Juan Manuel Fangio had one. So did Leonid Brezhnev and Fidel Castro.
Introducing the IKA Torino, a car that has the automotive center of a nation.
The story begins in Argentina in the 1950s, when the government on duty sought to liberate a local auto industry.
They turned to the American company Kaiser Industries to create a local joint venture, Industrias Kaiser Argentina (IKA), which started operations in 1956 in the province of Córdoba. By the way, Kaiser Industries had a turbulent history in the American automotive industry in the 1940s and 1950s, merging with Willys-Overland in 1953 to shape Willys Motors, Incorporated, a manufacturer of the famous and ubiquitous Jeep Willys.
No wonder the first cars produced through IKA are overturned Jeep models. A sedan, founded in the American-designed Kaiser Manhattan, renamed Carabela, was temporarily followed. In 1958, IKA produced 81% of locally manufactured cars in Argentina, some 22,612 cars divided between Jeeps and Carabela sedan.
Meanwhile, French giant Renault sought to identify a production base to serve the burgeoning and lucrative South American market. In 1959, Renault has become a junior shareholder in IKA, and the company now adds Renault cars to its production line. Trivia: the first locally manufactured Renault that came off the Cordoba production line was the very cute little Dauphine.
In the early 1960s, IKA produced several other authorized cars, adding built-in versions of the American Motors Corporation (AMC) Rambler.
But it was in 1965 that IKA captured the hearts and minds of Argentines when he designed and built a car with the strength and reliability of American cars and the taste of European cars. But, instead of its own development, IKA sent two AMC Ramblers, a sedan, a coupe, to Pininfarina, taking care of the outstanding Italian flavor space to propose a design that would attract the European sensitivities of Argentina.
The resulting IKA Torino was made known to the public on November 30, 1966 at Juan and Oscar Gulvez. And the audience hit.
Under the hood, a selection of two in-line six-cylinder engines, maximum of which a 3.7-liter “Tornado” powered by 3 Bologna Weber forty-five mm side-drive carburetors. Once the inside of the Torino 380W is removed, the engine operates with 131kW and 324Nm. Rear-wheel drive is a four-speed ZF manual gearbox.
Inside, torino oozed Italian design and style, thanks again to Pininfarina’s hand. A wooden dashboard with multiple dials and gauges spoke of performance, while the three-pointed wooden guide wheel would look better on any European GT of the time.
To prove his bravery, IKA sent 3 Torinos to Europe to challenge the 1969 84-hour Nurburgring (this is not a typo). The assignment was overseen by five-time Formula One world champion Juan Manuel Fangio. A car gained its elegance, and in fact it has won it flat, having finished the maximum laps. But, thanks in component to those gutural Webers under the hood, he was penalized for exceeding the decibel limit, relegating him to fourth place in the general classification. However, he retained his victory elegance.
However, his reputation had been built and at home in Argentina, others were celebrating the country’s nascent automotive industry by attacking the global and winning.
The Torino has become the pride of the nation, the national automobile, and others flocked to them. However, despite its success, IKA faced bankruptcy in 1970, its savior Renault, which took the company completely. Now called IKA-Renault Torino, the car remained in production until 1982. It is still the only car manufactured by the French manufacturer that is not French.
Today, Torino remains a cult crop in its local Argentina and a rarity in the world. There is only one example in France, owned by Renault Classic (the car in the images that accompany this article).
In 2013, Silverstone Auctions sold Fangio’s non-public Torino (a sedan) for AUD$28,175 (approximately AUD $51,500), while a popular publicly traded Argentinian offers a variety of Torino in good condition between AUD 10,000 and AUD 15,000. It’s tempting enough for a car that still oozes the elegance and charm of the 1960s.
I’ll have one. What about you?
MORE: Cars you didn’t know you wanted … The MORE Series: All Car Culture
Another crazy BroDozer from the United States of unconsciousness. Honestly, I can’t think of a way that Chrysler/RAM will whiten this bad guy …
Green seaweed paint does the trick
“Be realistic”!
I love the design, it looks like a Tonka van and super aggressive. Not that the Hellcat V8 adapts well to the limitations of chassisArray.
You say this like they just dropped a Hellcat engine without thinking. The chassis is a specialized design. It is larger and heavier than the 1500 off-road chassis only.
What do you mean, “chassis limitations”?
Like in “you’ll have the maneuverability of a rocket sled”?
Totally ignorant commentary.
That’s an eloquent answer.
I don’t think you know much about running in the desert … This is not a Lotus Elise.
When it comes to off-road racing, it’s not just a matter of handling, robustness is very important. In fact, it’s much more important. Look for “folded frames” for Raptors and ZR2, which would be the closest competition to that. It is very easy to destroy an original frame or suspension, if it is not designed to prevent abuse. Just a slightly big ditch and you’ve totaled a vehicle.
Although it’s on the light Ram, the TRX has a rugged specialized chassis, which is much larger and heavier, only to withstand the punishment of flying through a rocky desert at 160 km/h.
In addition, there are even maneuverability benefits of having more weight, such as this for greater stability at maximum speeds, when the terrain is hectic. That’s why Trophy trucks, which are stripped-down racing vehicles, can still weigh more than 3100 kg.
Basically, this is precisely the opposite of what we perceive in terms of road performance. This applies to almost everything. For beArray you need soft, fleshy tires and a wide, consistent and improved suspension, and you need a slow, sloppy steering. What makes a vehicle fit for road racing makes it bad for off-road racing, and what it’s like for off-road racing is bad for road racing.
[warning that the following content may include irony and sarcasm]
Wow, I didn’t know there were off-road races and in the Australian desert, are those events weekly, or 99.9% of RAM driving will generally cancel out all those racing settings in the desert? Do you come with your own fleet of tankers to reach the desert?
For 99.9% of the population, this is an unnecessary exercise, for the 0.1% who would really want (or drive) such a vehicle, enjoy it! I am pleased that there are restrictions and political correctness at this time.
Supercars are dead vehicles, but they’re fun. If any of us like unnecessary but busy road cars, we’ll be able to sense the thrill of having something so dead off-road. Basically, it’s a dirt supercar. You don’t have to have a point, it’s just fun.
You’d be right, I have a higher point of understanding, but I can see that the flexible suspension and the reinforced frame make sense given the affections that want to be absorbed.
I sense that there are many other needs for high-speed off-road vehicles, and everything you said makes sense for a natural jumping device in the dunes, however, this has yet to double it as a road car, which means there is compensation to be found. Less challenging in the Ranger Raptor, which doesn’t have some of the strength of the TRX RAM, but with the most likely acceleration features of this vehicle, I’ll be interested to see how they do it.
If you need to commit, buy a regular RamArray. Silly comment. It’s like saying that a 911 GT3 deserves to perceive its functionality because sometimes it rains or snows and is not followed.
A major analogy would be to buy this Ram in the urban areas of Australia, it’s like buying a 911 GT3 when you live, say in the Peruvian jungle without paved roads by a hundred and sixty kilometers, because it “looks at how it works” in the surrounding areas for which you designed.
Well, aim, I’m going to this.
I understand, once again, I don’t think you know much about that kind of car. Of course, none of us have done this yet. But while in Canada and having driven several times in the United States, I drove many similar cars like the Raptor F150. Although the F150 Raptor has relatively superior strength, its lazy off-road tires and comfortable fit really help to master some of that strength for road driving. It can’t happen too fast in corners, but it’s not harmful or uncontrollable. Actually, it’s more controllable thanks to the off-road configuration and only its overall size. If you’ve never driven an F150 Raptor or anything else, you’ll be surprised how manageable it is to drive on the road. Somehow, it’s bigger than an old F150 on the road. I would say the same thing about the Colorado ZR2 and Tacoma TRD Pro, which I also drove. I think it’s very similar.
All right, those are all fair points. I don’t like to drive any of that, and I made my comment on the basis that the manipulation of the floppy disks – a wonderful force – a lot of weight – bad weather. I learned something today, thank you!
Amazing! Watch out for Ford Ranger drivers! Hell is here!
I’d like to see the real-world fuel figures on this thing, we’d probably have to install a long-range fuel tank 🙂
Is it necessary, notArray once again, a Lambo?
But I’d be ahead of trying this.
You want a private oil refinery …
There’s only one TRX and it’s this one.
Nissan Bluebird!
It’s the one, the best
TRX came here from Michelin, in metric wheel sizes. Nothing American will ever be a TRX.
What an article! I see Joshua is passionate about this – D
I heard that one of the smallest local converters received 8 and it looks like they probably went through $170,000 in the past on the roads. Hopefully the ranger Raptor that is held locally was designed with the same philosophy in relation to the power plant, in anticipation of the next generation of Raptor, I hope that it will give in on this front and its value is not mandatory to sell a major organ.
8 inches wider! How will you get to the parking lot?
Enter a parking lot? No, it’s going over one. By himself.
you may want a larger sliding rear bezel to get in and out 🙂
Impressive!
This hood shovel is a RAM air intake.
Thanks, I’m going to see myself.
But … will it be as cool as Bluebird and Pintara TRX?
It’ll be faster!