Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) Fiat 500 - why?

A friend of mine just bought a Fiat 500 (1972).
He is mad about it and shared a video that makes clear where the car comes from;-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqguq1evb-M

They look brilliant fun, less is more and I hope it brings him much joy..
Respect for the lead car he has a good map in his head.

Maybe because of something like this?

[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDK7hLB1eZo[/video]

Embedding a video you need to have the above format but without the s in https. In other words:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDK7hLB1eZo

Then with the video tags it becomes:

It is the Italian (original) Mini, the underdog, peoples car that offers lots of cheap upgrades and is simple enough to be done by an amateur skill set.
You can even enjoy driving it on the edge at public road speeds. Best not with others around mind you .

I wonder if we are looking in the wrong direction these days.

Here in Hampshire it's hard to find a road that you can do more than 50mph on. There's always a tractor or cyclist or a granny.
So fun at lower speeds looks more and more like the right way to go.
Nick

At one time Moto Guzzi prepared an air cooled V twin prototype for the FIAT 500. It was designed by Eng. Carcano and had no relationship to the engine later used in the Moto Guzzi bikes; other than the fact that it was a V twin.



Apparently Carcano enjoyed blasting off other car drivers who were left surprised that what seemed an ordinary Fiat 500 could out accelerate them.

My father in law, who was no slouch when it came to piloting anything with wheels, came back from a test drive to say that he felt that the engine was too powerful for the car and it would need upgraded wheels, suspension, and brakes. Apparently FIAT agreed with him and decided it would be too expensive. They then decided to go with Abarth who had already developed tuning kits for the 500.

In the end they shipped semi completed cars to Abarth where they were fitted with all the Abarth components and then sold through Abarth dealers.

In 1971 FIAT acquired Abarth and the rest is history.

Shame the Guzzi is a great engine.

This http(s) story is part of the requirements so someone can see a youtube video here. The second requirement is that the link must be copied out of a browser. I use the youtube app for my iPad. When I copy its link, it doesn't show up here in the forum even as http, so I have to search for the same video again in the browser.

Great vids of the 500, thanks for posting guys. I owned a 500 with suicide doors which I towed here parked up, and some time later gave it away as I did not have the time to do anything with it.

While on holiday in Triora, in 2012 and staying in an ancient Italian hillside village famous for witches, quite by chance the Fiat 500 Club Italia had arranged a day visit. It was great to see all those wonderful little cars, some completely standard and others customised to the hilt, quite a few Abarths in the mix. I took quite a few pics.