FIAT History: Vol. 3
The FIAT factory in Poughkeepsie, NY
Yes, you read that correctly. For a relatively short period of time, some FIATs were built right here in the good ol' US of A.
Back in the early 1900s, if you walked the streets of Poughkeepsie, NY, you saw horses and carriages, and rarely, if ever, a car. Some businessmen in town wanted to change that. They wanted to bring automobiles to Poughkeepsie. However, their aspirations went beyond bringing cars to Poughkeepsie, a growing town about 85 miles north of New York City. They wanted to bring an Italian car; the FIAT.
And not just bring it to town - build it in town!
Successfully pursuing their vision, by 1909, they had officials from FIAT scouting out property upon which to build a factory. The head of the American team was Ben Eichberg, a diamond merchant. The rest of the team consisted of American men who had experience in the fledgling auto industry. The treasurer of the venture was a shrewd pick, John Treas. John served on the board of The Horseless Age magazine, guaranteeing FIAT's American experiment great press. In exchange for a royalty paid on all chassis produced, the US enterprise gained rights to all of FIAT's patents and designs.
The group purchased land in north Poughkeepsie in the summer of July 1909 and began operations with about 300 skilled workers during 1910. The first car rolled out of the factory in September 1910 (some accounts say July).
The FIATs they produced weren't cheap. At that time, FIAT was known for upscale models and Ben Eichberg only selected the high end models for the potential customers he had made during his days dealing in diamonds.
Production began with the Type 54, a 30 HP model. In 1912, the factory added the Type 56, a 7 passenger touring car designed exclusively for America. It featured a huge 8.6L motor which produced 45 HP. In 1913, the 42 HP Type 55 was added to the lineup. A year later, in 1914, the smaller Type 53 25 HP model entered production. Those 4 models being built at the same time marked the zenith for FIAT's American venture. The least expensive model cost $3,600 ($92,000 dollars today), a price which put FIATs out of reach of most Americans. Plans were underway to begin building a new model which would cost a less expensive, but still pricey $2,000; however, World War I interfered.
In 1917, FIAT Italy took over the American operation, producing just the Type 55. Production ceased at the beginning of 1918. The tooling was sold to Duesenberg, who moved it to their factory in Elizabeth, NJ. There, it was used to help build Bugatti airplane engines.
The factory itself was sold to multiple enterprises over the years, serving in various stints as a publishing company and briefly as part of Marist College before it was demolished in the latter 1990s.
At peak production, the Poughkeepsie FIAT factory churned out 350 vehicles a year. American FIATs are extremely rare today. In 2015, a 1912 Type 56 Touring car sold at auction for $130,000.
Today, FIAT has assembly plants in many countries other than Italy: Poland, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and Turkey.
Never forget the glorious 8 years FIAT produced luxury cars right here in the US, at their factory in Poughkeepsie, New York.
(black and white pictures courtesy of the Simeone Foundation Museum)
Type 56 7 passenger touring car.
Inside the Poughkeepsie factory.
T his Type 56 sold for $130,000 in 2015.