Classic Fiat 500 - the Italian Icon
Italy is a country of icons - Pavarotti, spaghetti, pizza, Ferrari.. the list goes on. Strong images that spring to mind when we think of the Bella Paese.
Everyone knows Tuscany and Sicily, two more Italian icons, but Piedmont is often overlooked, ignored, left unknown. How many people know that Turin is the principal city of Piedmont and was the first capital city of Italy, even before Rome? I saw a quiz show recently and a contestant was asked 'where is the city of Turin?' The contestant answered, 'Canada'.. Well, that says it all. And how many people know that what is probably Italy's greatest icon was designed and built right here in Piedmont?
Rated by many as the most beautiful car ever conceived - and I mean people like F1 drivers Michael Schumacher and Jean Alessi, as well famous motoring journalists and the guy that gave us the Mclaren F1 road car, designer Gordon Murray, the FIAT 500 is one of the greatest Icons of the 20th century.
The Fiat 500 was born in Turin and for the most part built here. 3.5 million were sold and one million are still on the roads today, even though production stopped 35 years ago. Testimony to what is a great and much loved design. But the Cinquecento (500) was more than a style statement. It changed the way Italians lived, it got them off bicycles and Vespa and onto 4 wheels. It cost only €250 (a year's wage at the time) and was very cheap to run. Launched in the centre of Turin with much fanfare on the 4th July 1957, this little car was destined for the history books - design brilliance and the bringer of massive social change. On the 4th July 2007 FIAT launched the all new 500. Just another retro-design car to cash-in on past glories? No way. I owned one for a while and I have to say it's a brilliant car. Not only did the body shape echo the pen strokes of Dante Giacosa (the designer of the old 500) from 51 years ago but it oozes modern style, driveability, good design and excellent engineering. I miss that little car so much!
The old original 500 always catches my eye though. No one can resist going 'wow!' when they see one. I always dreamed of having one and with prices low it seemed a good time to start searching.
I started studying the secondhand car Web sites here in Italy and it seemed possible to pick up a reasonable one for not too many Euros. One looked promising, in Casale Monferrato. It was beige (not the greatest colour..) but the seller said it was like new. We got on the Moto Guzzi and blasted through the beautiful hills of the Monferrato. The car was awful. The only thing 'like new' was the paint job, covering a few buckets of body filler. He claimed it had been done 6 months before, but I think 6 minutes would have been closer to the truth. Disappointed, but we had learned. We were going to have to ask more questions before going and spend a little more money.
Something looked interesting in Lodi. It was a little odd though. It had French licence plates and that made us very suspicious. But the car looked great so we had to ask more questions. The owner explained that it was registered in Italy but he'd bought it to restore from Paris. Many more questions and we drove the 170km to see it. To cut a long story short after some strong haggling on the part of my wife a good price was agreed, hands were shaken and an appointment set for the next day to change ownership (changing ownership here is straight forward but maybe a little different from most other places - if you want information, drop me an email).
So here, we present our little Fiat . It's a 1969 FIAT 500L in sugar paper blue. In beautiful condition and she really turns heads. Her name is Sophia. She's sitting in front of me now as I write on this beautiful hot day. The sun is burning and the sky is as blue as her paint job. She's 41 years old but looks great!
