The little mouse turns 70

The buggy-shaped Fiat 500 is a lasting image of the 1950s but its actual launch goes back to 1936 when it was dubbed the “Topolino” or “little mouse” by its many Italian fans.

Fiat until then was known rather as a constructor of expensive cars, buses and trucks. Agricultural machines were also built and aircraft designed.
But company boss Giovanni Agnelli had the idea of building a small and affordable car at a time when only the wealthy could stretch to buying an automobile.
Agnelli’s order was reportedly simple: Build a car that costs no more than 5,000 lire and can be produced in large numbers. A frame was developed, the engine found a place in the front but front wheel drive was not introduced because the principle was regarded as untried.
A one- or two-cylinder motor would have been sufficient for the vehicle, which weighed only 500kg. But the technicians chose a four-cylinder engine. It was a functional construction but caused a nasty surprise by the noise it created.
After the problem was solved work continued on the bodywork of the two-door. Success had to be guaranteed because Fiat had built an entirely new factory — including a test track on the roof — for the production outside Turin.
Finally the Fiat 500 was launched in 1936 and the Italians loved it. The vehicle, measuring only 3.21 metres in length, was the first car that could be afforded by an average wage earner. Nobody referred to the Fiat 500 but only to the “Topolino.”
Technically such a small car could not come with many new innovations. But it nevertheless had hydraulic shock absorbers on all four wheels and a 12-volt electric energy supply.
It did not have much luxury but at least a maximum speed of 85kmph. Extras such as bumpers were expendable but many buyers ordered the sliding roof version.
By 1948 some 122,000 units of the original Topolino had been sold. The 500 B version built only in the years 1948-1949 with a 12kW/16.5 hp engine sold 21,000 units. The modernised 500 C built until 1955 found some 376,000 customers.
The later model, the 500 Nuovo, was even more successful. Small surprise that Fiat is working now on a new model in a retro-design as a reminder of the good old days.