"piano - piano "  news

December 2008  -  n°  13

 Dear Friends,

how many times have you seen this car around Italy ?

And how many smiles has this car produced ?

Maybe it’s not the Sistine Chapel, maybe not the Rialto bridge, but this car has definitely become one of the Italian landmarks.

Let us know a bit more about this piece of history !!

 The  FIAT  500

 The car has been named that way simply because of the size of the engine : 500 cubic centimeters.

Produced by the main Italian Car Manufacturer FIAT ( initials for Fabbriche Italiane Automobili Turin ), this car has been much more than a simple vehicle, it has been the first step for millions of families into wealth in Italy at the end of the 50’s, beginning of 60’s.

Right after the disastrous war, with the national economy basically flattened, the Italian low/middle class has worked hard to return to a decent quality of life. It took years, but eventually they arose their heads.

Factories regained business, jobs were again widely available, massive reconstructions offered homes, in one word the whole of the country re-gained momentum.

And as it always happen to human beings when some more money are available, we want to improve our quality of life. After the survivals necessities ( food, clothes,  a place where to live, instruction, medical care ) it’s the time for enjoyment : better garments, a few cinemas now and then, a TV !!!!

And even the dream of having a car, one day !!!

Merchants of all times and all over the world have the incredible talent of foreseeing the business trends, and in the 50’s they had plenty of chance while looking at this rising knead.

Middle class was earning more money : here !! : a new kitchen !! here !! : a fridge !!  here !! : a TV !!! here : a CAR!!!!

A CAR ???   You must be joking, that’s stuff for rich, we cannot afford that !!!

NO !!  LOOK !!!  That’s what they are doing now : small cars, but enough for the whole family and AFFORDABLE !!!!

Oh yes, my friends, also in Italy things went that way, as in USA, in Germany ( do you remember the Volkswagen Beetle ? ) and basically anywhere else in this part of the world.

The main Italian Car Company, the FIAT, started to produce “ utilitarie “ ( utility passenger cars ! ,  this definition is even bigger than the car itself !! ).

Actually, to be honest, small cars where already produced before WW2 in Italy, the most famous of which was the TOPOLINO (little mouse !!!).

It appeared in 1936, when  DUCE !!  DUCE !!  wanted to compete with Germany, where the first beetles started to run around.

But the price was too high, or salaries were to low. It cost 8,900 lira ( if we had still the lira today, it would be about 4  euros !!! ) but back then, this amount was 20 times a normal monthly worker salary !!!

No big chance, very few were sold. And then the WW2 came.

Incidentally, today the value of a good TOPOLINO can easily be tens of thousands euros, they are pieces for rich collectors.

My younger brother left the church after wedding on one of them !!!!!!

I still repeat him today, he should have left his fresh wife and run away with the TOPOLINO, what a bargain!!!

Right after the war, FIAT continued the production of Topolino, probably creating with some models the prototype of our station wagon today : see the GIARDINIERA ( the gardener’s car ! )

 Under the pressure of the German Car Companies, FIAT decided to follow the Beetle path, and for the first time a small Italian car with rear engine was made : the FIAT 600.

The SEICENTO ( so it should be pronounced = 600 cc engine size, 4 cylinders, water cooled, 4 gears ) met a pretty good success : between 1955 and 1969 over 2,5 millions vehicles were sold. But still, that was not quite what most of the people could afford back then.

Fiat had to think about a more economic car, capable to beat the price and yet to offer enough space, comfort and charm.

In those days, at least in Italy, the main cost of a car was the engine. Everything else, including particular devices and material for safety, was not that important.

They had to work on the engine.

After several experiments :  EUREKA !!!!   A small engine, 497 cc ( thus the name 500 ), 13 bhp,  air-cooled, 2 valves per cylinder, lubrification oil pump right at the engine bottom, camshaft in cast-iron instead of steel.

Now, the problem : 2 parallel cylinders = too many vibrations !!!!

NO PROBLEM !!!! : the small engine was fixed to the main rear frame through a new type of suspension, ready to absorb any vibration. Max speed about 50 mls p/hr, consumption : 50 mls per gallon, a dream today !!!

FANTASTICO  !!!!

And now, work on the body : for the whole family 4 seats had to be available and so it was, at the condition that each person had to eat once a week. Not rare in those days; by the way, some people pay fortunes today to eat once a week !!!

The engine at the rear gave the possibility of a capacious trunk on the front, where even 4 toothbrushes and combs could have comfortably stored.

The final stroke was the convertible roof : that was the touch of a master !!!

The miracle was presented in Rome to the world on July 4^th 1955. Even USA decided to celebrate that date ever since after that!!!

Needless  to say, that was the car for millions of families. Including mine. I still remember the three brothers of us sardines-like, squeezed at the rear : epic fights !!!

The success was great : between 1957 and 1975, last year of production,  3,8 million 500 were made !!

In almost 20 years, several models were produced, even a 500 Station Wagon  we used to call it the  FORNAIO = baker’s car, as it was perfect for that kind of delivery.

Incidentally that was my very first, own car. Light blue, reg. plate PS 33.400, year of construction : unknown, definitely bc.

The dear carried for 3 years myself plus other 3 energumens like me up the hills to Urbino, where our University was located !!!  It was exactly like the one here below :

Well, if you think about the incredible number of 500 still around in Italy considering that the last was made in 1975, that alone can prove not only the fantastic mixture of qualities that car offered but its value still today.

The 500 has in one piece basically all the requirements we have today for a city car : small, so easy to park and maintain,  everlasting, inexpensive and pretty.

So large is still its use that FIAT decided to produce a brand new model : the NEW 500.

Naturally, apart from the name and the characteristic of being a “pocket” car, there are very few similarities with the old 500. Safety and pollution regulation plus people taste require a very different car today, but still FIAT is appealing to the old charm of the “little baby”.

One more thing is different today : the price :

MAMMA MIA !!!!

The less expensive model costs 12,000 euros and it may go up to 18,000 for the sport’s types !!!

But it is a real jewel. Obviously, it’s making its run on the SMART CARS ( Mercedes ).

In Italy,  the new NEW 500 has become immediately the yuppies’  status symbol.

( Below the NEW  and the OLD  500 )

 My FIAT 500

This car is for me, and for millions of people like me, not just a nice piece of machinery.

It’s a piece of life

Actually, it’s a big piece of very nice life !!!

The  500  goes back into my memories as long as I can remember. We grew up in them.

Most probably – hard to believe – several of us were even conceived in them, although I’m not quite sure about deliveries.

The  500  has been definitely the first car most of our parents could afford, and consequently some years later, it has become the cheapest and most common car on the second hand market.

Actually, for many youngsters like me, we should say better : 3^rd or 4^th hand !!!

In Italy, we can get the driving license at 18 and obviously your first car ( unless papa pays …. ) has to have a primary quality : inexpensive !!!!

But when you manage to save some money, maybe with some work during the summer school vacation, and you buy one  WOOOWWW  !!!!  no other car looks nicer than yours !!!!!

You don’t see the wrinkles, you don’t hear the screaks, you don’t mind the leaks : it’s your baby  !!!

But let’s go in order.

At the age of 16( yes, illegally, here my wrists !! ), I used to drive the gray color 500  of my mother, with her by my side ( what a saint !!! ), passing under my girlfriend’s house, hoping she could see me !!

No way she ever did.

Actually, I fear the Global Warming started with me with the thousands miles driven in those occasions.

Needles to say, at 18 and 1 day I had my proper car license ( 1974).

In the mean time, mother changed  500 ,  a new model : beige color, exactly like the one below :

Using as a lever my good school records ( plus several blackmails only 18ers have the guts to use with their mothers ), I achieved the promise of the 500  all for me for 5 weeks at the end of the long summer vacations. So, my first car adventure ( I already made some others with the “ motorino “ - motorbike ) started.

In September 1974, half of Europe was raided by a beige color thunder running at 40 mls/ph all the way up to Scotland. 

I remember, I drove 2 nights and 1 full day in between, to reach Calais – France.

I was so tired when I boarded the ferry across the Channel, that I am not ashamed to say I literally fell asleep seated on the WC. Not even the desperate gasps of the sick ( the sea must have been force 10 ) woke me up. The reason why I didn’t fall was that the WC was so small, I just kept bouncing back and forth from one wall to the others. 

I just realized I was in Dover when the ship calmed down.

Then, other 14 hrs drive to Hawick - South Scotland. I went there accepting an invitation of a local rugby player I met, I played against, I got drunk with, during an International Tournament the summer before.

The poor boy, he didn’t know with whom he was dealing with. I guess after that, he was much more cautious in inviting fresh friends !!!

By the way, the “ artistic “ black and white pictures below refer to that trip: below left is the modern sculpture located at the exit of the Mont Blanc road tunnel. The left knee is mine. It should not be there. Below right : the baby on arrival.

Note the spare tire on the roof. I swear, I used its place in the trunk for storing loads of spaghetti !!!!

Following summer, 1975, same blackmails, same threats, same  story.

With the money earned working in the summer vacation on the beach, a friend on mine and I took the same, poor 500 and made all the way to Holland and Sweden.

I clearly remember, at the Swedish border we cried desperately to the local Police : they didn’t want us getting into the country. The  500  was not allowed to drive there, it didn’t match the safety features !!!

And how could I blame them ???? After all, looking at it with today's eyes, the poor  500  is nothing but a can with an engine !!! The only belts there, where the ones we were using for our pants !

Eventually, even the icy Swedish policemen were moved an so we drove all the way to Stockholm across the endless green forests, followed by the reindeers’ eyes puzzling about what kind of animal that beige thing moving around was.

Lost somewhere in Stockholm

That same very year, probably fed up of my car thefts, or maybe  moved as any good mother should, Mama helped  me ( read : practically paid ) in buying my very first own car : the “ baker's “ 500 .

As I mentioned before, I used that type of small station wagon for over 3 years, mainly to reach my University.

Every run was about 20 mls. It took between 48 and 51 minutes, depending on the traffic lights.

Every one carried on to the 500 , including myself, paid a share of 500 liras for gas, say 30 eurocents today. I know, it sounds funny. Less funny was the fact that we didn’t actually have much more than that, in our pockets ! 

Completed the University, it was not convenient for a fresh graduated to drive around with a 500 , therefore my mother became majority partner – say 80 % - of my new car : a CITROEN  AMY 8 of only 7 years. 

But I was already a MAN then, and that’s another story !!!!

A lot of water has flown under the bridges since those glorious days, but every time I see a  500  my heart melts.

And I couldn’t help it.

in 2002, during one of my tours staying in Sorrento, I asked some of our coach drivers ( you know, almost all our coach drivers in Italy come from there ! ) to look for a good  500  and I BOUGHT IT !!

It’s one of the last models – 1972 –  dark blue, with full optionals, including tires and engine. Even reclining seats !!!!

JJJJEEEEEHHHHHHH   !!!!!!

 Although I don’t even dare thinking about that today !!!  Only the fire brigade with a can opener could get me out !!!

 And so, I am a happy owner of a  FIAT 500 , and I love driving it with the open roof, in the late spring days, with the wind ruffling my hair, still trying to steal a smile from a pretty girl.

Just like the good old days !!!

                FIAT 500 data

ric@travelingfriends.it