August 4: The last original Fiat 500 was built on this date in 1975

YAHOO AUTOS

                    

By Justin Hyde @ Motoramic

         

 

 

 

The Fiat brand first won a reputation for unusual but popular small cars before World War II, when the 500 Topolino debuted in 1936 as the tiniest car of its era. After World War II, Fiat saw the success of the Volkswagen Beetle and decided to try its hand at a two-plus-two city car; the Nuovo 500 unveiled in 1957 became a sensation in Italy and elsewhere, despite its meager 16-hp engine.

 

 By American standards the 500 was impossibly small, but in European cities and an economy where families had little income to spare, the 500 put millions back on the road. Fiat kept the 500 in production until this date in 1975; some 32 years later, Fiat would revive the 500 in its modern form to critical acclaim. Here's a modern-day look courtesy of Car & Driver at just how diminutive the original Cinquecento was:

 

 

 

 

• Fiat

 

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