Time To Look At A Bunch Of Pictures Of Fiat 500s

It’s Friday! According to my math, that means this is either the end of the conventional work week or it’s Avogadro’s number, depending on whether or not I remembered to carry the two. Whatever it is, the point is that today should be a lighthearted day of joy, so to that end, let’s do what needs to be done and look at a few pictures of Fiat 500s, one of the most lighthearted cars known to humankind.

All of these images are from Stellantis’ heritage press site, which I hadn’t realized was crammed full of so many good old pictures; their PR people don’t make a big deal about this stuff, though they should. I know Fiat sells a modern 500, so you’d think they’d want to leverage all of the concentrated, weapons-grade raw charm the original had. Seriously, if you have charm sensitivities, you should only look at these images through special charm-filtering lenses, or, if you don’t have any of those handy, you can make your own charm-blocking glasses by poking a couple of eyeholes into a copy of The Robb Report.

Anyway, let’s take look at some of these little 500s, starting with another shot of the rally-racing 500 seen in the top image:

Looks like our dour boys in little Number 21 did okay in the Liège-Brescia-Liège rally! That rally sounds kind of incredible, as it was a rally for cars with engines of 500cc or less! In that context, the 500 was one of the big boys! The rally was a grueling, non-stop event, and of the 29 cars that started, a field that included Zündapps, Citroëns, Isettas, Messerschmitts, and Berkeleys, among others, only 13 finished, and the winners were the two fellas up there, Arturo Brunetto from Italy and Alfredo Frieder from Argentina.

I really love the additional lighting added to that Cinquecento, especially the big central cyclops lamp.

That racing Fiat 500 from the Liège-Brescia-Liège rally was just a 500 Sport; the really fast 500s were Abarth ones, like the one above. These Abarths essentially doubled the basic 500’s power, taking it from 13 horsepower to a face-melting 26 hp! Well, the Sport one made 21.5 hp, but still, that’s a pretty incredible jump.

I’m guessing this was part of some launch stunt for the Nuova 500 in 1957, with all the matching cars and women and hats all lined up. I think there’s at least a dozen here, and it does make for a pretty striking display.

I like this image showing a behind-the-scenes shot of a brochure picture. I see these old brochure pictures all the time, but I don’t think I really processed just how much must have gone into producing these images. I’m especially stunned by those lights! Look at the size of those things – they’re almost as big as the Fiat itself!

There must be a big truck with a generator somewhere nearby, too. Is that a movie camera there? I was hoping I could find the commercial or film this scene may have been from, but so far no luck. I did find this fantastic old promo film, though!

Why is it so much fun to watch 500s zipping around and squeezing through traffic? It is, though.

This picture is interesting, too; it looks like this maybe was a little set from a car show, with a quick little streetscape set up with a grocery store, bakery, and perfumery, all of which would have served to emphasize how the 500 was often targeted to women buyers of the era.

I think all of these 500s are pretty early ones, 1957 to 1959 or so. You can tell by the suicide doors and the indicators placed on the fender sides, among other things.

Man, I love these things!