Officine Padane was an Italian manufacturer of vehicle bodies in
Modena
Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025.
A town, and seat of an archbis ...
.
History
Officine Padane was founded in 1943. The company traces its origins to the Modena-based Orlandi company, which from 1921 onwards primarily manufactured bodies for buses. Antonio Vismara took over Orlandi in the course of 1943 and moved the company to new workshops. Initially the company was called ''Carrozzeria e Meccanica Padana'', but from 1950 the name was changed to ''Officine Padane''.
[Alessandro Sannia: ''Enciclopedia dei carrozzieri italiani'', Società Editrice Il Cammello, 2017, , S. 414.] The relationship refers to the Italian name of the Po Valley.
Like its predecessor, Padane mainly manufactured bus bodies. The chassis came from
Fiat
Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...
,
Daimler-Benz
Mercedes-Benz Group AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, and Daimler) is a Germany, German Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is o ...
,
Lancia
Lancia Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis Europe, which is the European subsidiary of Stellantis. The present legal entity of Lancia was formed in January 2007 when its corporate parent reorganise ...
,
OM and
Volvo
The Volvo Group (; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distribution and sale of truck ...
. Many buses were exported.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Padane also took on small batch production of passenger cars. These included the
Maserati Mistral
The Maserati Mistral (''Tipo AM109'') is a 2-seat gran turismo produced by Italian car manufacturer Maserati between 1963 and 1970. The successor to the 3500 GT, it was styled by Frua and bodied by Maggiora of Turin. A total of 844 coupé
...
, the
Maserati Indy, and the
Maserati Bora
The Maserati Bora (Tipo AM117) is a two-seat, rear mid-engine, rear-wheel drive sports car and grand tourer, manufactured by Maserati from 1971 to 1978. In common with other Maserati cars of the era, it is named after a wind, Bora being the w ...
, as well as the
Stutz Blackhawk
The Stutz Blackhawk is an American luxury car manufactured from 1971 through 1987. Other than the name, it bears no resemblance to the original Blackhawk (automobile), Blackhawk (1929–1930). Prices ranged from US$22,500 to US$75,000. All earl ...
I and the Stutz Duplex, which were distributed by
Stutz Motor Car Company.
Abbildungen der Produktion des Stutz Blackhawk (I) bei Padane auf der Internetsite www.madle.org
retrieved 17 November 2017. Padane built most of the coupés of the first series (1971) using numerous Italian add-on parts (door handles from the Maserati Indy, taillights from the Fiat 850), before Carrozzeria Saturn in Cavallermaggiore took over series production of the Stutz.
In the early 1980s, the Milan-based ''Società Costruzioni Industriali Milano'' (Socimi) took over the company. Due to economic difficulties of the new parent company, Padane also suffered and had to close in 1992 after bankruptcy.
Revival
In 2015, the newly founded company ''Industria Italiana Autobus SpA'' (IIA) from Bologna bought the naming rights to Padane.
Gallery
File:Padane.jpg, Padane coach on Volvo chassis
File:1971 Stutz Blackhawk Series I in Masons Black, front left.jpg, Stutz Blackhawk
File:1970 Maserati Indy 4200 rear right, Thiesen.jpg, Maserati Indy
File:Paris - Bonhams 2014 - Maserati Bora 4.7 litre Coupé - 1972 - 002.jpg, Maserati Bora
Literature
* Hartmut Lehbrink: ''Gericke's 100 - 100 Jahre Sportwagen'', Gericke Holding GmbH, Düsseldorf 2002,
* Gianni Cancellieri et al. (Hrsg.): ''Maserati. Catalogue Raisonné 1926-2003''. Automobilia, Mailand 2003,
* Maurizio Tabucchi: ''Maserati. Alle Grand Prix-, Sport- und GT-Fahrzeuge von 1926 bis heute''. Heel-Verlag, Königswinter 2004,
* Hans-Karl Lange: ''Maserati. Der andere italienische Sportwagen''. Wien 1993,
* James O'Donnell: ''The Story of Stutz. Rebirth of a classic car''. Abriss der Geschichte des Unternehmens Stutz Motor Car of America von James O'Donnell aus dem Jahr 1991 (abzurufen auf www.madle.org)
* Alessandro Sannia: ''Enciclopedia dei carrozzieri italiani'', Società Editrice Il Cammello, 2017, {{ISBN, 978-88-96796-41-2
References
Italian companies established in 1943
Coachbuilders of Italy