Fiat 600 (1955-1969): The Italian Volkswagen turns 70
Whether Italy, Spain or Yugoslavia: this small car with a four-cylinder engine in the rear made the south mobile. No, we're not talking about the VW Beetle. But of the first Fiat 600, which celebrated its premiere 70 years ago. We look back at the iconic small car.
In the meantime, Fiat has reactivated the name 600, which is emblazoned on a compact SUV that visually quotes the electric 500. Seven decades ago, it was the other way around: First, the 3.30-metre-long 600 with a four-cylinder engine in the rear appeared, two years later the smaller Nuova 500 with two fewer cylinders. In the 1960s and 1970s, both became the people's cars of the South.
Premiere in Geneva
Geneva Motor Show 1955: Fiat heralds the future. The 600 model is not only the successor to the Topolino, which has been built since 1936. With a water-cooled four-cylinder engine in the rear and a self-supporting body, the Fiat 600 also marks a completely new technical concept for the Turin-based company. Engineer Dante Giacosa has designed a limousine that enables a list price of 590,000 lire due to relatively low material consumption and economical production at Fiat's main plant in Turin - the new small car with four seats is therefore affordable even for the average earning worker.
Fiat 600 (1955)
The modern and robust technology contributes to the success of the Fiat 600. On the front axle, independent suspensions on wishbones are combined with a transverse leaf spring, while on the rear axle, Giacosa relies on independent suspensions with struts and trailing arms. A payload of 310 kilograms is allowed. The rear-hinged doors also allow comfortable entry into the two seats in the rear.
Initially, the rear engine has a displacement of 633 cubic centimeters and produces 23 hp (16 kW). Thanks to the low weight - empty it is less than 600 kilograms - the Fiat 600 reaches almost 100 km/h in fourth gear. Unlike some competing models (such as the VW Beetle), for example, the four-cylinder is water-cooled. This means that the heating system also works in winter.
First series until 1960
In 1956, Fiat presented a second body variant with a roll-top that extended over the entire roof. Almost 900,000 units of the first series were built. In 1960, the Fiat 600D came with a larger engine with 767 cubic centimeters. Now 29 hp (21 kW) drive the rear axle, increasing the top speed to 110 km/h.
With the 1965 facelift - and after more than two million units of the second series had been produced in Turin - the rear-hinged doors gave way to the front-hinged version. The tank, which has been enlarged to 31 litres, improves the range. Other changes include larger headlights, the elimination of the chrome trim strips on the sides and a new brand logo at the front.
Fiat 600 from 1965
The 600 worldwide
Fiat is meeting the global demand for an inexpensive family vehicle with numerous licences. In many countries, derivatives of the 600 play a decisive role in the motorization of broad sections of the population. In what was then Yugoslavia, the Seicento rolled off the production line as the Zastava 750. Almost 800,000 units left the factory in Barcelona between 1957 and 1973, including a unique four-door variant with an extended wheelbase.
Steyr is building the model in Austria. Between 1970 and 1982, Fiat Argentina produced around 160,000 units of the small car nicknamed Fitito in two variants, in small quantities as a license also in Uruguay, Chile and Colombia. NSU-Fiat even built four body versions in Germany under the model names Jagst 600 and Jagst 770, with a total of 170,000 units built, including the extremely rare Spider "Riviera" designed by Giovanni Michelotti for Vignale.
The Turin-based Carozzeria Vignale has a whole range of derivatives of the Fiat 600 and the Fiat 600 Multipla on offer, from coupés to various beach wagons to vans with side sliding doors and flatbed trucks. The "Jolly" based on the Fiat 500 and 600, which have no doors but a colorful fabric roof, are part of the street scene on golf courses and in Italian seaside resorts. Miotti and Moretti also build special bodies based on the Fiat 600, and there is even an off-road vehicle.
Fiat 600 Savio Giungla
By far the most powerful variants are created by the tuner Carlo Abarth. From the very beginning, the Austrian-born driver has relied on expanding displacement in order to exhaust the limits customary in touring car racing. From an initial 750 cubic centimeters, it already gets over 40 hp. Abarth does not limit itself to the factory-built sedan. Together with Boano, he designed the Spider 210A. The Carozzeria Zagato manufactures the aluminium body with the characteristic bulges in the roof ("double bubble") of a coupé originally developed for record drives.
In the Abarth 750 Zagato GT Bialbero, the four-cylinder engine even has two camshafts, resulting in almost 60 hp. At least parts of the chassis of the Fiat 600 are still in the Abarth 1000 Zagato and Abarth Monomille coupés. Abarth also uses a brightly painted Fiat 600 Multipla as an advertising medium for its sports exhaust systems.
Fiat 1000 TC Abarth – Ignazio Giunti
The Abarth 750 sports sedan and racing touring car (from 1956) became the Abarth 850 Turismo Competizione (from 1960), which for the first time featured the characteristic oil cooler under the front bumper. Abarth finally bores out the engine to just under 1,000 cubic centimeters. Enough for over 100 hp in the Abarth 1000 TC (from 1966). The sportiest of all 600 derivatives is almost unbeatable in its class in touring car races.
The first minivan in history
Just one year after the Fiat 600 sedan, Fiat lands the next coup. In 1956, the Fiat 600 Multipla appeared, also a design by Dante Giacosa. The slightly longer floor assembly, the front axle with independent suspensions and struts from the Fiat 1100 as well as the relocation of the driver and passenger seats over the front axle allow the installation of a third bench seat at the rear. This can accommodate up to six people - with an exterior length of only 3.50 metres. The two rear bench seats can also be folded down to form an almost flat loading area.
Fiat 600 Multipla
Fiat 600 Multipla as a taxi
With this concept, the four-door Fiat 600 Multipla is the world's first MPV and the ancestor of all today's minivans. The Fiat 600 Multipla is making a career as a shuttle vehicle, many of which work in the guest service of hotels or taxi companies. As a Fiat 600T van, it became a loyal helper for countless craftsmen. Around 77,000 units were built between 1956 and 1960.
Seen from the subjective distance of half a century, the Fiat 600 is somewhat overshadowed by the Fiat 500 presented two years later. But in their time, both models meet at eye level. At the main plant in Turin alone, almost 2.7 million Fiat 600s were built by 1969, at times an astonishing 1,000 units per day for production methods at the time. The number of units of the Fiat 600 produced worldwide, including all body and engine versions, adds up to almost five million.
End only in the 1990s
After the introduction of the Fiat 850 in 1964, the 600 led more and more of a shadowy existence. Positioned between the Fiat 500 and 850, its sales figures shrank. In Italy, its production was discontinued in 1969. But until the 1970s, there was a German fan base that ordered again and again, most recently the Seat, which was offered in Germany as the Fiat 770 S, which, according to vehicle documents, was built by Seat in Barcelona.
In Germany, the Fiat 770 was not finally withdrawn from the range until production was discontinued in Spain in 1973. The Zastava 750 was still produced in Yugoslavia until 1985, most recently with an engine enlarged to 850 cc. After the cessation of production in Yugoslavia, the vehicle continued to be built in Turkey by TofaÅŸ until 1995, after which production finally ended.