The first vehicle to bear the OM (Officine Meccaniche) trademark was the S305 launched half way through 1918, a project inherited from Zust, a Brescia company that had been taken over by OM.
The 465 that followed was, however, conceptually new and fitted an engine that was the forerunner of OM’s 4-cylinder units. This model also inaugurated the car naming system whereby the bore value was added to the number of cylinders.
The 467 Sport, equipped with a 1410 cc engine that enabled it to reach a speed of 95 kph, debuted in 1921.
The 469 was launched in the same year and would remain in production until 1934 after spinning off a number of versions of different capacity and dimensions and establishing itself as the longest living OM model ever.
OM 469 Saloon
The car most emblematic of OM’s entire production was launched two years later. This was the 6-cylinder, 45 hp 665 which would be produced up to 1934. Also known as the Superba, the 665 was a typical sports car that received the attention of the most highly skilled coachbuilders who obtained models of rare elegance from it. The manufacturer could have had few complaints either as in 1927 the car occupied the first three places in the first edition of the Mille Miglia, also winning the Coppa delle Alpi in 1923, the Mugello circuit and the Coppa delle Tre Venezie in 1924, and numerous other races.
In 1926, OM tried producing a car designed exclusively for racing. The resulting 8C Grand Prix was equipped with a powerful 1,496 cc supercharged engine developing 120 hp at 6000 rpm. Its debut at the German Grand Prix that same year, however, ended in a withdrawal. The company introduced a new chassis at the Milan Motor Show of 1928. This fitted an eight cylinder of about 3 litres but it did not go beyond the prototype stage in spite of the acclaim it was greeted with.
In the same year, in the wake of its worldwide success, it was decided to split the company up: Società Anonima OM of Milan would concentrate on the building of engines for trains and other rolling stock, while OM Fabbrica bresciana di Automobili would focus on the production of cars and commercial vehicles (an activity begun in 1925).
From 1933, the year OM was taken over by Fiat, car production was gradually cut down. The first models to cease production were the 6-cylinders. In 1934 there was just time to present a prototype, the OMV Alcyone, which fitted a 2130 cc 6-cylinder engine with overhead intake valves and side exhaust valves. But this was the end of the road and production ceased completely in 1937. From that time on OM became a marque dedicated solely to the production of commercial vehicles.
