Re: non-afla- What is an OSI? (with some Alfa)

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@domain.elided>]

Eric Storhok asks "what is an OSI, which was reportedly made in Turino between
'67-'68?"

Don't know about the coupe on ebay, but O.S.I. was Officina Stampaggi
Industriale, a presswork company (one of several) which did stampings for
relatively small runs of cars; they, and others like them, filled the gulf
between artisanal craft shops which hand-built bodies one at a time or
occasionally in small batches (which is what Pinin Farina, Bertone, Touring,
and Zagato were in the fifties) and the full industrial series-producers which
Pininfarina and Bertone successfully became in the end of the decade, and
which Touring unsuccessfully tried to become in the same period. Generally
Alfa could churn out sedans at Portello, or sedans and coupes at Arese, and
Fiat could do the same with its bread-and-butter cars, but production
companies on the scale of Pininfarina or Bertone were needed to supply Alfa
Spiders, Fiat Barchettas, and similar low-volume cars. Few of these body
suppliers could afford large presses, and companies like OSI and ILCA stamped
the parts which a company like Touring could assemble, paint, and trim.
Touring's Alfas offer the best Alfa example; the first, second and third
series 1900 coupes had hand-hammered aluminum skins, the fourth series (the
one which looked a lot like a three-window enlarged Giulietta Sprint) had
stamped aluminum skins, and the Touring 2000/2600 Spiders had stamped steel
skins probably made by ILCA. Similarly Zagato: hand-beaten (and hand-fitted)
panels on many if not all Alfa Giulietta Sprint Zagatos, but the replacement
roofs, doors, fenders etc listed in the parts books had to have been
pressings, and Zagato wouldn't have had large presses.

O.S.I. (or Osi) did two Alfa projects; one was the 2600 De Luxe, a very
elegant four-door on the 2600 sedan platform which (from what I have heard)
was pretty fragile); factory figures give the same weight (1140 kg) as the
2600 Zagato coupe, 80 kg lighter than the 2600 Spider, 140 kg lighter than the
2600 Sprint, and 240 kg lighter than the standard 2600 Berlina. Beautiful it
was, but they built just 54 (per Fusi) in three years, although both Fusi and
d'Amico & Tabucchi give the serial number range as from 395001 to 395052. The
other Alfa OSI project was the Scarabeo, a rear engined (and transverse
engined, and GTA engined) swoopy two-seat coupe prototype for a planned small
batch production which never got beyond the testing stage, although a Scarabeo
powertrain was later tried in the back of a Junior Z as a possible rally car.
The Scarabeo, like the Stradale, used large diameter frame rails as fuel
tanks, and like the De Luxe sedan it was a lightweight, 45 kg lighter than a
GTA.

Don't know anything about the OSI on ebay beyond what is posted there, no
connection to Alfa, it would seem from it and the two Alfas that OSI was
interested in extending its stamping base into niche-market car production. I
don't remember them being listed in the directories of such companies of a
decade or so ago, so I assume that they, like many others, didn't make it.

And if Eric will permit a nit, Turino? Turin yes, Torino yes, Torin or Turino
I believe less likely, even if the meaning is clear enough. (Picky, picky -)

Cheers

John H.
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