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Retromobility for your retro-hipster cosplay party.
Excellent news for those who like to arrive fashionably late to parties: The 1957 Edition of the Fiat 500 survives for the 2015 model year. Introduced for 2014 to commemorate, oddly adequate as it was, the 57th anniversary of the model that inspired its style, the commemoration carries on into year 58 because, nicely, Italians and clocks, correct?
With fellow Fiat-Chrysler divisions Maserati and Dodge celebrating centennials and Fiat’s own centennial in 1999 lengthy behind it, possibly Fiat didn’t want to feel left out. What ever the result in, it was already playing quickly and loose when it dreamed up the 1957 as a way to add however another particular-edition 500. When you are playing the style card, as exemplified by BMW’s Mini brand, you need to take benefit of each and every opportunity. Aside from the fashionable array of interior and exterior colors (your selection of Celeste [pastel blue], Verde Chiaro [light green], or Bianco [white]), 1957-style Fiat badges replacing the modern day ones, and 16-inch painted aluminum wheels made to look as old college as a black-and-white Audrey Hepburn flick on TCM, there’s not much else that modifications from the standard Cinquecento.
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Harkening to a More Pastel Time
The tiny, quasi-original twenty-first century Fiat character auto traces its style inspiration to 1957 when Fiat rolled out the original 500—which was then known as the Nuova (New) 500 to distinguish it from the 1936–1955 Topolino. In the U.S., a ’57 reference fairly significantly gets you a Chevy—the be-finned conclusion to the tri-5 run of loved ones cars that created the modest-block V-8 popular. It may show up in say, turquoise or coral occupied by some infant-boomer retiree who nevertheless refers to herself as a “gal” wearing a poodle skirt. That ’57 Chevy driver’s millennial cohort, en route to the vintage clothes shop or the retro furniture store, might want the reliability and fuel economy of a spanking-new, child-blue Fiat.
What she’ll find at the Fiat shop, for a little far more jingle than the base cost on the a lot more effective 500 Turbo, is essentially the 500 in Lounge trim, except that on the 1957 Edition the leather package is normal. The dashboard is rendered in ivory and gray and contrasts nicely with the brown leather and its prominent ivory-colored stitching. The details are quite contemporary, with a lot of digital electronic displays and such, but rendered in retro style (for instance, the round “dials” flanking the radio-tuner face are truly buttons arrayed to appear like dials). And that white roof? The Mini is the obvious touchstone. These who’ve noticed the 1969 film The Italian Job will keep in mind that though Mini was the star, the Fiat 500s have been ubiquitous all through. As in the modern car market place, Mini is the star that shows the way, but Fiat can money in on retro, too.
Nevertheless, in spite of the robust fashion cues, the 1957 Edition drives like any other Fiat 500. It is roughly a 10-seconds-to-60-mph car, like our long-term 2012 Fiat Sport example. This specific auto had the 6-speed automatic transmission, so it was significantly less engaging to drive than the 5-speed manual version of the 1959 Edition that starts at $ 21,250, $ 1900 far more than a 500 Lounge. With its common sport-tuned suspension, the 1957 Edition is definitely nimbler and more entertaining to pilot than Fiat’s other car, the newer 500L crossover, a bloated, Serbian-built bus wearing the quantity and the face but with none of the charm. Nonetheless, we truly like saying “Cinquecento.”
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