FIAT 600 - History of the Fiat 600

The idea was simple. It was necessary to construct a car that could be bought by the workers who made it on the production line. This idea was back in 1951 by the Fiat administration to the genius Dante Giacosa. Said done. Like any genius, Giacosa drew the construction of a new lower-middle class car by the way, with his hand on a piece of paper.

The canvas limo was one of three versions of the Fiat 600

After elaborating the idea, he presented it to the board. They, of course, immediately began to think of the market and variations of the concept began depending on the possible mechanics to be used. Fortunately, the basic idea of ​​Djako's was eventually accepted. The 3,2-meter-long car will have a self-supporting body and an engine located behind the rear axle. The front wheels are triangular shoulder water supported by a transverse leaf spring which also serves as a stabilizer, while the rear axle has longitudinal arms, coil springs and oil shock absorbers.

The Giacosa had yet to construct an engine compact enough to fit into the tail of a small car. There were a number of different ideas on the desktop, and a regular 633-cylinder, 22cc, XNUMXhp engine was selected at the end.

This arrangement made it possible to free up huge space behind the front row of seats. The factory produced three variants of "multiple". The one with six separate seats had a brilliantly crafted seat-folding mechanism. When the rear seats are folded down, they leave a completely flat surface.

During production, Fiat continually introduced minor changes and improvements to its hit model. In the first few years, door trim was introduced, the window opening method was changed, and the contact lock was changed several times. In 1959, the engine block underwent changes and the carburetor was replaced, so the declared top speed increased to 100 km / h. The biggest change, practically a facelift, occurred in 1960. Then the car was renamed the "fiat 600 D".

Its production to the great sorrow of customers ceases in 1965. Fiat manufactured the Fiat 600 at the Mirafijori plant until 1969. The parent plant produced a total of about two and a half million "seicenters". Fortunately, the total number of cars produced did not stop at this figure alone. Fiat felt an incredible opportunity to expand the production of the popular Fiat 600 across Europe.

The first factory to accept the fiat 600 ″ was the Red Flag from Kragujevac. Production of our "feature" began as early as October 18, 1955, seven months after the world premiere of the car. A year later, the Germans also accept the production of this "Fiat" at the NSU / FIAT Jagst plant. In 1959, a small Fiat crossed the Atlantic and came to Argentina where its production began.

Seicento also conquered Chile, Uruguay and Colombia, where it was produced and marketed for a long time. The last to win the production of the "600" Fiat were the Spaniards, who in 1969 practically inherited a set of tools and machines from the Mirafijori factory in Italy. We must note that the Spaniards were the most creative in processing. All other factories adhered to the factory specifications and made adjustments in parallel with the Italians.

The preserved specimens of these models today reach fabulous figures.

With some reworked suspension and brakes, the biggest change is the engine, whose volume has been increased to 750cc from 41 to 50 hp, depending on the version. This was followed by the fiat 850 abart version. The engine was "rotted" and got more piston stroke. Abart made versions with a camshaft in the block and the more famous "TC" with a special engine head that he poured himself, which had two camshafts. There were versions with one or two twin carburettors, as well as mechanical fuel injection, with power going up to 93 bhp.

The ultimate "machine" of the time was the "Fiat 1000 abart". The engine received a volume of 982 cc and was sold in several versions, the same as the "850". The strongest version used in racing, but also in passenger variants, was 112 hp at almost 9000 rpm.

Interestingly, he sold the Abart tuning parts separately. So you could buy volume and power boost kits that included crankshaft, bearings, pistons and piston rods, as well as camshafts, special heads and carburettors, depending on the degree of improvement.

In particular, kits for improving suspension and brakes were purchased. As a result, many more "mutants" are currently preserved that more or less deviate from the complete one variety Specifications than complete cars. Genuine “abarts” often cost more than some Ferrari models of the time.
The genius from the outskirts of Dante Giacosa is a genius constructor who constructed countless models for Fiat. Most of these cars were special in some way, either starting a new class of car, or introducing a whole new mechanical concept. Jacosa has a great trace in the history of motoring.

Without his ideas on some car classes and design solutions, we might still be waiting today. In addition to cars, Giacosa himself created mechanical components and engines. This artist's portfolio includes Fiat models such as "600", "multiple", "128" and "130".