People started to have discretionary income, and many aspired to a new middle-class lifestyle, complete with a personal car. This 1960 video captures the excitement the new 500 inspired.

In The Corriere della Sera, a leading newspaper, a reviewer recalled “looking at it with suspicion” but being won over by the ease with which the tiny car climbed an Alpine pass. (The New York Times later described it as “midget Italian car with a sewing-machine-sized-air-cooled engine.”)

The Corriere review praised Fiat’s engineer, Dante Giacosa, for creating a “jewel” and predicted that it would not be long before the streets of Italy were filled with them.

Indeed, over 3.6 million such cars had been sold by 1975, when the model was discontinued. Thousands remain in use.

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