Fiat X1/9: the industrial mid-engine Bertone was hiding in a corner In 1971, Gianni Agnelli is making an informal visit to the Bertone factory in Grugliasco, on the outskirts of Turin. Nuccio Bertone walks him through the production halls, shows him models, talks him through current projects. And in a corner, between development cars and … Read more
Autobianchi Primula: The Car That Won the Engineering War the Mini Took Credit For Look under the hood of almost any front-wheel-drive car built in the last fifty years and you’ll find the gearbox in the same place: beside the engine, in line with the crankshaft, with its own oil and its own housing. It’s … Read more
Fiat 8V: the Italian V8 Fiat almost built by accident In 1948, Vittorio Valletta calls Dante Giacosa into his office and hands him a brief that makes Giacosa frown: a six-cylinder engine for a large luxury saloon with which Fiat wants to take on Alfa Romeo in the Italian premium segment. The project code is … Read more
Dante Giacosa: the man who fit Italy inside a three-metre car Someone at Top Gear should have made a documentary about him. Someone at Netflix. Someone at Amazon. Someone at any of the outlets that pumped out hagiographies of Alec Issigonis (the Mini) or Ferdinand Porsche (the Beetle) in the last twenty years. Because the … Read more
Fiat 500 Topolino: the car Mussolini asked for and Hitler copied Every car has a story. This one starts with two dictators eyeing each other in 1930. Benito Mussolini calls Giovanni Agnelli to Rome and tells him — with that particular flavour of authoritarian politeness that comes when the answer isn’t optional — that Italy … Read more
Fiat S76: the Beast of Turin, the car that terrified its own drivers You’ve probably seen the video. A monstrous, ancient car sits on the grass at Goodwood, someone hand-cranks it, and it erupts — sheets of flame shooting sideways from open exhaust ports, a noise like artillery fire mixed with a warplane engine, spectators … Read more
Autobianchi: The Brand Fiat Used to Take Risks It Wouldn’t Sign Its Name To Almost nothing you drive today would exist in its current form without a company most Americans have never heard of. That’s not hyperbole and it isn’t nostalgia. If your car has its engine mounted sideways, driving the front wheels, with the … Read more
Fiat: 126 years to build an empire, five to dismantle it Every so often Top Gear used to do those hagiographies about brands that “shaped motoring”. They did Ferrari. They did Aston. They did Porsche. They never quite did Fiat properly, and if you think about it for more than thirty seconds, that omission is … Read more
Freevalve: the camless engine, told properly Let’s get something out of the way before we go any further, because nearly every English-language piece on this engine starts with the same lie. Koenigsegg did not invent the camless engine. They are not the first to try it. The idea of binning the camshaft and operating valves … Read more
Freevalve: the camless engine, told properly Let’s get something out of the way before we go any further, because nearly every English-language piece on this engine starts with the same lie. Koenigsegg did not invent the camless engine. They are not the first to try it. The idea of binning the camshaft and operating valves … Read more
Fiat 500: when a car was actually a platform in disguise Chris Harris once said the best small cars are the ones that feel honest about what they are. He was talking about a modern hot hatch. He could have been talking about the original Fiat 500, except the 500 takes that idea further than … Read more
Fiat Multipla: The World’s Ugliest Car That Was a Misunderstood Genius There are cars that when you first see them make you think: “This is a design mistake.” The 1998 Fiat Multipla provoked that reaction across practically the entire planet. It was repeatedly voted the ugliest car ever made. It became a meme before the … Read more
