Page 31 - April 2023

As promised, a side bar to the main story

The Iset t a was a t hree wheeled car t hat began wit h an It alian

Refrigerat or Company

As a kid I didn't know it but the odd car that lived in our garage
had a direct link to World War II. Maybe that's why my dad, a
veteran of that conflict, brought it home.
After the war, countries struggled to recover from both
bombing and the staggering loss of life of both soldiers and
civilians. Government coffers in many of those countries were
bare; with a few exceptions the wealth of individuals seemed to
have evaporated over night, . One such survior, was Italian,
Renzo Rivolta, the son of a wealthy Milanese industrialist.

Before the War, Rivolta had purchased a small maker of
refrigerators and space heaters called Isothermos based in country?s industrial base. Rivolta?s factory did not escape
Genoa. The company had come up with a cheaper, simpler way unscathed. In 1942 it was damaged by Allied bombs, so he
to manufacture these homely items. Building the company up, moved the business to an 18th Century family villa in the
Rivolta expanded it to outside of Italy. That financial success small own of Bresso. In 1943 loyal locals helped him to hid
allowed him to indulge in his real passion, cars? fast cars. the company?s assets from the retreating Germans who
t
looted the country of whatever wasn? nailed down.
Then, came the war. Rivolta kept his company running even
though Mussolini and his ally , Hitler, destroyed most of the Our Isetta continues on page 32
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