While this car is not particularly new, we felt that it was interesting enough to show again. It is a classic Fiat 500 from the 1960s, the golden age of car design, which has been retrofitted with a V8 engine, as well as a wheelie bar on the back and huge rear tires.
It was presented at SEMA, back in 2009 and it attracted a lot of attention, definitely making people smile, so the build was definitely worth it. The 7-liter V8 engine powering it reportedly produced in the region of 700 hp, which may not be much by dragster standards, but it’s about 54 times more power than the car originally had, so calling it an improvement is a definite understatement - the first 500s had 13 hp.
Sadly, we weren’t able to find any videos of this very car in action, but we did find some slightly newer, but just as small Fiats 126s with V8 engines, specially modified for drag racing. However, after seeing these cars in action, we realize that without a wheelie bar, such a car is pretty much compromised as a dragster.
Sadly, we weren’t able to find any videos of this very car in action, but we did find some slightly newer, but just as small Fiats 126s with V8 engines, specially modified for drag racing. However, after seeing these cars in action, we realize that without a wheelie bar, such a car is pretty much compromised as a dragster.