Coriasco

In Italy, Coriasco stands for the small, light delivery van. From the 1920s Giovanni Coriasco built bodies in Turin on chassis from Ceirano, Fiat, Chiribiri, Diatto and Itala. After the crisis of 1929 he turned entirely to commercial vehicles and to bodies for market and street traders; his son Giuseppe joined the firm, which was reorganised in 1948 as «Carrozzeria Coriasco Autoveicoli Industriali» and worked closely with Fiat. The company became known in 1956 with the Fiat 600 M on the Multipla platform, of which more than 18,000 were built, and later with the vans and pick-ups on the Fiat 600 T, 850 T and 900 T. Minibuses, ambulances, advertising vehicles and estate cars also left the workshop. In 1970 a second plant at Pianezza west of Turin was added; in 1971 Coriasco returned to the passenger car with a coupé and an estate on the Fiat 127. From 1986 Cesare Bruno ran the house; it closed in 2000.

The Carrozzeria Coriasco plate is shaped like a lorry and carries the wording «coriasco – Carrozzeria Veicoli Industriali – Torino».

The leaflet shown here advertises a pick-up on Fiat 500 underpinnings. «Ratin» is Piedmontese for «little mouse». The drawings show it with gas cylinders, ladders, wire crates and household appliances, with a tarpaulin or with a closed box body. As the contact, the sheet names the firm Pelligra F.lli in Collegno near Turin.

The basis is the 500 Giardiniera: only there does the engine lie flat beneath the load floor, and only that makes the completely level bed possible. The cooling louvres in the rear wing below the bed are clearly visible in the drawing. Nothing is known about the build period or the number made: apart from this leaflet we have found no publication on the RATIN. Nor did Coriasco build anything else on Fiat 500 underpinnings – the known lists of its models begin with the Fiat 600.