News: Fiat 500 Vintage ´57 - Ciao, bello

Young people can no longer be convincingly captured with the help of plastic surgery and special syringes, but a little indulgence may convey - for moments - the former attitude to life. Fiat Chief designer Roberto Giolito and his team leaned once more over the design by Dante Giacosa and did what is actually considered frowned upon by car designers: they were allowed to get really nostalgic. The special edition 500 Vintage ´57 celebrates the year in which the Cinquecento made its debut and went up again in Italy with bicolore paintwork, whitewall optics for the wheels and a retro interior. Fifties and Cinquecento fans can also expect it from dealers north of the Alps from mid-April. Prices have not yet been fixed, but the little Latin lover should cost just under 17.000 euros.

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In 1957, the Soviet Union was very pleased with itself: with its Sputnik it had won the first stage in the race for control of space. People may have taken note of this in Turin at the time, but what mattered there was the premiere of a small, affordable car that immediately conquered hearts, wallets and streets with 13 horsepower and a rounded but compact design. The “Nuova 500”, which was supposed to replace the no less legendary “Topolino”, drove through Turin in triumph, accompanied by many beautiful Signorines, whose petticoat dresses actually fit in the small interior. Like the German Beetle or the French Duck, the Fiat Cinquecento, which sold millions of times, gave an optimistic face to the post-World War II economic recovery and mass mobility. Italy's first supermarket opened 58 years ago and Federico Fellini's "La Strada" became the first foreign film to win an Oscar.

In order to stage the Vintage 500 57 with a built-in attitude to life, Fiat had invited to the Turin company's first factory, which now houses the museum. In the immediate vicinity of the ancestors, the makers lovingly brought together the living room and kitchen. Fiat once built refrigerators in addition to aircraft engines.

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The new-old 500 is also not a trendsetting technology vehicle, it is reminiscent of a time when lifestyle was still called Dolce vita. With this in mind, the current vintage trend looks back longingly to hide the growing complexity in favor of a simpler-looking world.

The special edition of the 500, which is no longer manufactured in Turin, has been given its own color package, which in addition to the pastel shades typical of that time also includes a white-painted roof. There are also white rims with chrome-plated hub caps. The interior with classic Fiat logos is also in the historic ivory color and offers connoisseurs of Italian furniture designs something special: the brown leather seating comes from the famous Poltrona Frau manufacturer.

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The retro moment only applies to the appearance that has been put on modern engines, transmissions, assistance systems and infotainment. The well-known petrol engines 1.2 8V (51 kW / 69 PS) and the two-cylinder TwinAir (63 kW / 85 PS) are available for the drive in Germany.

Summer is coming soon, women's fashion promises feminine, wide dresses again. You get a craving for gelati, there might be a film with Sophia Loren on TV. And you start singing “Volare” in the car. But you can't have everything: Domenico Modugno's global hit only reached the charts in 1958.

Author: Alexandra Felts / SP-X

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