Memento of the original from March 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on February 26, 2012). 
9. ↑ Description of the Laforza Magnum on the website www.automotivetraveler.com (accessed on February 26, 2012).
10. ↑ Brief description and illustration on the website www.alfaclub.de (accessed on February 27, 2012).
11. ^ Presentation and description of the Lancia Beta Rayton Fissore on the website www.lancia-beta.de (accessed on February 27, 2012).