All Things Wheeled: Automotive History; Cisitalia

Cisitalia, in my opinion, has made some of the best looking cars out there, and some of the best performing for their time. But I honestly didn't know much about the company before I researched for this post, so I'm learning too. ⚠WARNING: You just might learn something if you read this post. Read at your own risk.
Cisitalia was founded in 1946 by soccer player and businessman Piero Dusio. His company dominated the Voiturette racing series in the late 1940s, but after the 360 Porsche race car was developed, it proved too complicated and expensive to go through with, and that pretty much killed any more racing attempts by Cisitalia. Below, I have put together an overview of the Cisitalia models.

1946 -- The D46, which Piero made mostly with Fiat parts (of which he had an extensive knowledge because he had actually designed the Topolino), makes its debut, and soon after the start of its racing career, dominates the Voiturette racing series, even against the most successful race cars of the day from automakers like Ferrari, Maserati, and Alfa Romeo.
1947 -- Cisitalia gets Ferdinand Porsche to help him with a new race car, the 360. The 360 was extremely advanced for the day, with a mid-engine 12-cykinder layout, four-wheel drive that could be switched to just rear-wheel drive even while the car was in motion, a five-speed synchromesh two-gate transmission, and independent suspension for each wheel. The car would have made about 450hp at 10,500rpm, and weighed just 1,388 pounds, but unfortunately, Cisitalia didn't go through with the plan. The car was too complicated and expensive to make, so the project was dropped. The Cisitalia Porsche 360 never even raced. The same year, the 202GT is unveiled at the GIMS, and is a resounding success.
1948 -- Cisitalia is practically is financial ruin.
1949 -- The 204A Spyder Sport is made in partnership with Abarth.
1950 -- The 204 Spyder Sport goes racing for the first time, with the legendary Tazio Nuvolari at the wheel.
1952 -- Cisitalia 808XF Vignale and 303DF arrive on the scene, temporarily saving Cisitalia.
1953 -- Cisitalia collaborates with Ghia on the 505DF, of which 10 were built.
1959 -- The 750GT and 750 Spyder are unveiled, based on the Abarth 750.
1960 -- The Cisitalia Abarth 850 Scorpione is unveiled.
1961 -- Cisitalia makes one last go at saving the brand with the DF85 Coupe, but ultimately fails. Just 35 were ever made.

And that's all, folks!

D46 race car