Fiat 500: It Keeps Going and Going and . . . : Automobiles: Although production of the original ended in Italy 20 years ago, about 1 million are still on the roads.
They jangle over bumps. Hills make them whine. They cry out from an earlier time with a gargle of mashing pistons and slapping clutch plates.
The distinctive pleadings of the little Fiat 500 no longer dominate Italian roadways, where a muscle-bound whoosh or muffled purr now set the tone. But listen closely: The putter is faint but still there.
Twenty years ago this month, the last 500 model Fiat came off an Italian assembly line--a generation ago for drivers but a distant epoch in the fast-changing automotive world. Loyalists just scoff at the passing years and dutifully keep the car from rolling into history.
Driven either by nostalgia or its pint-sized practicality, enthusiasts expend extraordinary energy to preserve and honor the “Cinquecento,” as it is universally known. Rallies are held every year. Garages specialize in Fiat 500s--so named for their 500 cc engines--and some die-hards go to heroic measures to keep theirs on the road.
“Whatever it takes,” said Gustavo Dellastrada, adjusting the bungee cords that hold down the hood of his 1965 Fiat 500 D. Odometer: 312,317 kilometers (187,390 miles). Dents: “I can’t count that high,” he said.
All this for a car that looks like an underfed VW Beetle.
“It reminds us of what we were--what’s still in our soul no matter how big and fast the cars become or how rich Italians get,” said Romano Strizioli, author of “The 500,” which recounts how the car provided affordable mobility as Italy developed into an industrial power.
“I will be a very sad day when the last Cinquecento goes to the junkyard,” he said.
But that will be many years away--if ever.
Although Italian production of the Fiat 500 series ended in 1975, a larger and more powerful model bearing its name was started at a Fiat-operated plant in Poland in 1992. About 500,000 of the new Cinquecentos have been made, with nearly 200,000 exported to Italy, said Patrizia Griffa, a spokeswoman at Fiat headquarters in Turin.
Purists frown on the modern namesakes. Nothing so spacious and comfortable can truly bear the Cinquecento name, they insist.
“Bad heating, strange noises, hard seats--now that’s a Cinquecento,” said Luigi Paccini, whose 1971 model is repainted pea green. “We love the Cinquecento because of its faults. It’s so--how would you say?--human.”
In a country stitched together from distinct regions--with their own heroes, dialects and cuisines--the tiny two-seater with knee-crunching rear space is one of the few universal points of reference. A banker from Milan might swap Cinquecento memories with a fisherman from Sicily. Families packed their Cinquecento to flee the city heat. Countless romances were--and probably still are--consummated in its tight confines.
The first 500 model--the “Topolino,” or Little Mouse--was made from 1936-48. Several variations were then produced until the 1957 debut of the new 500, the first in the super subcompact line that has become a symbol of ingenuity and efficiency in automotive design.
The 1957 model weighed 1,034 pounds and cost $744 at the lire exchange at the time--pound for pound cheaper than prosciutto or mozzarella.
Nearly 4.2 million Fiat 500s were made between 1936 and 1975. Italy’s Fiat 500 owners club estimates at least 1 million are still on the road.
“Shows you don’t have to be big to be tough,” said Domenico Romano, one of the directors of the 500 club, whose annual rallies near Genoa attract more than 2,000 Cinquecentos.
The end of the Italian-made 500 marked the beginning of lean times for Fiat, whose sales were hurt by recession and increasing foreign competition. The company, however, rebounded in 1993 with the success of its Punto compact and turned a profit last year. It plans to unveil two mid-sized cars Aug. 29.
