Fiat 600 E Derivate (Giancarlo Catarsi, Italian Text)

The post-war years were a period of epochal change for Italy and the Turin-based car manufacturer which took a concrete and innovative approach to the concept of the popular car.

There were shortages of everything in the country and Vittorio Valletta’s Fiat had to achieve its objective of motorizing the Italians with truly modest resources.

The production costs of the front-engine, front-wheel drive configuration being unsustainable, the four-cylinder rear engine became the only way of obtaining sufficient interior space for four people.

Problems with stability and set-up accompanied the early testing, but the 600 grew up rapidly, alongside the Italians. The small utility car, presented in Geneva on the 9th of March 1955 thus became an icon of the economic miracle.

Boasting comprehensive contemporary photographic documentation, detailed technical files and an accurate restoration guide, this book tells the story of Turin’s great small car which even became a favourite of the Italian coachbuilders and played a leading role in motorsport with the Abarth variants that populated the circuits and hillclimbs, offering invaluable training for generations of drivers.