Just way too cute

[MD]

Well here she is. The original Fiat 5oo Bambino.

I have had 3 of them. Two red ones and a yellow one. Amazing little town cars.
Now 57 years old but for my money it is still cute and nothing has come close to beat it over that time. Mechanically it's a different story of course but for sheer cuteness it's the pick of the bunch.

If the ladies don't support me on this one,  I  am getting a ticket off the planet..

[colcol]

MD, they are amazingly good cars, first car i fell in love with, when i was about 6 years old, an eccentric aunt had one, and we used to go on big drives, when she was looking after me, it had a rollback canvas sunroof, which i used to stick my head out, and see the world, like an excited dog sticking its head out of the car window, begged dad to get rid of his FC Holden and buy a Fiat 500, but wouldn't.
Brabham Formula 1 racecar and Mc Claren road car designer, Gordon Murray says the Fiat 500 is his favourite car and apparantly drives one still, Colin.

[aggie57]

My sister had two. The first was rolled when she hit a deep puddle going round a corner. True story.

[colcol]

Only problem with the original Fiat 500 is that for normal sized people it is impossible to have sex in the back seat, oops too much information, Colin.*[note asterick]

[ALFAAA]

I have a 1960 500 Nuova. So cute
Sits among my Alfa's.
Its amazing how small they are , 17 HP , 3 HP more than my ride on lawn mower.

The whole family loves it.

[MD]

If you do a bit of web browsing on these things, it is amazing what inspiration has been put to work to modify the cinquecento. How would you like a Lambo V12 powered one? What about hayabusa 1300 powerplant? Oh you just want to potter around? Well what about a Subaru 1.8 L engine? Perhaps a rotary?

Here's a clip (all in Italian of the Lambo version)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2jrvcfqMM0

[Evan Bottcher]

[MD]

Yeah Evan. No Explanation necessary !

With such a short wheel base and so much torque from some of these conversions, it makes me wonder if they are capable of rear wheel stands on take off and would they get light on the steering during hard acceleration between gears? One would think so.

Personally my preference would be to loose the back seat, install the engine in front of the rear axle and consider something like a 1.5L Sud engine.

[colcol]

A 1.5 Alfasud/33 boxer engine will go in, but you can't quite shut the engine cover, there was one a few years ago at the Targa Tasmania.
A few Fiat 500's 'benefitted' from NIKI power as well, Colin.

[MD]

colcol

Never having seen this combination,  I wonder how far forward the engine was installed into the cabin to prevent full closure of the engine bonnet?

I had one while I was working in London. Brilliant in the heavy and slow moving traffic. Parking it was a breeze. Used to park it sometimes between two parked cars but 90* to the kerb as the length of it wasn't any bigger than the width of most cars.

It was also surprising that it would accommodate some fairly big people in the front seat too.

[colcol]

Note * asterick from my previous post,
In Italy about 1980, there was a famous court case about a man, who i can't remember his name, but he was accused of raping a woman in the back seat of his car, lets call him Silvio B,to protect the guilty, and the car in question was an original Fiat 500, the Prosecuting Team said that the man raped the poor lady in the back seat of his Fiat 500, the Defence Team, said 'NO', this is impossible, the Defence team with a Fiat 500 in court and flexiable dummies proved that it was impossible to have sex in the back seat of a Fiat 500.
This case gripped Italy as much as the 'Dingo ate my Baby' case in Australia at the same time, it was in the paper every day in Australia, and front page in Italy, and it was proved, that no, you two could not have done the deed in the Fiat, but people of smaller stature might, and the case was dismissed and from that point on the sales of Fiat 500's started to slide.
Fiat learnt their lesson, and the new Fiat 500 had more room inside and there are constant rumors of a new Fiat 500 with 4 doors, to give better access to the back seat?
Anyone other than me remember this case?, or can't you remember what happened 34 years ago, Colin.

[MD]

Sex in a Fiat 500. Isn't that how they got the Bambino?   

[colcol]

Talking to a work mate about Fiat 500's, he had 2 back in the 70's, got to the stage, with poor parts supply from Fiat, no internet, after market parts non existant, he tried to sell them for peanuts in the Trading Post, couldn't, ended up taking them to the council rubbish dump, but thats not the worst part, they were the suicide door models, enough to make you cry, Colin.

[poohbah]

Saw the latest episode of the new Brian Johnson car series last night, which was all about Lamborghini. He caught up with a father-son duo who modded an original Fiat 500 and squeezed in a Lambo V12. Just goes to show, if you really want to do something, anything is possible. Whether it be putting in a Lambo donk, or getting it on in the back seat of a 500...