Photo: Fiat
The Fiat 500 is a peculiar member of the car family. It was first introduced in 1957, making it 67 years old this year. That's quite a lot, even by car model standard, and you would have expected its longevity to be accompanied by quite the number of generations. Well, the Fiat 500 has had only three major reworks during all this time.
The first generation was born, as said, in 1957, and it is the longest-lived one. It stuck around for no less than half a century, until the Italian carmaker decided to give it its first major refresh in 2007.
From that point on, the pace of the upgrades for the city car accelerated, and just 13 years after the second generation, the third one came along, the one we are enjoying on our roads today.
But whereas Fiat didn't flood the market with new generations of the 500, it certainly did so with special editions of the model. And a new one just joined the lineup, for no other reasons than to keep the lovable vehicle in the news and to help it maintain its status of almost leader in the segment: last year, the 500 was Europe's second best-selling city car.
The limited edition series of the Fiat 500 is called Collezione 1957 and as the name reveals it's a nod to the year the model came into the world. It is based on the cabrio version, the one whose roof can be pulled back for open-top motoring, and because it is special it of course comes with "exclusive features."
That's obvious right from the start, as the exterior of the vehicle, retro by design, is made even more so with the use of a two-tone paint in Bossa Nova White and Dew Green. A beige roof and a complete set of 16-inch alloy wheels in a white diamond design round up the cutesy impact the model has on the onlooker.
Inside, the 500 Collezione 1957 presents itself in ivory-wrapped seats with Frau Leather inserts. The seats are adorned with a "One of 1957" logo, and they are faced by a wooden dashboard.
There are no modifications made to the car's powertrain, as it still rocks the 1.0-liter engine and the manual transmission that controls it. For a car this small the engine develops quite a lot of punch, 70 horsepower.
The Fiat 500 Collezione 1957 is already up for grabs in the carmaker's main markets, the ones in Europe and Japan - as far as pricing goes, it all depends on where you live. There's not going to be all that many of them: just 1,957 units will roll off the lines, so if you plan on getting your hands on one you should hurry.
From that point on, the pace of the upgrades for the city car accelerated, and just 13 years after the second generation, the third one came along, the one we are enjoying on our roads today.
But whereas Fiat didn't flood the market with new generations of the 500, it certainly did so with special editions of the model. And a new one just joined the lineup, for no other reasons than to keep the lovable vehicle in the news and to help it maintain its status of almost leader in the segment: last year, the 500 was Europe's second best-selling city car.
The limited edition series of the Fiat 500 is called Collezione 1957 and as the name reveals it's a nod to the year the model came into the world. It is based on the cabrio version, the one whose roof can be pulled back for open-top motoring, and because it is special it of course comes with "exclusive features."
That's obvious right from the start, as the exterior of the vehicle, retro by design, is made even more so with the use of a two-tone paint in Bossa Nova White and Dew Green. A beige roof and a complete set of 16-inch alloy wheels in a white diamond design round up the cutesy impact the model has on the onlooker.
Inside, the 500 Collezione 1957 presents itself in ivory-wrapped seats with Frau Leather inserts. The seats are adorned with a "One of 1957" logo, and they are faced by a wooden dashboard.
There are no modifications made to the car's powertrain, as it still rocks the 1.0-liter engine and the manual transmission that controls it. For a car this small the engine develops quite a lot of punch, 70 horsepower.
The Fiat 500 Collezione 1957 is already up for grabs in the carmaker's main markets, the ones in Europe and Japan - as far as pricing goes, it all depends on where you live. There's not going to be all that many of them: just 1,957 units will roll off the lines, so if you plan on getting your hands on one you should hurry.
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