(first posted 5/4/2015) The Fiat 500 has become iconic, and its name and some of its design themes are of course in production again. But in reality the Fiat 600, which preceded the 500 by two years and was a totally different car, was a much bigger seller and had vastly greater legacy. Yet it gets very little love, so let’s give it a wee bit here. And I just remembered that I actually shot one here several years ago, so this will be the impetus to finally use them, even if the setting is not as picturesque. Diego Torres Silvestre caught this survivor example in the La Boca district of Buenos Aires, Argentina and posted it at the Cohort, and it captures the 600 in proper context, as it was a very popular city car in Europe in the 50s and early 60s.
Me nephew Eric was out on a visit back in 2009 when we took a ride up to Corvallis and I spotted this one in a storage yard. Yes, the 600 is bigger than the 500, but obviously not by much.
Fiat’s brilliant designer-engineer Dante Giacosa designed the 600 in the early postwar years as Fiat’s answer to the VW. Given that Italy was poorer, and by quite a long shot back then, the 600 was quite a bit smaller than the Beetle. And unlike the air-cooled boxer four in the VW, Fiat went the same route as Renault did with their post-war 4CV, using a small (633 cc) water-cooled inline four. In fact, there’s no doubt that the 600 shows considerable influence of the Renault, except for being smaller yet.
Unlike the 500, which was a development dead end, the 600 spawned a very long line of Fiats, most of them variations of the 850 series, including the very attractive 850 Spider (below, behind Abarth 1000).
And of course Fiat’s tuning house turned these into absolute track terrors, with ever bigger and more powerful engines, like this Abarth 1000, which packs over 110 DIN hp from its pushrod four.
But one variant of the 600 that has achieved cult status is the Multipla, which packed three rows of seats in its diminutive size. My homage to it is here.
The engine size eventually grew to 770cc, which let it keep up with increasing traffic speeds of the time. The 600 was made in a number of other countries, including Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Spain, Yugoslavia, and Australia. In Germany, it was built by NSU, but called the Neckar. It was imported to the US, and was pretty much one of the cheapest cars ($1298) available here in its time that was sold in somewhat significant numbers. A kid in my neighborhood in Towson was still driving one in the late 60s.
The 600 deserves a more thorough write-up than this little write-up, but that’s all the time I have for it today. It is a little car, after all.
I’m curious. What are the two stalks on the left side of the steering column? I’m guessing one is for the turn signals, but what’s the other one?
Beyond that, it looks like an incredibly space-efficient package.
Back in the day there were no combination stalks, so maybe the other one is for switching between main and dip beam.
Cruise control? 🙂
Seriously, I don’t know. Maybe someone else will.
It’s the headlights switch. All Fiats and derivatives (Lada, Zastava) had those for many more years, not sure whether even early Pandas had them.
Thanks! I wondered.
Long stalk, turning lamps
Short stalk, low/high beam change
There must be a switch somewhere in the dash to turn on the parking and headlamps.
On my 71 Alfa, there are two stalks on the left – one for turn signals, and the second for the lights. The lights are activated by rotating the stalk: 1/2 turn for parking lights; a full rotation for headlights. Moving the stalk up or down selects the high or low beams. Pushing inward on the stalk flashes the head lights. On my 74 Spider, pushing in on the light stalk would also give a quick soft beep of the horn along with flashing the lights, although I haven’t been able to find anyone else whose 74 was so equipped.
In the center of the dash there are two switches, one is for the lights and the other for the wipers, I believe)
My grade school religious studies teacher had a FIAT 600 with suicide doors. I rode on the passenger seat a few times. She was no Michelle Mouton, I tell you.
The local Ford dealer had usually a few old cars in the back lot. They were the my fleet for “imaginative drives”. I was “driving a 600 when the owner suspected me of stealing parts. Too bad.
The 500 Nuova was just plain cute, in a way that the 600 couldn’t match, hence the lack of love.
Back in the 60’s an English tuning company built three “600s” with Ford Kent 1600 motors sticking out the back. A guy I sort-of knew bought one and substituted a twin cam Lotus Cortina engine, which made it a useful competition car.( He did sprints rather than circuit racing ). He’s long gone, but the car survives to this day.
Nice little Fiats .
My buddy just sold his fully restored Multipla , he got too scared to drive it any more .
I remember folks putting 1200 C.C. VW engines into these in the 1960’s .
-Nate
Kinda looks like this 1970 VW Fastback. I wonder which car inspired which, for the design.
Never thought of that before! Certainly a bit like a squashed and stretched 600!
It must only be coincidental as the 1600 Fastback was just an evolution of the 1500 Notchback.
Very good design by Dante Giacosa. Influential in the extreme, paved the way for rear engined cars .
I wouldn’t say that, since the 600 came out two decades after the VW was designed, and it borrowed much of its mechanical design from the Renault 4CV. The VW did the paving for all of the rest.
Oh! The 600. Here in Argentina it is an institution. Made from 1960 to 1982. The last versions were the best with a bigger 843 cc engine and 38 CV.
This car inspired two of the best models Fiat Concord gave birth to: The Fiat 770 Coupé and the 800 Spyder
The Spyder version
That looks a lot like the NSU Spider
There was also a 4 door version made by the Spanish SEAT, named SEAT 800. And a panel van (IIRC named Siata Formichetta).
To sum up, I present to you the Soviet version; the ZAZ 965. It’s not like the Lada and the Fiat 124, the Soviets were inspired by the Giacosa design but used a V4 engine, and there were some other diferences.
The suspension was pretty much shrunken VW Beetle (as was the engine apart from being V4 instead of flat 4), only the shape was Fiat-inspired.
The next ZAZ stole the NSU Prinz styling on the same platform.
The Abarths were menacing. The smaller they were the louder. The 500 Abarth in race trim must have started the decline of my hearing. The 600 Abarth was almost as loud, but 4 cylinders and water cooling kept it a bit lower than the 500. I watched them racing the hill climbs and slaloms (auto cross) in our neck of the Black Forest.
Propping up the hood had a dual purpose: better cooling for the engine and better aerodynamics. They were not allowed to add spoilers and other aerodynamic pieces, but propping up the hood was allowed and made a big difference. I remember they were capable of speeds in excess of 200km/h.
That would have taken courage!
You know: roll cage, 5 point belt, fire proof racing suite, helmet.
Here, take a lap or two:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwywCr29-aU
I’m shocked! I always thought the 600 was newer than the 500. Maybe because it was popular here in the 60’s, and I associate the 500 with the 50’s (the 500 wasn’t sold here, as far as I know, or at least not widely).
As you mention, the 600 was built in Chile too, and later in the early 80s it saw a rebirth, as the imported Zastava from Yugoslavia.
One last detail: please correct the name of the country, it’s Colombia, not Columbia.
Fixed; sorry.
no lack of love for these in Japan, where they achieved cult status – it’s the cute face factor – sometime around the late 80’s the Japanese came and took large quantities of them back home.
What it is remarkable from this little car is that the Spanish version is considered Spain’s national car.
SEAT was a public-owned, FIAT-participated society that built cars in the Zona Franca of Barcelona. The 600 was the first mass-produced card by this company (they started with a 1400) and had up to two years of waiting time (next time you think how bad are communist countries, remember this fact from capitalist and fascist Spain) in the 60s, until the factory evolved and could satisfy the demand.
Defining this car as iconic falls short on the importance of such vehicle. It has even a dedicated song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Shq-twi3Tmg and a recently rescued beer brand in Barcelona (Moritz) uses restored versions of Seat 600s for their salesforce.
On a personal note, my dad’s first car – and the one I was brought home in was one of its offspring, the Seat 850 Especial.
I’m aware of what a big role the Seat 600 played in Spain, but I just ran out of time. When Stephanie’s family was in Spain in 1972-1973, they rented 600s a couple of times, which was not a memorable experience since there were four kids!
It was the same in Yugoslavia. It was the only relatively affordable new car during the sixties (and into the seventies) until Yugo and Zastava 101 (Fiat 128 hatchback) came along.
My father has one early model with suicide doors from ’59, and then a new version with 750 cc in 1965.
The first car was imported from Italy, and it wasn’t too bad (reliability wise). The second car was produced in Zastava factory in Serbia, and it was much worse in that regard.
I remember traveling to the island of Murter, then 500 km (including a mountain pass) of two-lane road from Zagreb, with 5 people aboard (Mom, Dad, Grandma, my older brother and me, and a full camping set on the roof rack). In a Fiat 750 with 25 hp. No airbags, no ABS, no AC. Not even safety belts.
I was always amazed that a rugby mate of my brother squeezed into one of these.He was known as Garth due to his resemblance to the Daily Mirror’s comic strip hero.
600s were fairly common in the Midwest. Nowhere near VWs, but more common than Dauphines. They seemed to endure American conditions well; I never saw one that was broken down or rusted out.
The new retro 500s are actually closer to the 600 in appearance. They don’t have the bug-eyes of the original 500. I suppose, as Paul says, the 600 just never became Cool.
My neighbors had one as I was a kid (mid-80s). They had 3 children, and I remember sitting with my brother and the 3 neighbors in the back seat (it was a short ride I think). One of the boys sprang from the back seat to the “trunk” behind the back seat… a funny memory, considering today’s child seats standards! I also have a vivid memory of the sound these made in 1st gear (unsynchronized perhaps?). One day it was gone and was replaced by an orange Mazda 323
Unlike the 500, which was a development dead end, the 600 spawned a very long line of Fiats, most of them variations of the 850 series
I was under the impression that the 126 was the continuation of the 500 line? Same old mechanicals, just wrapped in a new body.
True; the 126 was a rebodied 500. That was the extension of a dead end 🙂 Very coarse little cars.
Gotcha. This is what I get for posting before I really wake up for the day…
Of coarse Fiat was already manufacturing in Germany (Fiat-Nekar-NSU) long before Hitler pushed for Germany’s own peoples car. The original Italian peoples car was the Topolino 500 from 1936 which was ground breaking. Like a Mini-Model A that handled well. Also the Fiat Balilla was far more advanced than any VW of the times. Fiat was also on the ground in France with Simca. It goes to show, without the two wars, politics, the cold war, Fiat would be the biggest car company in the world today. I think they dominated Europe from the 1920’s until the late 1980’s. I read a time magazine article from 1965 that put Fiat as the third biggest car company after Ford & GM at the time. Oh well, I guess Germany getting all that Marshall Plan money is what they considered being rich. We sure know they deserved it
You need to study up on your history. The Marshall Plan aided ALL of Europe, and Great Britain and France were the biggest beneficiaries. And Italy got almost as much as Germany.
Most of the money from the Marshall Plan was used to by goods from the US, so America benefited greatly. Furthermore, these were credits, not hand-outs, and the credits had to be repaid to the countries administering the program.
Italy was one of the very first countries to get aid from the program.
My aunt and uncle in the UK had one of these in the 1960s (a companion to their Citroen DS Safari). When we were visiting them in 1968 I think, my mother spent a few days looking after all the children so they could take a holiday.
We went to the local town in the 600 – “we” meaning my mother and a total of 8 children ranging from 1 to 13 years old. My mother said it cause quite a stir when we parked and did what appeared to be a clown-car act.
I have the faintest of memories of this car, which largely involve two small levers between the front seats – I believe one of them would have been the choke and the other the starter.
“I believe one of them would have been the choke and the other the starter.”
Correct. The cable eliminated the magnet switch.
Just finished watching ‘Kiss me Stupid’. Dean Martin et al. Right at the end Kim Novak is leaving town in her $495 car which is towing a 19′ travel trailer. It’s a FIAT 600! What are the chances to have this thread and that movie on the same day? I looked at the car and wondered what it was, and thought 600 from the size of it, and sure enough, that’s what it was.
One of these shows up in my moms college yearbook
I have never seen a 600 Multipla in real life, until today, just two days after this post. The CC Effect is strong with this one…
Love the surfboard
And it’s right by the beach, heading from Del Mar towards La Jolla, CA
Apparently Dante Giacosa mentioned that front-engined FWD was also considered for what became the Fiat 600 until the rear-engined RWD layout was chosen, which makes one wonder how the 600, 500 and 850 would have fared had they adopted the front-engined FWD layout (particularly the Abarth versions)?
Especially since Polski Fiat later developed an interesting front-engined FWD of the Fiat 126p known as the Fiat 126p NP amongst many other interesting Fiat 126-derirved prototypes. Given the Fiat 126 carried over much from the Fiat 500 it should also mean the latter was also potentially capable of being converted to front-engined FWD by Fiat and featuring water-cooled (instead of air-cooled) 2-cylinder engines (not sure about a hatchback though).
One question remaining on Fiat opting for the front-engined FWD layout for its rear-engined models would be whether there was enough room though in the Fiat 500 and Fiat 126’s engine bays for the Fiat 600’s 100 Series 4-cylinder engine?
Speaking of the Fiat 600, why did Zastava / Yugo not replace their 600-derived Zastava 750 with a version of the SEAT / Fiat 133 or even the Autobianchi A112? The latter would have been particularly more appealing (in theory at least) compared to the larger Yugo Koral, especially if the latter featured a 5-door hatchback bodystyle and larger 1.4-1.6-litre engines.
Fiat also put the air cooled twin in the front of the original Panda, for the home market.
Fiat 600 ? The minimalist’s Porsche 356 or simply a legal toy on wheels for adults.
The SEAT 600 plays an important role in Graham Greene’s excellent novel Monsignor Quixote. It has the nickname Rocinante after Don Quixote’s horse. I think it is time to reread it.
I recommend Dante Giacosa‘s autobiography “Forty years of design with Fiat”. If you have an interest in automobile design and manufacturing you will find it engaging. Another book I need to reread.
I found an online version of this book for free (legally). Can’t remember where, but I’m sure a quick search will locate it. A pretty fascinating career and quite an engineer.
Also there was a “modernized” version, namely SEAT 133, then spanish factory of Fiat. Although it looked like a Fiat Bambino, it was indeed a 600 with a different body. It was produced until VW took over.
https://images.honestjohn.co.uk/imagecache/file/width/640/media/5714954/SEAT%20133%20(1).jpg
Although it was a rear engine car, the Fiat 600 was no mere copy of the VW Beetle or Renault 4CV. It’s suspension in particular was both unique and innovative.
The front suspension incorporated a transverse leaf spring, but the spring was fastened to the unit body with rubber bushings at two positions rather than at a single center point. The twin flexible mountings, located 20 inches apart, served to coerce the leaf spring to function not only as a springing medium, but also as an anti-roll bar as well. Body lean under cornering forces would cause the center of the spring to assume a S-shape curve, increasing the effective spring rate at the outboard wheel.
The rear suspension was also unique. Although each of the axle shafts had a universal joint inboard and a flexible coupler outboard, it was not a fully articulated design and so there was a lot of camber change as the suspension went through its motions. In that respect, it was quite like a pure swing axle. But unlike swing axles, the outer ends of the axles were located by semi-trailing arms in an attempt to reign in oversteer.
Neither the Volkswagen nor the Renault had these features.
thank you Allan for describing more of the suspension of the 600. I know the 850 Spider also had the front leaf spring suspension. Thank you!
Wolfgang, thanks for the race video. Next to it at YouTube was this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr8rx9xuWdU
Will you or someone tell me what the two extra controls are in this car: a sort of glorified horn ring that clearly doesn’t sound the horn, and a second shift lever (?) nearer the wheel and with a huge knob. What are these ?? Thanks . . .
Okay, so , throttle and brake, respectively; with an electric clutch on the shift lever, this guy wouldn’t need feet . . . ? Ever seen this setup before ?
S
In Finland, everone over 40 loves these Fiats and Seats
I have a 1966 Fiat 600D and the headlight stock being right behind the turn signal stock, and being longer, takes a little getting used to. Missing the smaller turn signal stock and flicking down the headlight stock is easy to do. Just one of the idiosyncrasies that make this car so much fun !