Desirable Fiats

The original 1957 Fiat 500 made just 13 horsepower from a tiny 479cc twin-cylinder engine mounted in the back — and was actually shorter than the original Mini.

A Symbol of a Nation's Recovery

Few cars carry this much weight in their home country's own transportation history. Designed by Dante Giacosa specifically to combat congestion in Italy's cities during the difficult post-war years, the original Nuova 500 measured under ten feet long, genuinely a few inches shorter than the BMC Mini that would arrive two years later, with a rear-mounted air-cooled twin producing just 13bhp in its earliest form. It wasn't fast and it wasn't meant to be — low cost, low running expenses, and genuine practicality for ordinary families were the entire brief, and Fiat delivered all three convincingly enough to sell close to four million examples before production ended in 1975.

That combination of tiny dimensions and genuine everyday charm is exactly why the name still carries so much affection in Italy today, and why Fiat deliberately relaunched the modern 500 fifty years to the day after the original's debut. Below is the model we've covered so far.

• Fiat 500 (Classic) Overview — Classic Icon