The ruined post-war economy of Italypossessed a rather modest potential, and the release of a new demanded car model was a challenge. Fiat 600 was at that time one of the symbols of the post-war Italian “economic miracle”. This car was released in fairly large numbers after its debut show at the 1955 Geneva Motor Show.
A small utilitarian Fiat, calledSeicento, won overwhelming success in a few months. The demand for it exceeded the production capacity, and the waiting time for the car to be received by the buyer was a year. Competitive price, original appearance and relatively spacious interior became strategic components of success. All this, combined with the fuel consumption that was quite low at that time, made this car popular not only in Italy, but also far beyond its borders.
Fiat 600: technical specifications
What is so remarkable about this model?The 1955 Fiat 600 Seicento is a compact city car with a monocoque length of only 3.2 m, with a rear-mounted 4-cylinder petrol power unit with a capacity of 21.5 liters. with. The vehicle was equipped with hydraulic drum brakes on all four wheels. In the unique at that time independent suspension, together with gas shock absorbers, springs were used, which also served as a body stabilizer. The gearbox had four stages - three synchronized gears and reverse. Clutch - single plate, dry. The engine is in-line, four-cylinder with liquid cooling.
Система охлаждения использовалась и для отопления salon. In some versions, an additional rear radiator was installed. In all the Fiat 600 specifications matched the advanced. For example, a generator with external adjustment and a battery ignition system were used. The maximum speed ranged from 95 km / h in a modification with an in-line engine of 633 cm³ to 110 km / h with an engine version 767 cm³. Such a motor began to be used after updating the model in 1960. The car had quite a decent ventilation system.
Seicento development
One year after the presentation, in 1956, there weremodels with a soft convertible, as well as a six-seater version of the Fiat Multipla 600, were released. It was the predecessor of the current minivans. A remarkable feature of the Multipla was that, if necessary, one of the three rows of seats was folded, turning the car into a mini-truck.
The Fiat 600 sold amazingly fast.The millionth copy of the car was sold in February 1961, less than six years after its launch into mass production. At that time, according to the manufacturer, the volume of cars collected was 1,000 units per day. In total, in Italy alone, just over 2,600,000 units were produced. The car was discontinued in 1969, but continued to release its various modifications abroad. The Fiat 600, a photo of which is now smiled by many, was considered at that time simply a luxury vehicle.
Production in Europe
В Испании модель 600 выпускалась под маркой SEAT from 1957 to 1973. In total, almost 800,000 cars were produced, which were exported to almost all countries of western Europe, as well as to Central America and Africa. The concern produced various modifications of the original 600th model, some of them with improved characteristics. The special versions of the SEAT 600 were the Descapotable convertible and the more expensive commercial version, the Formicheta.
Italian city car was verypopular in the former Yugoslavia. At the Zastava factory in the city of Kragujevac, an analogue of the original model called the Zastava 750/850 was produced until 1985. The Yugoslav car was modified several times, mainly it concerned the increase in engine size and power.
Production in South America
The popularity of the car in South America wasso great that the import of this model from Italy and Spain did not meet all the demand, and in 1960, production was opened in three countries at once - Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. As in other foreign enterprises, the South American Fiat differed from the original. They installed 32-xsilnye engines, chrome-plated metal parts were replaced by plastic. Despite the fact that production did not last long in Uruguay and Chile, production continued in Argentina until 1982.
