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On Saturday,
June 17, over two hundred Fiat 500 Topolinos invaded the
streets of Turin in a parade organised to celebrate the
seventieth birthday of this little runabout, which was
launched between the Wars and was an enormous success both
on the market and in the Italian public’s imagination.
Their reunion in
the Italian car capital would not have been complete without
a visit to Mirafiori, the plant which contributed so greatly
to the growth of motorisation in Italy during the country’s
economic boom. For most of the cars that took part in
Saturday’s event, it was actually a return, because they had
been built on the plant’s assembly lines many years before.
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The caravan of Topolinos entered the Mirafiori plant via by Gate 3 and parked near
the test track inside the complex, before trying a few turns
of the circuit. Then they all went to the Mirafiori Motor
Village to visit the new centre. After lunch in the plant
canteen and the usual photographs with the marble Topolino C
in front of the office building at Gate 5, the caravan of
500s set off again on its parade through the streets of
Turin.
The Topolino was launched by Fiat in 1937. It was one of the
Turin carmaker's first highly successful small cars, setting
a trend for innovative compact cars for which Fiat is so
well known for today. Three evolutions of the Topolino were
built (featuring mechanical and styling improvements) before
it ceased production in 1955. The Topolino, which initially
cost 8,900 lire was fitted with a 569cc engine which gave it
a top speed of 85 km/h and fuel consumption of 39.2 miles
per gallon. Over half a million were built, the car's
production straddling either side of World War II and it was
superseded when the Fiat 600 arrived.
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