Fiat Nuova 500
Less than three metres long, the original Nuova 500 used a tiny air-cooled engine and folding roof to make city mobility affordable.
Fiat Nuova 500 prima serie · Cav (Italian Wikipedia) · CC BY-SA 3.0
Research pending
A matching completed auction sale has not been verified for this exact year, body, trim, engine, transmission and market.
Joyride shows this gap instead of substituting an asking price, unsold bid or mismatched special vehicle.
More than a set of wheels.
Fiat presented the Nuova 500 on July 4, 1957 as the successor to the old front-engined Topolino. Dante Giacosa’s new car put its two-cylinder engine behind the passengers and kept the body extremely small and simple. This profile stays with the original 479 cc, 13 hp launch car, not the later Sport, D, F, L or R.
Look a little closer.
The fabric roof helped keep costs down and also gave tall passengers more open-air headroom.
Photos show an example of the model or generation. The pictured vehicle’s year, equipment, or modifications can differ from the specification described here.
A new 500, not an updated Topolino
The Nuova 500 changed the whole layout: rear engine, rear drive and an air-cooled twin replaced the Topolino’s front-mounted water-cooled four.
Source: Stellantis Heritage · Fiat Nuova 500 ↗Launch figures stay separate
Fiat later enlarged and strengthened the 500. This page uses the original 479 cc, 13 hp and 85 km/h figures so later 499 or 594 cc versions do not blur the story.
Source: Fiat · 500 Vintage ’57 history ↗Where these facts come from
- Stellantis Heritage · Fiat Nuova 500
- Fiat · 500 Vintage ’57 history
- Red Dot Design Museum · Fiat Nuova 500
Selected facts checked for this edition. Some source pages link to broader model families. Last reviewed September 29, 2026.