When I first saw these shots posted by xiao car at the Cohort, I assumed it was a Polski Fiat 126p, as that’s where the majority of 126s were built (until 2000), and where it became iconic, essentially the Polish Beetle. But this appears to be a Fiat 126, and shot in Germany, so quite likely it was built in Italy.
The 126 was essentially a Fiat 500 with a new, boxier body and a few other minor changes. As such, it was soon outdated in Western Europe after it arrived in 1972, given its noisy little air cooled vertical twin engine in the rear and very limited interior room. But FSM in Poland took out a license to build it there starting in 1973, and it quickly became the de facto family car, the only one that was affordable and built in large numbers.
The 500’s engine was increased in size to 592 cc, and then again to 652 cc at the end of 1977. In 1987, the 126 BIS went into production, with a 704 cc water cooled engine, as also used in the Fiat Cinquecento, as its base engine. The current Fiat 500 still offers a 875 Twin Air engine. It’s a long tradition.
Given the rear air intakes, I assume this is an older air-cooled version.
It’s hard to get a sense of just how small these cars are unless one sees it in the company of modern cars. They look like toys.
But they were an instrumental part of the process of putting Europeans into their first set of wheels, starting in Italy and continuing in Poland for almost three decades.
I looked up the dimensions of this compared to a Mini, and they are very similar (Mini is an inch wider and almost 2″ taller) which got me wondering about other small cars.
So here’s a question. What is the smallest “real car” ever? I’m defining “real” as mass produced and seats for at least 4.
My initial guess is the Fiat 500 which was a 3 inches shorter than the 126
Wow, until I read you post I didn’t realize how small the Fiat 500 is!
I say that because I was going to nominate the Subaru 360 as being smaller, but I looked it up and it appears that it’s 0.8” (20mm) longer and 2.3” (59mm) taller. However the Subaru is narrower by 0.8” (20mm) and weighs 200 pounds (90kg) less than the Fiat, so there’s that to consider.
Happily nicknamed Maluch (toddler).
Clear indicators and Fiat badge means it’s Italian-built, which means its production finished before the Fiat Panda in 1980. It would never have had the later Cinquecento engine. Funnily enough, it only outlasted the car it was meant to replace (the 500) by two years!
Clear front indicators mean it was built for the Italian market, where front turn signals were white until 1977. The rest of Europe (and most of the rest of the world) started requiring amber front turn signals around 1967, so even Italian hands would have been installing amber front indicator lenses if this car were destined for a market other than the Italian one—there was no amber turn signal bulb approved in Europe until 1992.
Interesting, cheers!
What a fascinating period. A devastating war, leaving so little behind. These little cars rooting out of the rubble and giving war-torn families new hope. This could very well be its own auto study, couldn’t it?
As an American, I often view cars as fitting a market niche, and see them as someone who never experienced total countryside death and destruction. Yet, for easily half the world’s population, cars like these mean a whole lot more.
In a perfect world, I wouldn’t need a personal vehicle at all, one step from that would
be being able to own and drive something this size in the absence of giant monstrosities
on the road.
The 126 Bis also had a hatchback which was a nice improvement in theory but I don’t know how much storage anyone really needed in these.
User commentary at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF8s7neTS3U
My wife is from Poland and had a Polski Fiat 126
as a first car.
It had a recoil starter that used a handle on the floor.
For years I though she meant a pull cord like on a
lawnmower but later figured out that she meant
something fixed to the floor like the hand brake.
Anyone heard of something like that?
It seemed many countries had a car that was analogous to the “put the country on wheels” 126p in Poland, but usually a different car for each place:
USA – Model T (and later, Beetle)
France – 2CV
Italy – Fiat 500
W. Germany – Beetle
E. Germany – Trabant
UK – Mini
Any others?
I wouldn’t put the Mini on that list. It was a response to the Suez Canal crisis that put a crimp on fuel supplies, and it never sold all that well. The UK had been pretty well motorized going back much further; I’m not sure there was a single car that deserves the title there; maybe the Austin 7.
Sorry, but I can’t say that a Beetle put the USA on wheels. While it sold millions over 15 years, GM and Ford did those numbers EVERY year.
It’s one of the few cars that was celebrated by a postage stamp issue upon its introduction:
Most people of Polish descent I’ve known, my paternal half included, tend to be on the tall side of the gene pool. How the heck did they fit in these without detaching their legs?
At least their knees kept their ears warm in the winter while driving, I suppose.
On a side note, and I’ll bet Daniel Stern can relate to this, is before my wedding ceremony in 1993, (I’m old!) when everyone has taken their seats in the church pews, along comes my mother.
She stands in the middle aisle, sees my side of the family on one side, and my wife’s on the other (whos is primarily Italian) and declares, quite loudly while looking at the wife’s side,
“Why is everybody so damn short!?”
Good times.
How embarrassing!
I know I’ve told this before but when I was a little kid in Germany my best friend’s mom had one of these, in beige. I have a number of good memories from riding in the backseat of these, and Edith (the mom) sure made good use of the stick, giving me my first taste of the fun involved in going fast in a slow car. Living on top of a large and steep hill that was the bane of all of our friends when they’d visit and have to push their bikes up it, it was always a good time when we’d get a ride up in that car with the engine clattering away behind us at seemingly the redline…it eventually got replaced by a MkI Golf that seemed the height of luxury and power, comparatively speaking. Nothing was wrong with the Fiat but I recall potential occupant safety being one of the main drivers for the switch.
I grew up in one of these in Poland. Back in 1977 we even drove it to the southern tip of Greece. It was pretty crammed in the back seat, even for a seven-year-old. My friend in Poland runs a “Wesole Maluchy” club. “Wesole” means cheerful. “Maluch” is an unoficial nickname for the car. Huge cult following.
This vehicle had its role in China private ownership in mid-80s when some of the first wave of small business owners wanted to have their wheels. They came in China via bating with Chinese consumer. But it became quickly evidence this was a terrible car, earned on list of 4 East European Junks.
I love small, intelligently packaged cars like these Fiats.
Being a serial “original” Mini owner, I was thrilled when the 10ft long Toyota IQ appeared and ran one as my commuting car in Germany. I test drove Smarts, but was appalled at their horrible handling, awful gearchange, inability to to top 90mph and short cabin (no bikes inside).
The Toy’s 90hp Diesel and 6 speed stick meant it could do 60mpg and cruise at 110mph, getting from 0-60 in around 10 secs, whilst seating 3 people comfortably. It was pretty refined and handled too (mine had 17″ summer wheels with sticky tires) – an ability to humiliate “normal” cars and hilarious trailing throttle oversteer! My colleagues at Porsche couldn’t believe how roomy and refined it was. And it was pretty safe, too, with 9(!) airbags.
Completely contradicted the dull, but dependable Toyota reputation by being both a ball to drive and the most UNreliable new car I have ever had, with constant brake and air con compressor issues…
I’d still have one again though…