Fiat 421

The Fiat 421 is an Italian bus produced from 1973 to 1983. At the beginning of the 1970s the range of urban buses offered by Fiat was still made up of vehicles designed at the start of the previous decade, mostly using obsolete technical solutions and offering poor capacity. Fiat then started production of two new models: the 418, a medium-capacity bus with great flexibility of use, and the 421, designed expressly for the heavily loaded lines of big cities, with advanced technical solutions. The propulsion is the Fiat 8210.12 engine of 13,798 cubic centimetres giving 220 horsepower, placed at the front under the driving cab, with an automatic OM DRS 09 gearbox. The braking system was undersized for the engine power and the imposing size of the vehicle, and fuel consumption was very high. Cameri built the factory-bodied vehicles, and Pistoiesi, SEAC-Viberti and Menarini bodied others.