A Retro Mouse with Rabies!

It is a small, cuddly pet mouse that can be also used for killing burglars – Jeremy Clarkson, Top Gear

Fiat 500

Fiat 500 Abarth

That has to be the best description of a car that I have ever heard, and it’s about a car that we will finally be able to buy here in the United States.  The Fiat 500 Abarth.

Fiat 500

In case you live in a cave, Fiat is an Italian auto maker that is famous for making cars with wicker seats, as well as for owning Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Lancia and Ferrari.  For a time, Fiat and its chairman Gianni Agnelli ruled the world.  And through its life Fiat had more relationships and romances than Cameron Diaz, courting Ford, GM, Chrysler, Tata, Chery, and almost everyone in between.

EU Model Fiat 500 Abarth

Abarth is to Fiat as AMG is to Mercedes, only crazier.  They are the in-house tuning company responsible for taking mundane cars and making them very fast and light.  Common sense is not a factor in some of their creations, such as the Lancia 037 and the Fiat Abarth 1000TCR.  For example, when the engine was too big for the car, they just let it hang out the back.  When they couldn’t close the cover to the engine and keep it from overheating, they just bolted the cover up and sold it that way.  They created mad racing and rally cars under a logo dominated by a scorpion, and were the “crazy” behind the people at Lancia.

Fiat 500 Abarth Essesse

The tiny 500, or cinquecento, has been around Europe since Roman times, and has sold over a gazillion copies.  It is an Italian icon, more so than even Sophia Loren or Gina Lollobrigida.  What’s more, it is actually a great little car.  Cheaper and smaller than a Mini, this tiny (but rabid) Maltese Terrier is the size of a shoe.  It is a retro styled bubble car from times past, complete with a trendy Italian interior, funky gauges and gadgets, and a body colored dash. It is fun, in the way Mini and Scion have tried to market to tweens and hip nerds.  Even the website is cute, smart and stylish, giving the visitor options like creating a custom 500 or a new 500 music jingle.  It is the automotive equivalent of a flash mob or an iPhone.

Fiat 500 Abarth Essesse

Chrysler has said it plans to roll out the standard 500 this year, and the follow it up with the “roll-top” cabriolet version.  Soon after, the deadly Abarth will arrive, and its noise alone should scare the pants off of those kids in the hopped up Civics.  The car will have 170 horses squeezed under the hood, which is 35 more than the EU version that Clarkson called “a little Lamborghini.”   If you are a tree-hugger from California, then they even have one for you – a battery electric version by 2013.

Fiat 500 Abarth R3T

That’s not all…imagine a fly with a jet engine strapped to its back, or a superfast bionic gerbil, because that is what Chrysler is talking about for later in 2012.  It’s called the Fiat 500 Abarth 695 “Tributo Ferrari,” and it basically is the tiny Fiat 500 with 190 horses.  190 horsepower, in a car that weights only 1100kg.  Knowing that the 135hp version was tested to be faster on the Top Gear test track than a Lotus Elise, and a Alfa Romeo 8C Competizion…I wonder what the 190hp version will be like.  190hp is the same as a Lincoln Town Car and a Chrysler 300.  My bet is it will be very fast indeed.

Fiat 500 Abarth 695  Tributo Ferrari

I just bought my Miata about a year ago, and I wasn’t thinking of anything new…but this could change my mind.  If the Abarth is available, and isn’t burdened by a waiting list or premium dealer charge…I may be first in line.  Now if they could only bring the Aston Martin Cygnet to the US.

Fiat 500 Interior

Fiat 500 Cabriolet

Photos courtesy of netcarshow.com and Chrysler-Fiat

Article courtesy of Chris Raymond