One hundred years ago last Saturday a man was born who would make sure that small Fiats never got a moments peace. It was Karl Abarth’s job to take tiny displacement Fiats and tune the hell out of them until they became true giant killers, taking on cars with twice the power.
To celebrate the centenary of his birth Fiat has come up with the fastest version of its new baby – the latest 500 – which comes fitted with all manner of sporting goodies. The special edition car, snappily named ‘da 0 a 100’ (from 0 to 100, in case you didn’t guess) which comes fitted with a more powerful version of the 1.4-litre engine fitted in the standard Abarth.
The unit now pushes out 160bhp and is connected to a unique quad-tip exhaust. As a nod to Abarth’s initial work with motorbikes the car is also fitted with a BMC free-flowing air intake, the kind normally only used on two-wheeled machines.
The result of all this is a 0-62mph sprint of 7.3 seconds, which is further aided by shorter gearing. A retuned suspension lowers the small Fiat down on its 17-inch wheels, which cover drilled and ventilated brake rotors.
The car is finished in Nuvolari Grey paint with contrasting side stripes. There are chrome-plated badges and aluminium trim inside. If you want one you better be quick though, Fiat is planning to build just 101 examples…
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