In 1835, a wheelwright named Guglielmo Diatto settled in the city of Turin to lease a strip of land on the right side of the river Po to manufacture and repair carriage wheels. By 1861, Guglielmo finally purchased the land for his company and his home that he had already been living in for 26 years. A year later the company began expanding and continued to do so another year later. When Guglielmo Diatto was 60 years old in 1864 he passed away, and he left his manufacturing and repair of carriage wheels in the most successful state it had ever been. The company was, of course, bestowed upon his children, and they continued to run the company as it grew with success. Guglielmo left the company/assets/land to his four sons (Vincenzo, Giovanni, Giovanni Battista, and Pietro), four daughters (Teresa, Angela, Giuseppa, and Rosa), and wife (Anna). All of the women in the family decided to give their shares to the brothers so they could run the company, and Giovanni Battista Diatto became their new founder.
On September 1, 1868, the company changed it’s name to Fratelli Diatto (Diatto Brothers) and expansion continued along the banks of the river Po where it had been founded. But, expansion had increased so much so that the company was now considered a large factory that manufactured not only wheels but manufactured coaches also. They were even supplying several railway companies with rolling stock. By July 23, 1889, Giovanni Battista Diatto had become the sole owner of the factory, purchasing all of his brothers shares. On March 4, 1899, Fratelli Diatto (Diatto Brothers) had it’s named change again to Societa Anonima Officine gia Fratelli Diatto. Giovanni Battista Diatto retired at the age of 70, leaving the company to his son-in-law Dante Ferraris.
Now, Diatto eventually got involved with automobiles because Giovanni Battista Diatto’s sons, Vittorio and Pietro, had already made an agreement with their company (Ingegneri Vittorio e Pietro Diatto-Fonde-rie Officine Meccaniche Costruzioni in Ferro) and a French automobile manufacturer (Clement) based in Levallois, Paris. So, Vittorio and Pietro were the ones to bring Diatto to it’s automotive beginnings. Once Diatto got involved they changed their name again to Societa Automobili Diatto-A and Clement joined with them. Diatto-Clement began producing automobiles. In 1906 they claimed their first victory at Milan-Sanremo race with their 10/12HP driven by Giovanni Gagliardi. Once this victory was achieved, many followed. By 1907, Diatto-Clement had an annual production of 250 automobiles.
Diatto-Clement went on to win endurance races like the Peking-Paris race in 1907, a 10,000 mile race that lasted from June 10 to August 16 that went from Peking, to the Gobi desert, to Baikal Lake, to Omsk, to the Urals, to Novgorod, to Moscow, to St. Petersburg, to Berlin, to Liege, and ended in Paris. This was the race that really proved Diatto-Clement created automobiles that were of the greatest quality.
On June 30, 1909, the Diatto brothers, Vittorio Diatto and Pietro Diatto, bought the shares that Clement had with the company, and the named was changed, again, to Diatto Founderie Offciene Frejus (So, they went from being a Italian/French company in 1905 to solely being Italian in 1909). This is the first year we see the Diatto emblem began it’s design stages from a blue logo to the famous red oval that resembles the logo for Bugatti. I am uncertain if it was Bugatti or Diatto that came up with the famous red oval, but it is certain that these two companies worked together, so I’ll just say that they shared it. Diatto did not patent their red oval logo until 1919, but Bugatti had already been using their logo in 1911 even though they did not register it until 1925.
So, after Diatto was once again an independent company, this time producing automobiles, they began producing a new 4cyl 209cc monoblock that created 15HP that was designed entirely in house, and this engine was then joined to a 3-speed transmission plus reverse. By 1910, Diatto had created an aerodynamic racer to compete in the Brooklands circuit in England powered by a 15.9-litre aircraft engine. An aerodynamic racer with an aircraft engine in 1910?! Then, by 1911, Diatto was producing a new vehicle, the 16hp Unique Type monoblock 2,212cc engine with a 3-speed transmission (They were learning quickly.) By 1912, this new Diatto was then transformed to a 18HP Unique Type that had 2,413cc engine and a 4-speed transmisson. This 18HP Unique Type was their standard car until 1915.
(It is important to now note that because of the war effort in WWI, Diatto was somewhat of a hero to Italy and because of their experience in the war they knew how to make their vehicles even better than before. This also made them the top of their class in racing and gave people a new hope/love for automobiles.)
Diatto and Bugatti:
What happened in 1916 with Diatto is where I am going with all of this. On March 17, 1916, Diatto bought the majority of shares for Societe des Moteurs Gnome et Rhone who manufactured aircraft engines. This company was then changed to Societa Italiana Motori Gnome et Rhone. Diatto used this company, Gnome et Rhone, to build Ettore Bugatti’s famous 8cyl aircraft engine in cooperation with Bugatti. So, Diatto was over Gnome et Rhone and Bugatti at this time. Even prior to this war effort, Bugatti and Diatto already worked together. Since Diatto was such a massive manufacturer, Bugatti used Diatto’s resources and equipment. The 8cyl Diatto-Bugatti aircraft engine was fantastic for it’s time and made an incredible 210HP. By 1919, Diatto had produced three new cars based off of the Type 30 Bugatti in cooperation with Bugatti.
This Diatto based on the Type 30 took second place in 1920 at a 6-lap race of 245 miles at Mugello, Tuscany (24 cars started and only 5 finished.) and then entered that same year into the 11th Targa Florio. This was the 16 valve Diatto 30 and the chassis was made by Bugatti. After this, Diatto-Bugatti began making luxury automobiles (that were comparable in price to Rolls-Royce of the time), coupes, convertibles, and then racers! These luxury cars were sold to royalty (such as Princess Murat or Madame Gould). In the first post-WWI race (Parma-Poggio di Berceto), Diatto-Bugatti took both first and second place. First went to the Diatto 30 with the Bugatti chassis and second went to a Diatto 4DC. Needless to say, after many victories in racing, Diatto sales continued to rise. Diatto-Bugatti then went on in 1921 to construct a special series of racers. These racers initially had a 25HP Sport Diatto chassis modified with tubular axles, and a 1500cc Bugatti 4cyl engine with a compressor. These special racers won countless competitions in rallies and even hill climbing competitions. (“The Italo-French champion Franz Conelli, at the wheel of one of these Diatto-Bugatti 1500 cc race car, won international races such as the Gran Premio Gentleman of Brescia and the uphill time trials of Susa-Moncenisio and Aosta – Gran San Bernardo [30 km uphill, with a lead of 6 minutes over the powerful O.M. from Desio]”).
Diatto-Maserati:
In 1922, Diatto hired two talented men by the names of Alfieri and Ernesto Maserati to direct their 1922 race team. Alfieri Maserati was already known for his great work with Isotta-Fraschini’s racers. The brothers won many races for Diatto and even designed for Diatto. In 1923, Diatto made two experimental 8cyl engines (both inline 4 litre) by coupling together two Diatto Type 20 series productions engine blocks. Between 1924 and 25, Alfieri Maserati developed the prototypes into a new Diatto engine with a total displacement reduced to 1,995cc. This engine was the compressed (supercharged) Diatto 8C. Capable of 160HP and 112MPH. Diatto was successful yet again. Victories and high sales.
Nevertheless, Diatto was still in debt from WWI and couldn’t seem to get out of that debt despite all the success. In 1926, Diatto decided to withdraw from competition. Diego De Strelich, an admirer of the Maserati brothers, bought ten type 30 Diattos. He had the Maserati brothers deliver them to Alfieri and convinced him to start his own racing car company and that he would also be willing to support Alfieri financially. So, they did it. In 1926, Alfieri Maserati entered into the Targa Florio with his modified Diatto 2 litre 8C Grand Prix racer, but this was really the first Maserati automobile. It was the 1926 Maserati Type 26. After that, it was just more extensive and magnificent history.
I really haven’t said much of my own findings, but am just sharing what I have learned. Most of this is directly quoted from my source. I just think it is fascinating that both Bugatti and Maserati came from a 120 year old carriage company that had ties with Clement as well. Clement, Bugatti, Diatto, Maserati…All related somewhat. Hope this makes sense and isn’t too jumbled. This blog is for educating people about automotive history, and my largest demographic is myself. 🙂
Everything is mostly from: http://www.diatto.us/EN/pagine/company2.html
(Again, I pretty much didn’t add anything, just restating what has already been said.)
I hope you enjoyed it.
– Zane L.
The Good-Natured Fink 