The most extraordinary 'Model X' labeled car ever

eXtraordinary ONES In today's modern industrial world, it is almost certain that every product labeled 'X' always brings up the interpretation of something related to "experiments" would be has a different, unique, and unusual appearance. This seems to be an efective surefire trick for manufacturers to attract the public' attention when the product is launched regardless of whether it will meet the public's expectations of the product or not.

The Pininfarina Model X is a Pininfarina made four-wheeled unique sedan concept of 1960 with an exterior design look like an airplane without wings. (Picture from: The Limited Times)

Then in the automotive industry, one example of a product labeled 'X' that is easiest to mention is an electric powered SUV product called the Tesla Model X made by an American electric car manufacturer belong to Elon Musk.

The Pininfarina Model X is built based on the Fiat 1100 and powered by a 1,089 cc four-cylinder engine capable to churn out power of 43 horsepower. (Picture from: Spiegel)

It turns out that long before that, the labeling of the 'Model X' vehicle had also carried out by Pininfarina (at that time still 'Carrozzeria Pinin Farina'), a well-known Italian coachbuilder company in the 1960s for a unique concept vehicle called the Pininfarina Model X but is sometimes referred to as PFX aka the Turin Bomb as the German media Spiegel said.

The Pininfarina Model X has a unique rhomboid four-wheels layout, where each one wheel that is placed parallel on the front and rear-end, and two wheels each to the left and right such the position of the car's rear tires in general. (Picture from: 95Octane)

At that time, the unique car project was led directly by the company' founder, Batista 'Pinin' Farina in collaboration with engineer Alberto Morelli, who taught at Turin’s Politecnico and was said to be the company's scientific research program. 

The Pininfarina Model X is officially debuted at the 1960 Turin Motor Show and shown again at the 1961 Brussels Automobile Show. (Picture from: OldConceptCara)

The unique PFX four-wheeled sedan concept made by Pininfarina with an exterior design look like an airplane without wings. This is not surprising because the aircraft industry has inspired many unique designs ranging from the 1930s to the 1960s. Pininfarina's goal in making such a radical bomb-likened design was to achieve good aerodynamic factors along with a low drag coefficient.

The Pininfarina Model X has a compact-sized cabin capable to accommodate 4 adults inside. (Picture from: Spiegel)

Another uniqueness of the Pininfarina's concept car lies in its unusual rhomboid four-wheels layout, where each one wheel that is placed parallel on the front and rear-end, and two wheels each to the left and right such the position of the car's rear tires in general. Each wheel has a function, such as, the front wheel was responsible for steering, the two side wheels serve as outriggers to stabilize the car and the rear one provided the power.

As the rear-mounted PFX's engine (right) allows half of the tail section to be used as a trunk (left). (Picture from: 95Octane)

It is also mentioned that this rhomboid wheels layout gave the car higher maximum speeds and lower fuel consumption. This concept car is built based on the Fiat 1100 and powered by a 1,089 cc four-cylinder engine capable to churn out power of 43 horsepower. The machine is mounted on the rear which leaves less than half of the space as a trunk. In your estimation, what is the maximum speed of this car? Will the top speed exceed 150 kph?

The Pininfarina Model X is built based on the Fiat 1100 and powered by a 1,089 cc four-cylinder engine capable to churn out power of 43 horsepower. (Picture from: ItalianWays)

As the result, the aerodynamic bodywork has a drag coefficient (Cd) of just 0.23, which was even better than today’s most aerodynamic cars. Unfortunately Pininfarina produced just one example of this car, then was exhibited at the 1960 Turin Motor Show and the 1961 Brussels Automobile Show.

The Pininfarina Model X's aerodynamic bodywork has a drag coefficient of just 0.23, which was even better than today’s most aerodynamic cars such the latest Toyota Prius has a Cd of 0.24. (Picture from: Spiegel)

As quoted of ConceptCarz, Batista 'Pinin' Farina was driven personally the PFX concept car around to various automakers at the time to discuss the potential to put it into mass-production. No manufacturer took this finned wonder into production, so Pininfarina kept it for almost 4 decades until it was acquired in 2007 by a car collector named John Rosatti from the Italian coachbuilder company.

If you’re wondering what happened to this strange little car nowadays, according to Barret-Jackson auction sites, it sold to an unknown collector for over $300,000 (approx Rp.4,410 billion) back in 2015. Wow, even though it's small in size but the price is exorbitant..... I don't know how much it will cost if this car is sold now? In our opinion, that's the most extraordinary 'Model X' labeled car ever, what do you think? *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | CONCEPTCARZ | CARSTYLING.RU | 95OCTANE | BARRET-JACKSON | SPIEGEL.DE | THE LIMITED TIMES | ITALIAN WAYS ]

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