Motor
maglanka.lk
52
PAST BLASTPAST BLAST
1954 FIAT 500C TOPOLINOI
f you are over the age of 30 when reading
this, you will very likely have heard of
the Fiat 500 and have the image of this,
or the later Nuova - “new” in Italian - 500
in your mind. OK, fine you will definitely
have this image in your mind, because the
first two pages of every Past Blast are a
glorious spread of the featured car before
the captivating writing part begins. If you are
still in your twenties, teens or tweens, you
may be a bit confused. Surely the “Fiat 500”
that you saw the other day parked at a coffee
shop or driving around with a bunch of other
Italians was a bit larger, of a different colour
and definitely a modern car? What’s going on
here?
Let us explain. 2007 saw the revival
of the 500 nameplate by Fiat on a modern
homage to the original Nuova 500 which was
the rear engined successor to the model that
you see here, which was produced from 1936
to 1955. Of course, Fiat hails from Italy, and
the car’s nickname “Topolino” translates to
“Little Mouse”, and also “Mickey Mouse” in
Italian. Look at it again. Can you not see the
mouse now?
The Fiat 500 Topolino was producedMouse!
Little Mouse that became the Bug Fiat in Sri Lanka
in three models. Model A (1936 to 1948)
and Model B (1948 to 1949) had the same
body style, with a swept back front and
longer, vertical grilles. Model C introduced in
1949 saw a restyling of the frontal aspects
to a more flat shape and wider, horizontal
grille design although the technical aspects
remained unchanged from the Model B.
In terms of body style, one could have
a two-door saloon, two-door convertible,
two-door van or three-door estate. The
sole powertrain choice was a 569cc in-line
four cylinder engine driving the rear wheels
through a conventional four-speed manual
gearbox. The engine put out 13bhp at
launch in the Model A until 1948 when it was
upgraded to 16bhp for the Model B and C.
The top speed is around 53mph (approx.
85km/h).
At a time when cars had tall, vertical,
bluff frontal areas, the Little Mouse’s lowered
aerodynamic nose afforded great forward
visibility. This was possible by mounting the
engine in front of the radiator as is apparent
when the bonnet is opened. While the car
was planned to be sold at 5,000 Lire, the
launch price was nearly double that, at 9,750Lire. The price was later lowered to 8,900
Lire, however the Little Mouse proved to
be quite a hit and total production figures
exceeded 500,000.
1955 saw the Little Mouse bow gracefully
into retirement, to be replaced by the Nuova
500 in 1957.
The 1954 Model C example featured
here hails from the Gawarammana stables
in Kandy, owned by Professor Indika
Gawarammana and cared for by him and his
son Rajeev. They are the fourth owners of
the car. It underwent a complete restoration
and engine rebuild from the renowned Mr.
Gunasena in 2010. The car starts up on first
crank and putters away as Rajeev moves it to
diferent angles for the photo shoot. This 500
truly is in great condition and regularly gets
its legs stretched on weekends and holidays.
Note the roll-down sunroof, not ideal in
Colombo of course, but perfect for the cool hill
country climes where this car spends its days.
No radio, USB charging or screens. No power
steering or automatic gearbox with paddles.
Just you, a tiny engine puttering away and a
manual gearbox with the road ahead and the
sky stretching above. Now isn’t that motoring
nirvana for when you want to relax?