Italy combined art and engineering to produce stylish cars that were fun to drive—and they came in all sizes and price ranges. Innovations such as V engines, overhead camshafts, disc brakes, independent suspension, and monocoque construction put Italian models way ahead of the humdrum machinery and prewar engineering that was prevalent in most of Europe at the time. The success of these new cars established the motor industry in Italy as one of the country’s biggest and most successful exporters, and it is no wonder that Italian car production boomed, quadrupling during the 1950s.