He was 26 centimeters shorter than the normal 126
Electrical retro revivals are all the rage right now, but what to do when all the suitable candidates have been lifted from their final resting places? Well, perhaps manufacturers can then take a look at their future concepts from the past. Take, for example, the Fiat 126 Vettura Urbana, signed for the Italian brand in 1976 by the venerable designer Giovanni Michelotti, known for the 1961 Alpine A110. This was probably not one that he put at the top of his resume.
The Vettura Urbana is a design study for the future of personal transport in the city; basically a slice of bread with butter in concept car shape. The name is even Italian for ‘city car’, even if it sounds much more romantic – like everything in that language. The concept was based on the Fiat 126 and kept the rear engine of its donor: an almost microscopic 594-cc two-in-line with 23 hp and 39 Nm.
The 126 did well in Poland
Funny how no automaker ever comes up with the promising future vision of building the same model for 30 years, with a few changes and a slightly lower fuel consumption. The 126 was a small miracle that was especially admired in Poland, where they call it the Polski Fiat 126p. Production started in 1972 and finally ended in 2000.
The Fiat 126 Vettura Urbana was a special case
Forget the Peugeot 1007: this was the first city car with sliding doors. At least it would have been if it had ever been put into production. Manual doors by the way, no heavy electrical stuff, so unlike that Peugeot you could actually get out in less than five minutes. The Vettura Urbana concept car was also 26 centimeters shorter than the already small Fiat 126, but thanks to its smart design it could offer (cramped) space for four people. Impressive.
The 1970s were – as you can tell by these sorts of things – a pretty strange time. But also a time of great challenges and economic setbacks, in which designers looked for all kinds of ways to make cars contribute to a better future for humanity. Thank God they succeeded and everything is going great now. Or no, wait…
Will there be a new Fiat 126?
But maybe in this current age of challenges we can learn from the crazy ideas of the past and see how they can mean something to us in the here and now. Last October there was brief talk of a 126 rebirth as a retro EV, but that was a design study by an Italian consultancy, probably intended to start an important social conversation about the urgent need to hire them for all your design purposes.
It is not inconceivable that after the success of the 500 and the Panda, Fiat will release even more of their greatest hits will putt, especially now that Renault is also joining in with a retro-tastic new 5. And what could be a better candidate than the Vettura Urbana to combine vintage-chic with a dose of real innovation? Even if the inspiration comes from the seventies.
