Fiat

In July 1957 the Nuova 500 was launched as a replacement for the ageing 500 Topolino. It was a small and cheap city car with the 479 cc two-cylinder engine in the rear. The doors were hinged at the rear and the roof could be completely rolled up - just like the Citroën 2CV. In mid-1958 Fiat introduced the Nuova 500 Sport, featuring a more powerful engine and a two-tone color scheme - white with a red stripe along the flanks. It would become an extremely popular car, not only in Italy, but throughout Europe. Almost four million units were produced until its demise in 1975.

1957

1959

Replacing the original Nuova in 1960, the 500 D looks very similar to the Nuova, but there are two key differences. The 500 D features a bigger, more powerful 499 cc engine. The other difference is the roof: the standard 500 D roof does not fold back as far as the roof on the Nuova, although it was also available as a trasformabile with the same roof as its predecessor. In 1960 the Giardiniera was introduced, a small estate version. 

In June 1965, the 500 received front-hinged doors. The 500 L was introduced in September 1968, a more richly trimmed and better appointed version of the standard 500. Perhaps the most obvious new feature of the 500 L were tubular guards protecting the front bumper and the corners of the rear one. It remained on sale until October 1972 when the new Fiat 126 came on the market.

Alongside the new Fiat 126, the 500 R was launched in November 1972. It had the same 594 cc engine as the 126, but was more simply trimmed and equipped than before. With the new Fiat 126 on the market, sales of the old Fiat 500 R plummeted and production ended in 1975. In 2007, a new Fiat 500 came onto the market, the retro design of which is strongly reminiscent of the old model.