1971 Fiat 124 Sport Spider

The Fiat Spider is a hard car to date at a glance. Barring detail changes like side marker lights and bumpers it was sold in the US with its appearance largely unchanged from 1968 through 1985.

How do I know this is a '71? Via the clever detective technique of yelling "Nice car! What year is it?"

These older ones were imported with a 1.6L DOHC and a five-speed manual gearbox which was still pretty exotic stuff in the late Sixties. With twin carbs it put out a bit over a hundred horsepower and could manage a zero-to-sixty time a few ticks under ten seconds, before emissions and the weight of post-'73 bumpers took their toll.

This one was photographed in May of 2017 using a Leica D-LUX 3.

1989 Fiat 126p

Launched in 1972 as an eventual replacement for the Fiat 500, the 126 was a tiny city car continuing the legacy of the original Topolino as a basic transportation module for very little money.

Sharing the basic mechanical underpinnings of its predecessor, with an enlarged interior thanks to the new body and the air-cooled 499cc 2-cylinder powerplant enlarged to 594cc and now producing 23 horsepower.

Starting in 1973 the 126 was also produced under license in Poland as the 126p and, in fact, continued to be produced there long after Italian production ended in the late Seventies.

Starting in late '77 the engine displacement was increased again to 652cc and, while claimed power output remained the same, torque was bumped to 32 lb/ft.

While never officially imported to the U.S.A., some dedicated fans have imported them, like this guy, who has an entire YouTube channel dedicated to his 1989 Polski Fiat 126p adventures. 

I snapped it in September of 2024 using an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and a Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 12-60mm f/2.8-4 OIS zoom lens.

1968 Fiat 500F

It's hard to pin a year on this Fiat 500. We know from the bumper and the fact that it has front-hinged doors rather than the older rear-hinged suicide doors that it's a 1966 to 1972 model and a 500F rather than the more posh 500L "Lusso".

The tiny 12" wheels and short 72.4" wheelbase must make for an interesting ride on Indianapolis's bomb-cratered streets. The overall length of this car is only 116.9", which is less than the wheelbase on a late Sixties GM full-size sedan. The car only weighs 1,100 pounds, or less than half what even the lightest Ford Mustang weighed. The trunk on that luggage rack is so groovy!

This little Rosso Medio coupe would have been propelled by a rear-mounted OHV 500cc air-cooled two-cylinder putting eighteen horsepower through a 4-speed manual gearbox, giving a top speed of about sixty. British car mag MOTOR tested a '68 model and noted a 0-50 time of 33.6 seconds and an elapsed time of 26.9 seconds in the quarter.

This one was photographed in June of 2024 using an Olympus E-M1X and a Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 12-60mm F2.8-4.0 ASPH zoom lens.

2017 Fiat 500e

Here's an unusual sighting this far east. The original U.S. market Fiat 500e battery electric vehicles were solely imported to meet California mandates for zero-emissions vehicles and were only ever offered for sale in California and Oregon, the two states with the largest percentage of electric vehicle sales. They weren't even advertised outside of those two states, probably because Fiat supposedly lost more than ten grand on each sale.

The front wheels are turned by a 111 horsepower electric motor, powered by a 24-kWh lithium-ion battery pack. With an EPA claimed range of 84 miles, one can assume that the car wasn't driven here to Indianapolis from the west coast, or if it was, the driver had a lot of time on their hands and a heck of an extension cord.

Car and Driver tested a 2013 500e and noted an 8.4 second zero-to-sixty time and an elapsed time of 16.7 seconds in the quarter and an 80mph trap speed. Sticker price for 2017 was nudging $34,000 which is a lot for such a narrow focus car, if you ask me. It's sure adorable, though.

This one was photographed with a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV and an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS zoom lens in November of 2024. 

1982 Fiat Spider 2000

The final version of the Fiat 124 Sport Spider was sold as the "Fiat Spider 2000", for its two liter (well, actually 1,995cc) twin-cam motor.

Fiat retired the car in 1981, but Pininfarina, who had originally built the bodies, took over manufacture and continued selling them as the Pininfarina Spider for a few more years.

It only put out roughly a hundred SAE Net horsepower, and reliability was par for the course for a '70s Fiat with kludged-on U.S. emissions, but they sure were fun when they were running, and when they weren't you had something pretty to look at while waiting for the tow truck.

This example was photographed in September of 2021 using a Hasselblad Lunar & Sony Zeiss 16-70mm f/4 zoom lens.