Iveco 159

The Iveco 159 is a mid-heavy general purpose truck, sold as a rigid or as a tractor for semi-trailers, that the Italian maker Iveco built from 1977 to 1983. It replaced the Fiat Iveco 150 and the Fiat 160, and its unusual number was chosen to mark a clear break from the Fiat 160 before the Iveco 160 range arrived. It was powered by the six cylinder in-line Fiat 8220-02 engine of 9,572 cubic centimetres, giving 201 horsepower DIN, with a 240 horsepower version offered in Italy, where the road code expects eight horsepower for every tonne carried. The permitted gross weight was 16 tonnes, and in France, Germany and Switzerland a tractor version was sold with a train weight of up to 28 tonnes. It was also assembled at the Unic plant at Trappes in France and in the former Magirus-Deutz factories in Germany, and it sold well to small hauliers, mainly in building and public works. The Iveco 160 replaced it in 1983.