SPA Dovunque 35

The SPA Dovunque 35 was a light off-road truck produced in Italy and used by the Royal Italian Army and Royal Air Force during the Second World War and by the Italian Army after it. In 1935 Fiat modified its Dovunque 33 to cure the problems met in the Ethiopian war; the prototype was shown that September to the army's motorization study centre and welcomed, and in 1936 Fiat gave production to its subsidiary SPA. It was baptised in fire in the Spanish Civil War, served mainly in North Africa and on the Russian front, mostly towing light artillery, and was built in many special versions, among them a closed cab for the air force, an anti-aircraft truck with a 20 millimetre Breda gun, a mobile observation tower and a Viberti radio centre. After the armistice production went on under German control, 307 vehicles for the Wehrmacht, and it continued until 1948 for the Italian Army, which kept it in line until 1950. Chassis and body stayed those of the Dovunque 33, but the original engine was replaced by the more powerful Fiat-SPA 18T four-cylinder petrol engine of 4,053 cubic centimetres giving 55 horsepower, raising road speed to 60 kilometres an hour, and the empty weight rose to 4,530 kilograms.