Classic Cars | Fiat 600 Multipla
FIAT BUILT ITS FIRST CAR,
The 4 hp, in 1900, and in that year production averaged one car every two weeks. The impetus for growth came in 1903, however, when the company joined the Italian stock market and began manufacturing commercial vehicles. These found a ready market. By 1906, Fiat’s car range encompassed models extending from a modest 8 hp to a powerful 130 hp. Before long, its output was to include trams and marine engines. Well before the outbreak of World War I (for which it produced aero engines and 20,000 lorries) Fiat was chasing the middle-class buyer with its affordable Zero model. In 1916, the company began construction of its enormous Lingotto plant outside Turin. With its rooftop test track (made internationally famous in the 1969 film The Italian Job), the Lingotto plant was the source of the big-selling 501 economy model, which was introduced in 1919.
This box-shaped car could hold six people, even though its body was just 11½ ft (3.5 m) long. The engine was located at the back, and the car’s front occupants sat above the front axle. A very early people carrier, it was originally conceived as a taxi.
In 1955, once the Italian government had committed to a major road-building program, Fiat launched the 600 economy car, with its engine at the back. It was followed in 1957 by the immortal Nuova 500 city car, which also had its engine— an air-cooled twin—mounted in the rear. These vehicles would prove hugely popular throughout the 1960s, raising annual output from 425,000 to 1.7 million cars. Many small Italian sporting marques, especially A Barth, relied on Fiat for hardware, and this boosted the zesty reputation of Fiat’s cars still further.
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