Touring Tuscany in Vintage Fiats
Posted: Mar 03, 2024 8:29 PM
Warning: No E28 content, but sharing because I thought you guys would enjoy
Visited Italy last week and had a chance to do some touring in vintage Fiats. They had an impressive fleet of cars. We took out the red 500R coupe and the mustard 500 wagon. I've read that the R stands for "Rinnovate (renovated)" because it's a later-ish model and the wagon was styled by Autobianchi and referred to as the " Panoramica" and "Giardiniera". I was lucky enough to be the only driver that day so I was able to drive both, my wife and I were in one while the guide was in the other. Both had I-2 500cc motors rated at 13hp. They were equipped with non-synchroed 4-speed gearboxes. They idled rough and shifted worse than an old VW but smoothed out and came to life with constant revving and after getting up in rpm and were fun and easy to drive with some practice. Oh, and virtually no brakes but turns out that you don't need to stop that often on Italian roads, at least outside the city. The coupe seemed a bit peppier than the wagon. Maybe it was the weight or maybe the motor was fresher but the wagon clearly had more style with suicide front doors and a single side-swing rear door.
This powder blue/dark red with luggage rack was probably my favorite of the lot.
They also had this Abarth with a 700cc motor. He wasn't sure of the power but it sure looked cool-flares, fiberglass covers, and super sporty interior. Of course I asked but he just laughed and said, "nobody, ever".
Visited Italy last week and had a chance to do some touring in vintage Fiats. They had an impressive fleet of cars. We took out the red 500R coupe and the mustard 500 wagon. I've read that the R stands for "Rinnovate (renovated)" because it's a later-ish model and the wagon was styled by Autobianchi and referred to as the " Panoramica" and "Giardiniera". I was lucky enough to be the only driver that day so I was able to drive both, my wife and I were in one while the guide was in the other. Both had I-2 500cc motors rated at 13hp. They were equipped with non-synchroed 4-speed gearboxes. They idled rough and shifted worse than an old VW but smoothed out and came to life with constant revving and after getting up in rpm and were fun and easy to drive with some practice. Oh, and virtually no brakes but turns out that you don't need to stop that often on Italian roads, at least outside the city. The coupe seemed a bit peppier than the wagon. Maybe it was the weight or maybe the motor was fresher but the wagon clearly had more style with suicide front doors and a single side-swing rear door.
This powder blue/dark red with luggage rack was probably my favorite of the lot.
They also had this Abarth with a 700cc motor. He wasn't sure of the power but it sure looked cool-flares, fiberglass covers, and super sporty interior. Of course I asked but he just laughed and said, "nobody, ever".
