By Ryan Porter

IN-N-OUT Editor

You guys all know I’ve drove a number of small cars including my smart car and I’m currently looking for a bug when I stumbled across this.  It’s a beautiful 1969 Fiat Microcar.  I’ve never seen anything like it but I love it.  Apparently it’s a bit of a collector’s item which doesn’t surprise me.  Check it out at eBay! Tons more pics at the auction.

By Dan Strohl

Hemmings

One of the best looking Fiats of its era, this 130 Coupe for sale on Hemmings was a delicacy reserved for jet-setting Europeans; Americans would have to content themselves with Fiat’s sports cars and boxy economy sedans. The 130 was introduced as a large (by European standards, anyway) sedan in 1969 as the successor to the long-in-the-tooth 2300 Lusso. It was followed up three years later by the Coupe.

The 130 Coupe was designed by Pininfarina’s Paolo Martin, and it bears a resemblance to his Rolls-Royce Camargue of 1970 – so much so that Fiat and Rolls-Royce might have considered splitting the bill for his services. The 130 was powered by a 2,866cc, 60-degree V-6, designed by Aurelio Lampredi, formerly of Ferrari. With a cast-iron block, aluminum heads and single overhead camshafts, the V-6 was rated at 165 hp at 6,500 RPM.  The only transmission offered was a Borg-Warner three-speed automatic. Continue reading at Hemmings.

By Karan Singh

StreetFire.net

Finding your Fiat a bit underpowered? Do as these guys did and put a Kawasaki motor in it!

Kawasaki ZX-12R Motorlu Fiat 500

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

So far we only have a few Fiat 500s on CarDomain, but I’m looking forward to seeing a bunch more once they start selling them over here. What do you think of these little Italian rides?

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

You know the drill: Come up with a caption for the picture below by noon PST next Thursday. If you submit the funniest one, we’ll send you some CarDomain swag. Three entries per member max. Good luck!

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

I’m spending this week driving around Tokyo in a brand new Fiat 500 Abarth esseesse. I haven’t had a chance to drive it much but I’m already getting used to its tiny dimensions and massive fun factor. It reminded me of the great cars that have worn the Abarth badge in the past and I had to post some pictures of this 131, my favorite of them all. I spotted this very rare example quite a while back at Super Autobacs, parked up like it was any regular car!

The Bertone designed 131 Abarth Rally was a very special car, powered by a 2L twin-cam 4-cylinder developing 140 HP at 6,400 rpm. 500 examples were built in 1976 to homologate the cars that participated in the World Rally Championship, which it won in 1977, 1978 and in 1980 in the hands of a certain Wlater Röhrl! Continue reading at Speedhuners

Dino Dalle Carbonare

By Katherine Helmetag

Atomicalex

If you want to suck in all of the Italophiles, just whisper “Abarth.” Check this Abarth-tuned and styled Cinquecento badged the Esseesse. I can’t wait for these to show up stateside!

Continue reading "FIAT 500 Abarth" »

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

We’ve featured this awesome ’71 Riviera in the blog before. Now how about this cool Abarth clone Buickman is building?

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

While I might be using the term sport compact a little loosely here, I thought all these cars were wicked, so I was able justify shoehorning them into this category. Sue me. Anyway, I’m a sucker for an old-school VW, so I loved Paul Newman’s 351-powered Beetle, and I was really impressed with Rhys Millen Racing’s mid-engine Genesis Coupe, the Fiesta—stock, but awesome—in the Ford booth, the ferocious Fiat 500 and the Scion xB that won the Tuner Challenge. Vote for your favorite below!

[slideshow id=864691128478392475&w=426&h=320]

[polldaddy poll="2274009"]

By Chris Trout

Troutster52

One of the big concerns for those of us observing the automotive market and community is the fate of Chrysler. Rob and I as well as many others have written on the subject of their potential impending doom, merge with Fiat, and resulting product line.

Sergio Marchionne finally revealed the product lines we can expect in the coming years, and in doing so confirmed some rumors, clarified others, and dispelled others. For those of you that didn’t catch the news, I will provide the highlights, from a smattering of news sources that I caught.

Marchionne has a lot to wrestle into submission at Chrysler, including ailing sales, debt to the government and others, a poor reputation for quality and fuel mileage, and an uninspiring product line. Since few of you have business degrees, and even fewer give a lug nut about the entire financial climate, I am going to provide a car guy’s lens on the new product overview.

Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "Word on Chrysler" »