The Ermini 1100 Sport was the final model from Officine Ermini Firenze, the small Florentine workshop of Pasquale Ermini. Presented in 1956 as an open two-seater, it carried the marque’s signature twin-cam conversion of the Fiat 1100 engine in a light tubular chassis.
Ermini 1100 Sport at a glance
| Maker | Officine Ermini Firenze, Florence, Italy |
|---|---|
| Founder | Pasquale Ermini, 1932 |
| Model | 1100 Sport, open two-seater |
| Introduced | 1956 |
| Engine | Fiat 1100 four-cylinder with Ermini twin-cam head |
| Carburettors | two downdraft Weber carburettors |
| Gearbox | five-speed |
| Chassis | tubular frame |
| Predecessor | Ermini 357 Sport, 1954–1955 |
| Production ended | 1956, when the founder’s health forced the workshop to stop building cars |
Only the Italian and English Wikipedia articles on the marque exist; the 1100 Sport is covered there in a few lines, so this page is based on one source.
History of the Ermini 1100 Sport
Pasquale Ermini opened his first workshop in Via Campo D’Arrigo in Florence in 1932, preparing sports cars for local drivers. After the Second World War he moved from tuning to building: in 1946 he developed a car on an Alfa Romeo 2500 SS base, finished second in the Italian Sport Maggiore championship, and designed his first twin-cam cylinder head for the Fiat 1100 block.
That head became the heart of the marque. Ermini’s cars were built around Fiat 1100 components, with a tubular frame chassis, a four-cylinder engine with double overhead camshafts and two downdraft carburettors, and a five-speed gearbox. The Gran Sport Coupé that followed at the Turin Motor Show used a Fiat engine enlarged to 1350 cc, tuned to 90 hp with dual ignition and a Weber carburettor, and wore bodywork by Pietro Frua.
The 1100 Sport arrived in 1956 as an open two-seater, the last of the line. It came after the 357 Sport of 1954–1955, of which four 1100 cc cars and a single 1500 cc car were built. Production stopped in 1956 because of the founder’s health; the workshop continued to look after its drivers’ cars until the last premises in Viale Matteotti closed in 1962.
The marque was revived in 2007, and in 2014 the Ermini Seiottosei was shown, a modern sports car with an Osella-developed chassis, bodywork by Giulio Cappellini and a 320 hp Renault engine, with an estimated production of nine cars.
Design and features
- Ermini twin-cam head: the Florentine workshop’s own double-overhead-camshaft conversion of the Fiat 1100 block.
- Light tubular chassis: the construction used across Ermini’s post-war sports cars.
- Five-speed gearbox: an unusually close-ratio unit for a small Italian special of the period.
- Open two-seater body: the 1100 Sport was the last model the company built.
Ermini 1100 Sport versions
- 1100 Sport (1956): the open two-seater that closed the original Ermini line.
- 357 Sport 1100 (1954–1955): four cars built, the immediate predecessor.
- 357 Sport 1500 (1955): one car with the larger engine.
- Gran Sport Coupé: 1350 cc Fiat-based coupé with Frua bodywork.
More Italian sports cars are in the Ermini collection.
Sources
- Officine Ermini Firenze, English Wikipedia: company history, chassis, engine, production list
- Officine Ermini Firenze, Italian Wikipedia: workshop history, 1956 model, revival