The British Are Coming! No, Wait . . .

[rp2813]

It's the Italians!

 

The short version of this Fiat ad was already good, but this extended version that's now being run is even better.  It also leaves no doubt that the blonde chick was indeed cutting her hair off.

 

[frigilux]

The best thing about this commercial is its use of the song Children Of The Revolution by T.Rex, my favorite band of all time. Americans will be more familiar with their 1971 hit bang A Gong (Get It On).

 

[dj-gabriele]

Why isn't FIAT just as creative here when it comes at advertising?!
The best we get over here is Uma Thurman driving an Alfa Romeo Giulietta... which is quite sad, for Uma, not the car (which I'd but in a second!)

 

[112561]

I'd love one of the two door Fiats, the four door doesn't do much for me. We had a 1959 Fiat 500 with the suicide doors. Fun car! And it's surprising the current ad running here is actually better than any in Italy. It's usually the other way around.

 

[sudsmaster]

I recently spotted the 500L at the local Costco. It's a LOT bigger than the 500. Not just longer, but taller and perhaps wider as well. It comes standard with the 1.4 Multiair turbo engine, I think, which is a good thing, since the stock motor probably wouldn't be able to propel that much more car as well as the smaller 500.

It's not a bad looking ride, but I think the 500, especially in sage green, is much cuter.

Haven't seen any road test reviews of the 500L as yet.

And yes, the commercials are good. I noticed the longer version has one of the women saying something "this is going to be a lot more fun than the tea party". When the commercial was shortened and that line omitted, I wondered if it was do to the possible political implications. But it's still a good line. Another good moment is when the Paul Revere character sullenly collapses his spy glass as he is holding it at waist level and the women get into the car... without him... lol...

I was at the Good Guys last weekend and saw the predecessor of the 500L. It was called a 600 Multipla. In fine fully restored condition. Apparently quite rare. I spoke with the owners who said that Fiat invited them to show it at Pebble Beach (quite an honor) but they couldn't get a hotel room for less than $500/night with only 3 months' notice, so they turned it down.

 

[sudsmaster]

Here's photo of the Multipla I found on the web. It may very well be the same one I saw at Pleasanton. I'll have to check my cell phone photos I took of it...

http://www.sportscarshop.com/1959-fiat-multipla/

 

[hydralique]

Great photo, but needless to say the wheels on that Multipla are not original. A buddy of mine who is a true Fiat lover has a very nice and clean Multipla, along with several other old Fiats, Abarths and a Moretti. Unfortunately, the front headroom in the Multipla is really limited. I've spent well over 200,000 miles in X1/9s and never had a problem with room but the Multipla is just too small for me.

 

[sudsmaster]

Here's the one I saw at Good Guys last Saturday... it appears to have original wheels...

 

[sudsmaster]

Side view - note stock looking wheels. From what the owner said, this one appears to be a faithful "original" restoration. The other one in the first photo was upgraded in various ways so it's not as original (bigger motor, improved suspension, rims as noted, etc).

 

[rp2813]

That thing looks like it's headed in the wrong direction!  Brings to mind the "Which way is it going?" '49 Studebaker.

 

I wonder how many fatalities resulted with these from head-on wrecks above the Amalfi coast.

 

 

[haxisfan]

Sorry Fiat... but that's just plain ugly!

Don't get me wrong, I generally like Fiats and I'm actually driving one myself (which I love to bits)... but IMHO the 600 multipla looks, sounds and feels like... something's gone wrong!

Of course, it wasn't meant to be like that... it's a back formation vehicle from the Fiat 600 which is identical to that horror but with a more sedan-like front... and it wouldn't look back to front like the Multipla. I'm not a fan of the 600 in any shape or form though, but we're all different and some people might actually like that.

 

[hydralique]

600 . . .

Introduced in '55, the 600 was actually a very clever little car though no beauty in stock form. Dante Giacosa, director of engineering at Fiat, had been experimenting with front wheel drive designs in the early '50s but it was cheaper to produce a rear engined car so that was the direction chosen by the company. Most small rear engined cars of the day had really nasty swing axle rear suspensions that led to odd and unpredictable handling, with the VW Beetle and Renault 4CV/Dauphine being prime examples. Giacosa refused to allow this and thus the 600 had a semi-trailing arm rear suspension that cost more to build but endowed it with better roadholding and safer handling. He had previously developed a semi-trailing arm rear end for the 8V (aka Otto Vu) sports car produced by Fiat in the early '50s. That car featured a small V8 engine, hence the name, and was often used in competition against Ferraris, Maseratis and Alfa Romeos. Only a little over 100 were made but it gave Fiat great experience at building a semi-trailing arm rear end and that was put to good use.

 

The 600 became the basis for many other cars and was built in several countries by Fiat and its subsidiaries. Carlo Abarth used both the 600 and various bits from it for years in his successful and prestigious sports cars. Some Abarths were basically hotted up 600s, while others were purpose built sports cars but underneath there were usually lots of 600-based parts. In '64 Fiat introduced the 850, a new small car based heavily on the 600 but with a larger engine and more modern body. The 850 also spawned a very attractive little GT from Fiat and the elegant Bertone bodied 850 Spider. As with the 600, all were generally praised for good dynamics and economy combined with easy maintenance and reliability.

 

Fiat 600 and 850 engines are all water cooled, iron block overhead valve inline fours. Although the wedge combustion chamber design would seem pretty plebian,  they are well designed and capable of good breathing at higher revs than a 600 or 850 driver would normally ever use. My buddy with the Multipla and 850s says an otherwise stock 600 or 850 engine with a hot cam will happily rev to 8000 without ill effects, a big plus for cars that all had four speed transaxles. Given this ability, good chassis design, inexpensive cost and long production life - 850 based cars were built well into the '70s - it is no surprise that the 600 and 850 were much loved by enthusiasts.

 

[sudsmaster]

Just to be clear, the 600 was a front engine, rear drive vehicle, while the 600 Multipla was a rear engine, rear drive vehicle. As such I'm not sure why the front engine 600 would need the traling arm suspension of the Multipla, but perhaps it gave better handling than the usual solid rear axle of the day.

The Multipla is cuter in person than the second photo might suggest. Aerodynamically, as Chrysler engineers found out in the 1930's, a car with a blunt nose and a sloped rear end slips through the air more easily than the other way round. Has to do with wake turbulence, I suppose. You can see that concept on most prop driven old airplanes, as well. Blunt nose and tapering tail.

The owners of the car at Good Guys said it had a top speed of about 40 mph, and leaned a lot in the corners. The web site for the other car (first pictured in this thread) says they did a fair amount of suspension work, and added (or upgraded) shock absorbers that resulted in better handling. From what I gather, the Multipla was a hit for small businesses in Italy that needed a delivery van type of car, and the six passenger version was also popular with big Italian families that could fit everyone in albeit with a further speed penalty.

The forward control nature of the Multipla isn't much different than that of the VW microbus or the later first and second generation Chevy vans. One definitely doesn't want to be in a head-on collision in any of these vehicles. I have a '67 Chevy Van that I love, but I do exercise extra caution in traffic or on roads where obstructions (deer, motorcyclists, etc) might pop up at any moment. Of course one can't anticipate every hazard but that's life isn't it?

 

[ronhic]

Rich

I'm sorry, but you're wrong. The 600 was rear engined/rear wheel drive.

High powered versions did have the addition of a front radiator to supplement the one at the rear.

http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/car_info_fiat_600.htm

 

[hydralique]

All 600s are rear engined . . .

All Fiat 600 and 850 cars are rear engined, as are the Abarth derivatives. The Multipla is nothing more than a stretched 600 with a van body; mechanically they are very close. It was Fiat's first rear engined car, predating the Nuova 500 by two years. I found the pic below on the web, but I've hung around a lot of these cars for years and it is a pretty typical example of a modified 600 today, with a smaller waterpump and electric radiator fan in place of the original water pump that hangs out on a bracket to locate the fan behind the radiator. It also has an alternator in place of the original generator. One of the disadvantages of a water cooled rear engined car is pulling enough air through the rear compartment. It works OK with a largely stock car, but for a highly modified one a front radiator is usually used.

 

[hydralique]

Pic below is a 600 sedan, the tail is louvered to assist airflow through the engine bay.

 

[ronhic]

I'm assuming that the fan 'pulls' air through the same as in a DS, rather than pushes it forward.

 

[hydralique]

I think that's true, but the DS still benefits from the high pressure area just underneath the nose of the car. Pic below shows a lovely 600 based Abarth Allemano bodied spider from about 1960; the engine lid has been propped open at the front to increase airflow through the engine compartment although I  think this car now runs a front radiator. The maroon car beyond with old CA yellow on black license plates is my buddy's Moretti Sportiva from the late '60s. It's based on the 850 but this one now runs a one liter engine. The one liter is derived from the 850/600 family but was only used in later front drive Autobianchi cars and is thus rare, especially in the US as none were sold here. The Moretti's owner absolutely did not want to cut a grille into the front, so it still runs the rear radiator but it took some time to make it work with the one liter due to airflow problems. Both the Moretti and Allemano car are deceiving in photos, so perfectly proportioned that they don't look as tiny as they are. Note that the roof of the Moretti is virtually at waist height!

 

[ronhic]

That high pressure zone may help getting the air into a DS engine bay, but getting it out of the engine bay of a DS23 injection isn't easy....talk about a hot car to drive in anything warmer than cool/mild weather!