Back to FAQ.

Next

The 1750 Spider Veloce and the SPICA system  

SPICA S.p.A. (Company Injection Pumps Cassani & Affini) was an Italian company of injection systems, spark plugs, and automotive parts. Its old logo was made up of a triangle that welcomed, inside, the 'stylized image of a pump above the inscription "SPICA" in capital letters. The society was founded by Francesco and Eugenio Cassani in 1932, in Milan, with the acronym SPICA (Società Pompe Iniezione Cassani and Allied), taking advantage of the demand, backed by support from the fascist regime of Italian automobile industry to break free, as it regards the components, by foreign supplies.  

There is an extensive article in Road & Track.

In 1938 the company became the property of Luigi Orlando and Costanzo Ciano, who thus hoped to turn it into a tool for domestic production even war, and moved its head office in Livorno, Via Grotta delle Fate 22, continuing to produce injection pumps for diesel engines at the via San Martino factory, in the district of Ardenza. In 1941, a conflict now begun, and while Bosch tried its acquisition, the Italian capital was transferred to IRI, and managed by Alfa Romeo, also becoming the primary provider of the Milanese automaker.The General Sales Agency , provided for by then legislation, was the R.I.M.S.A with offices in Genoa (Via XX Settembre 32/8) and Milan (in via Cimarosa 9A). In 1942 the founders so they left the company and founded, together, SAME (Società Accomandita Engines Endothermic). 

In the early seventies the Spica was found to be a major player in the market, thanks to the considerable demands for Alfa Romeo and the possibility of producing accessories and consumables (such as spark plugs, shock absorbers, etc.) also used by other brands cars mountable or as aftermarket. Improvement of production necessitated the design and move quickly to a new building, erected in via Federico Enriques 35, in Livorno. Over time, in addition to the diesel pump, the Spica had in fact started to produce glow plugs, shock absorbers, water and oil pumps, steering rack, to the sparkplug. The latter were also produced on Lodge license. 

The components were produced on both the design of the Alfa Romeo engineers on internal projects, and then sold with Alfa brand and as aftermarket parts or accessory. The company reached the maximum evolution into the early '80s. In January 1988 all passed, along with the Alfa Romeo Group, Fiat Auto s.p.a. The latter gave the company almost immediately; it was signed in 1989 the sale of the production plant to a British base multinational Delphi , it decommissioned Spica brand and no longer in production, used here, machinery and workers to assemble their own price list accessories. Delphi, which split the company ceding part US TRW, finally broke free of the ex-Spica in 1995, giving up the entire business at TRW; the factory became TRW Automotive Italy and was again converted to the production of the ordered components from the US multinational. Fiat Auto but maintained ownership of the building (by renting the walls in Delphi and TRW), through a series of internal passages estate. 

Only in 2001 by Fiat Partecipazioni the property passed to "Intesa Leasing", ending up in the hands of a company called "Realty One". In 2014, the TRW has decreed the total closure of the Italian plant, laying off all employees and dismantling of Via Enriques structures, ignoring all negotiations and also proposed by the Italian government. The historic building, dating back to 1938, with a facade that brings in large letters the name "Spica" - which still exists - has been converted to other activities. It ignores the 'identity of' current holder of the trademark "Spica".

Some photos from Crazy for Alfa Romeo 1910-1986 Lancusi(SA)-Edinburgh UK

If you have any comments, please send an E-mail

  Top