A recent ad of a beer brand shows motorcycling champion Valentino Rossi calling for a taxi in New York. But instead of the classic yellow cab, a Fiat Cinquecento appears while Valentino states “every time I hop in this taxi I feel at home”.
Sometimes it happens that an object not only exceeds the market objectives for which it has been created, but can become a mass phenomenon, an identity symbol, a banner of excellence, a country’s quality trademark. In this case, Fiat Cinquecento and the “Made in Italy” approach are exactly two sides of the same coin. This is why Fiat, fifty years after releasing its first model, has decided to celebrate the car by putting it back into production.

The date is set for July 4th in Turin, in an event that promises to be, besides the obvious launch of a new automobile, the celebration of a myth. As can be expected with a half a century gap, some things will be permanently lost. For example, the charming “doppietta” (“double move”) and “grattata” (“grating”), two characteristics that readily distinguished the expert Cinquecento driver from an improvised one. As any fan would know, the old Fiat 500 did not have synchronized gears and so, to either go up a gear, from first to second, or to “reduce”, the driver had to perform a special procedure known as “doppietta” (double move”).

This was a synchronized movement which consisted in a right hand – right foot – left foot combination. Disengage first gear, leave it in neutral for an instant, release the gas pedal, release and engage the clutch and finally engage second gear, stepping again on the gas pedal. A movement worthy of a professional drummer and the only way to avoid the“grating”, a typical sound of metallic gears screeching one against the other, spreading from the inner compartment to the outside, leaving no doubts to identify the beginner, the neophyte, the one that couldn’t drive the 500 or that still had to learn how. In half a century many things have happened and a measure of how time passes is given by objects that, when the Cinquecento was released, seemed futuristic while today can be considered, at most, vintage findings, like the felt-tip pens, the photocopiers, color TV, soft contact lenses, safety ski fastenings and the VHS video tape, all objects produced in those eighteen years in which the Cinquecento ate up miles in roads throughout the world.

The first model was launched in Italy in 1957. It was called the New 500 to distinguish it from the “old” version, released in 1936, and quickly renamed “Topolino” (little mouse, Mickey Mouse) by the Italian population. The project was the authorship of designer Dante Giacosa who explained the philosophy underlying his creation in the following manner. ”I had retaken some projects for a small and economical car. The Italians had a craving for the automobile and they would have been satisfied with any small space as long as it had four wheels. No matter how small, the car would have been more comfortable than a scooter, especially during winter and on rainy days. I had been sketching models of non-conventional little cars that where supposed to compete mainly with the Vespa scooter. The Cinquecento quickly stood out because of its extremely Spartan lay-out. It consisted of only two seats and a small bench in the back. The car could hold only two people but can carry 70 Kg of baggage, a remarkable volume for that period. It was 2,97 meters in length, 1,32 in width, 1,325 in height and weighed 470 Kg which became 680 Kg at full load. The design, proportionally rounded, was reminiscent of a small egg and was characterized by a cloth roof that covered the entire canopy, as had been the case for the 500 “Topolino”. The design appealed to the general public and in 1959 Giacosa won the prestigious industrial design prize “Golden Compass”.

The 500, fueled by gasoline, had 2 in-line cylinders, air conditioning, a 479 cm3 volume engine, a 4 gear shift and rear-wheel drive. Its maximum speed reached 85 Km/h with an average consumption of 5,4 liters/100 Km. The cost was 465 thousand liras, which corresponded to five times a worker’s salary. That year marked the beginning of Fiat 500’s epic age and with it the Italian economic “boom”. Consumer culture broke out, and a mass mobility period began together with man’s conquest of space. In fact, that same year the Soviet Union sent Sputnik and the dog Laika into outer space.

Milan had just won the championship and Gastone Nencini from Tuscany won the Giro d’Italia. Jacques Anquetil conquered his first Tour de France and Juan Manuel Fangio was winning the last of his 5 F1 world championships driving a Maserati. The Italian TV quiz show Lascia o Raddoppia reigned undisputed, hosted by a young Mike Bongiorno whom had recently returned from the United States with a fresh know-how on quiz shows that were so popular in America at that time. Cinemas were playing movies like “Wild Strawberries” with Ingrid Thulin and “A King in New York” with Charlie Chaplin, while “West Side Story” with music by Leonard Bernstein debuted in theaters across the United States. Italian bookstores received “Doctor Zhivago” by Pasternak. 1957 was also a year packed with political events. In Rome, Italy, France, the German Federal Republic, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg signed the constituent treaties of the European Economic Community which in 1958 gave birth to the MEC, the European Common Market. During an eighteen year lifespan seven different models were released: “Sport Berlina (Sport Sedan)”, “Tetto Apribile (Open Roof)”, “Giardiniera” (1958-’60), “500 D” (1960-1965), “500 F” (1965-72), “500 L, luxury version” (1968-1972), “500 R” (1972-1975).

A total of 3.893.294 cars were produced in less than twenty years. The last of the “500” was produced at the SicilFiat factory in Termini Imerese (Palermo) from which the last one was produced on August 1, 1975 with chassis number 5231518. In the meantime, Italy and the rest of the world were forever changed.
The American and Soviet spaceships, Apollo and Soyuz, made the famous orbit rendezvous and in Italy, the legal age was lowered from 21 to 18 years. A new era was beginning then, just as another one is now. We welcome the new Cinquecento.