FCA HERITAGE INSIDE STORY
24 APRIL 2 019 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 61
Founded in 2015, FCA Heritage
embraces not only the new Hub at
Mirafiori but also the Alfa Romeo
museum at Arese in Milan, home to
more than 200 Alfas, and the FiatCentro Storico archive in Turin,
which houses another 30 cars.
Centro Storico occupies the art
nouveau buildings that were Fiat’s
original workshops and displays
artefacts from the wider Fiat
Group, including aircraft, trains,
trucks, bicycles, appliances and
even ship engines. Also at Miafiori,
within the Abarth buildings, is
Officine Classiche, which restores
and repairs classics and certifies
the authenticity of cars.
FCA Heritage sells a small
number of cars under its ‘Reloaded
by Creators’ scheme, while a shop
sells reproduced owners’
manuals, approved lubricants and
merchandise, the last of which one
might be tempted to ignore. That
would be mistake, though, becausemany items are beautiful, not
the least a series of nostalgically
evocative images and posters.
FCA HERITAGE
1908 FIAT S61
J u st th e 10 l i t r es p owe r th i s ra ci n g Fi at , o n e of fi ve b u i l t
for the Fiat Racing Team. It wasn’t merely brute cubic
capacity that propelled this car – amazingly, its four
enormous pistons were fired by twin plugs and four
valves per cylinder, to produce 130bhp.
1972 F I AT E. S .V. 20 0 0
Another Experimental Safety Vehicle, this one a four-door based on the 128 – although this looks more like the Strada that
succeeded Fiat’s small front-drive saloon. The rubber buffers, body reinforcements, cabin padding and highback seats added
360kg to the 128’s weight, for a total of 1165kg. That was thought heavy at the time but would be light today.
2012 FIAT^ PANDA^4 X^4 ,^ TRACKE
DAmong^ Italy’s^ Dolomite^ mountains^ can^ be^ f
ound Chalet Fiat^ ski^ resort,^ which^ uses^ small^ tracke
d 4 x 4 Fiats to^carry^ skiers^ up^ pistes.^ This^ Panda^ looks^ as
cool as the snow^ it^ was^ built^ to^ crawl^ on.1984 LANCIA TREVI BIMOTORE
The Trevi was odd in standard form, but this Beta saloon
facelift sported baroque D-pillars and an elaborate
dashboard. This rally prototype was devised by Giorgio
Pianta as a potential successor to the Lancia 037.
Pianta explored four-wheel drive options by installing a
second powertrain in the back – hence the air intakes in
its rear doors. The car was too heavy but it was a useful
test vehicle which led to the Lancia Delta Integrale.
1990 FIAT PANDA ELETTRA
With 19bhp to propel 1150kg, the electric Panda was
never going to be fast. It was also a two-seater, the back
se at o u ste d by b atte r i es , a n d i ts j o u r n eys we r e b r i ef.
Power increased in 1992, to 23.8bhp (you count the 0.8
when dealing with portions this small), but with it came
a price rise that made a Panda EV three times the price
of a basic 750 petrol. Fitful whirring ceased in 1998.
1993 F I AT S C I A 3169
The Scia was a finger in the wind to test the reaction to
a n ew Fi at sp o r ts c a r. D es i g n e d by Fi at Ce nt r o St i l e a n d
built by coachbuilders Maggiora, the Scia was inspired
by small luxury boats – barchettas – and was indeed the
trigger for the Fiat of that name. Like the Barchetta the
Scia was based on Punto hardware but had an interior as
elegantly spare as its body.