The original Fiat 500 was the car that put Italy on wheels after World War 2. The name 500 came from the engine’s size of only 500 cubic-centimeters, a normal size in post-war Europe. Its miniscule dimensions – just 2.97 meters/117 inches long and 1.32 meters/52 inches wide, helped it insinuate on the narrow and crowded streets of Italy’s old cities.
Add to that its cute looks and intelligent packaging, both courtesy of Dante Giacosa, and Fiat instantly had a winner up its sleeves. Introduced in 1957, it remained in production for 18 years and could be defined as the automobile that shaped the city car as we now know it.
Naturally, the original Fiat 500 has a broad fan base all over the world. Even though it was not sold in the United States, where it would have looked like a toy among the large oil-thirsty cars favored by the Americans, many Cinquecentos were imported by enthusiasts, some of them piece by piece.
Such is the case of the 1964 pristine yellow Fiat 500D that you can admire in this beautiful video by Petrolicious. The 500D was an updated 500 that had suicide-style doors and a two-cylinder engine developing 17 horsepower (5 more than the first series).
You can find more about the car’s history and what it means to its current owner in the video below.
By Dan Mihalascu
VIDEO