Prinetti & Stucchi is a historical Italian company founded in Milan in 1874, which originally manufactured sewing machines and bicycles before turning its attention to building tricycles, quadricycles and mini-cars in 1898.
The company’s first model was a tricycle conceived by a very young (just 17) Ettore Bugatti, an engineer of extraordinary talent who would go on to become a legend. He fitted one of the company’s pedal powered tricycles with a De Dion engine (or, to be precise, two individual engines mated together, for a total output of 3 hp), and used it to compete in a number of races, coming first in the Verona Rally (161 Km) of April 1899 and third in the Brescia-Verona-Brescia in September that same year (223 Km). He was also responsible for the company’s next motorised project – a quadricycle with two De Dion engines powering the rear wheels. It is not clear, however, whether or not he was also involved in the creation of a second quadricycle, also in 1899 – namely the 4 HP, powered once again by two De Dion single cylinder engines, but connected to the front wheels instead.
The history of the brand is, however, very short. Two prototype water cooled engines were presented in 1901, but the company was closed down the following year, due to the departure of Prinetti (who had been appointed a Minister) and financial problems. Stucchi continued production with his own company (Stucchi & C.) until 1906, when he withdrew definitively from the automotive world.
