Fiat 626RN

The Fiat 626RN was a coach built by the bus division of Fiat V.I., launched in 1939 at the very start of the Second World War, almost together with the Fiat 626 truck, to carry the Italian population. Like every bus of its day it used a lowered chassis derived from a truck, with the engine at the front. It was ten metres long, a length standardized in Italy, though a nine metre version also existed, and it used the same engine as the truck, the Fiat 326, a six cylinder of 5,750 cubic centimetres giving 70 DIN horsepower, robust, reliable and very economical with diesel. The driving position was on the right, as Italian road rules then required. Unlike the Italian custom, only the basic Fiat Cansa body was built, because wartime shortages kept the specialist coachbuilders from offering their own versions. An urban version was called the 626RNU. In the name, R stands for ribassato, meaning lowered, and N for nafta, the Italian word for diesel oil. Production ended in 1949.