[1][2] Drawing from his first race car design, the monstrous 17.2 L SOHC inline-four in the Isotta Fraschini Tipo D, which lasted but one lap in the 1905 Gran Premio di Brescia, Stefanini applied similar principles on a diminutive scale.

[6] While the three examples built were not particularly successful in their only competition at Dieppe on July 6, 1908 (8th, 14th, DNF), the FE heralded the death knell for the locomotive-like single- and twin-cylinder race cars of the day.

The FE's design became the Continental standard and the archetype for the small high performance sports car, although Isotta Fraschini themselves abandoned the concept almost immediately.

A larger engine capacity of 1.32 L (65 x 100 mm) rated at 14 hp at 2500 rpm, with a cross-drive water pump and magneto, and a four- rather than three-speed transmission [1][8] (evidenced by driving any of the remaining FENCs) were the major changes.

Due to the severe economic conditions following the Panic of 1907, and a fading of buyers' interest in voiturettes, the FENC was produced for only about one year.