It makes me laugh when I read the Fiat 500 reviews raving about "surprisingly spacious", "retro-adorable", "cute", small car with "personality". Let's be honest, it's just a small car trying to take advantage of the mysterious youth days of the babyboomers who happened to visit Europe. And it's not that cheap either.
What puts even bigger smile on my face is the story of a Polish Fiat 126p produced in Poland (under Italian license) between 1973 and 2000. The communist government realized that mass produced Fiat will be the answer to wants and needs of Polish families. And, they were right. Everyone wanted the orange tuna can on wheels. Poles would pre-pay for the car and wait years to finally receive one. Fiat 126p was easy to maintain, rear wheel drive, small car with the engine in the back that you could start with a stick in case you pulled the metal starter lever too quickly and ripped the metal cable. You could pack a family of 5 in this thing with half of dozen suitcases on the roof and travel 10 hours to the Baltic Sea and everyone was excited just to be independent.
Couple of Fiat 126p were imported to Chicago, more for fun than everyday use and only one or two remain in hands of a local car shop owners. Americans had a blast when they saw one passing by making characteristic engine sound. Different times, different era.
Today, the tables have turned. Americans are lining up to buy small cars and all of a sudden small is cool and trendy. Would Poles ridicule Americans for driving tiny Fiat 500? It all depends on the situation of their wallets, here in US, and in Poland. One thing for sure, Poles who experienced Fiat 126p in Poland are not going back in time. It was cute while it lasted but believe me, Fiat 500 will not be a new status symbol anytime soon.
