OTAS
Officina Trasformazioni Automobili Sportive
Head office:
Via Monteponi 68
10135 Torino
The brochure also gives Piazza Montecitorio 115 in Rome.
OTAS was set up in Turin in 1969. Its founder was Franco Giannini, son of the Roman Domenico Giannini. After his father’s death he left the family firm, moved to Turin and opened there, with the mechanic Edoardo Zen, a workshop for racing conversions — the Officina Trasformazioni Auto Sportive, OTAS for short.
Work came quickly, and from Fiat, Autobianchi, Abarth, Savio and Francis Lombardi: developing and building sports cars and prototypes. The conversions of the Autobianchi Primula Coupé and the Fiat 124 Sport Coupé drew attention, as did the OTAS 820, a Francis Lombardi Grand Prix prepared for the North American market.
At the Turin motor show of 1970 OTAS showed the KL 112 coupé on Autobianchi A112 mechanicals — drawn by Aldo Sessano, bodied by Fissore — and announced the Crazycar. Neither went ahead. The firm closed in 1971; the reason given is trouble with type approval in the United States.
Crazycar
The Crazycar is a small open car based on the Fiat 500. The label on the back of the press photograph gives three things: Fiat 500 chassis, 600 cc engine, polyester body. The brochure adds a fourth — the car was offered “anche in scatola di montaggio”, as a kit, to convert your own Fiat 500.
Six standard Glasurit colours were planned: Blu Portici 7066, Giallo Basilea 1078, Argento Porto Tolle 7080, Giallo Portovenere 7072, Verde Portofino 7026 and Rosso Serralunga 2002.
The Crazycar was announced at the Turin motor show of 1970. It never went into production.
Brochure
