microcarfan
  • Microcar
  • Italy
  • Four wheels
  • Fiat 500 based

Autobianchi Bianchina

Also known as Bianchina Trasformabile, Bianchina Panoramica, Eden Roc (France), Neckar Panorama (Germany)

A Fiat Nuova 500 underneath, with tail fins, whitewalls, two-tone paint and a lot of chrome on top. It cost more than the plain Fiat, and for a few months Italians bought more of it.

Coral-red small coupé with a black roof and whitewall tyres, with a California plate, parked on a car park.
A red Bianchina Trasformabile at the Hershey car show, Pennsylvania, in 2009.Photo: JOHN LLOYD from Concrete, Washington, United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

The spec plate

Autobianchi Bianchina

Trasformabile · Desio

Built
1957–⁠1969Shown on 16 September 1957; the Cabriolet perhaps to 1970
Country
ItalyBianchi’s works at Desio, north of Milan
Maker
Autobianchi S.p.A., DesioFounded in 1955 by Bianchi, Fiat and Pirelli
Engine
479 cc Fiat air-cooled twin499.5 cc from 1960; laid flat in the Panoramica and vans
Power
15 CV1957; 16.5 CV from 1959, 17.5–18 CV later, 21 CV in the Special and Cabriolet
Length
2,985 mm1,340 mm wide, 1,320 mm high
Weight
510 kgThe Trasformabile; German Wikipedia gives 500 kg
Seats
2 + 2Two and two occasional; four in the 4 posti and Panoramica
Wheels
4Rear engine, rear-wheel drive
Price new
565,000 lire1957, over 15 per cent more than a Nuova 500
Production
about 275,000The clubs’ figure, 1957–⁠70; 301,300 is unsourced
Top speed
90km/h90 km/h95 km/h by German Wikipedia; over 105 km/h for the 21 CV cars

How big is it?

True proportion

2.98 m

It is 15 mm longer than a Fiat 500, about 1.7 adults laid end to end.

  • 1.34 m wide
  • 510 kg: about seven adults
  • 4 posti and Cabriolet 3,020 mm; Panoramica 3,225 mm
  • Same 1,840 mm wheelbase as the Fiat 500
Drawn at true proportion. The track is 3.6 metres long; the adult stands at the same scale. The Peel P50 is the smallest production car, on every page for comparison.

The story

History

Bianchi of Milan, founded in 1899, had made bicycles, cars and wartime lorries, and from 1939 trucks with Mercedes engines.1 To get back into cars it needed partners. On 11 January 1955, at the urging of its general manager Ferruccio Quintavalle, it formed Autobianchi in equal thirds with Fiat, which wanted a small car for more discerning buyers, and Pirelli, which wanted somewhere to sell tyres.2 The new company used Bianchi’s works at Desio, north of Milan, 140,000 m² with automated paint booths and room for about 200 cars a day.2 In 1958 Bianchi’s shareholders sold their stake to the other two.12

The first car was conceived as a luxury Nuova 500, on the Fiat’s floorpan and mechanicals.3 At 2,985 mm (9 ft 10 in) the Trasformabile was within 15 mm of the Fiat’s 2,970 mm, this site’s measure of a microcar.345 Its body was styled by Luigi Rapi.34 On 16 September 1957 it was shown to the city’s authorities at Milan’s Museo della Scienza e della Tecnica.32 At first there was one body, the Trasformabile: a little three-box coupé with tail fins, plenty of chrome, rear-hinged doors and a canvas roof that rolled back, Plexiglas rear window and all, over two seats. It came in two-tone paint, on Pirelli whitewalls, with the Fiat’s 479 cc twin at 15 CV.32

Dearer, and still the better seller

It cost 565,000 lire, over 15 per cent more than the Fiat. Even so, in its first months it sold better than the Nuova 500, which Italian Wikipedia puts down to four things: its Milanese identity, the Bianchi name, a better finish, and 30 months of hire purchase from the finance house SAVA.3 About 11,000 were built in 1958, the first full year.2 In 1959 the engine went up to 16.5 CV.34

The range grew in 1960. The Cabriolet, introduced at the Geneva show according to the Weiner museum, had a proper folding hood with no fixed pillars at the sides, front-hinged doors, still more chrome and the 21 CV engine of the Fiat 500 Sport, with a hardtop for the winter.31 The Panoramica was an estate built on the Fiat 500 Giardiniera, with its flat-laid engine and a wheelbase 100 mm longer.34 The Trasformabile moved to 499.5 cc and 17.5 CV, with a two-tone Special at 21 CV, and Desio built just over 30,000 Bianchinas that year.341

In 1962 the Trasformabile gave way to the 4 posti, a short closed saloon with a squarish steel roof and an almost vertical rear window under a peak. It became the public’s favourite, and the upright glass gave more headroom in the back than the contemporary Fiat 500 did. It is often listed as the Berlina, though Autobianchi never officially used the name.3 Every version now had footwells dished into the floor for rear passengers. A light facelift in 1965 brought a new badge on the grille and a dashboard with an imitation-wood strip, and the 4 posti and Cabriolet took the engine of the 500 F.3 The tall-roofed Furgoncino van has been called a forerunner of the Fiat Fiorino.3

The estates and vans made up most of the output. By the clubs’ figures, 160,000 of the roughly 275,000 Bianchinas were Panoramicas, 75,000 of them D-type and 85,000 F-type, and there was a Panoramica with a canvas roof running its full length.4 The Furgoncino vans came with a low roof on the Panoramica body or with a tall rear body of their own; Italian Wikipedia dates both to 1960–⁠69, while the clubs’ table has the low-roof van from 1965 and the tall one from 1970 to 1977.34 Swiss buyers, by Automobil Revue’s catalogues, paid CHF 4,980 for the coupé in 1960 and CHF 5,500 for the Panoramica in 1963.5 The Weiner museum’s label has all four bodies on sale in 1958, which every other source contradicts.1

At the wheel, and the end

Mechanically a Bianchina drove as a Fiat 500 does, crash gearbox and all. The Special and Cabriolet, with the Sport’s livelier 21 CV engine, went past 105 km/h (65 mph).351 The range ended in 1969, the Cabriolet perhaps a year later. Its place at Desio was taken by the Fiat 500 Giardiniera, which Autobianchi built under its own badge until 1977, and Autobianchi’s next small cars were the A112 and the Y10.3451

The 4 posti also found a famous driver on screen. In Paolo Villaggio’s Fantozzi films the accountant Ugo Fantozzi drives a white one, usually dented, with a four-leaf clover stuck on it (more in microcars on screen).34

Coral-red small coupé from the rear, its canvas roof furled behind the seats, a Pennsylvania antique plate on the tail.
The same red Trasformabile at Hershey, Pennsylvania, in 2009, with its canvas roof rolled back.Photo: JOHN LLOYD from Concrete, Washington, United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Pale green open two-seater with chrome bumpers and Italian plates, parked on a kerb before a stone building.
A pale green Bianchina Cabriolet on a Paris street corner in 2012: in France it was sold as the Eden Roc.Photo: miez!, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Turquoise small estate car seen from the rear left, graffiti on the wall behind and a white car in front.
A 1966 Panoramica in Caserta in 2018, its side-hinged rear door over the flat engine.Photo: Rutger van der Maar, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Black dashboard with a wood-grain strip, a round speedometer and a large thin chrome-spoked steering wheel.
The dashboard of a 1967 Berlina, with the imitation-wood strip of the 1965 facelift.Photo: Andrew Bone from Weymouth, England, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Pictures

More photographs, old and new

The car 11

  • Burnt-orange small coupé with a black roof and chrome trim, parked on a wet street with barriers behind. Opens a larger view

    1 An orange 1960 Bianchina Trasformabile with a black roof in Minnesota in 2014.

  • Red small coupé with a cream roof panel and red seats, on a brick museum floor beside a tan Fiat Topolino. Opens a larger view

    2 A red 1960 Bianchina Trasformabile at the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville in 2009.

  • Pale grey-white open two-seater with a dark blue waist stripe and a sale card on its windscreen, in a showroom. Opens a larger view

    3 A white 1966 Bianchina Cabriolet F at Classic Remise in Berlin in 2017.

  • Small coupé with a red body, white roof and bonnet, and an autobianchi sun strip, parked on grass. Opens a larger view

    4 A red and white Bianchina Trasformabile at a show in Alameda, California, in 2009.

  • Pale blue small coupé with a white roof and chrome side vents on patterned carpet, another Bianchina behind. Opens a larger view

    5 A pale blue Bianchina Trasformabile with a white roof at an indoor show in 2010.

6 more picturesFewer pictures
  • White small coupé with a black canvas roof and chrome bumpers, parked on grass by a curving road. Opens a larger view

    6 A white 1961 Autobianchi Bianchina Trasformabile from the front left in Florida in 2014, its roll-back roof and rear side vents visible.

  • Front of a white small coupé with a black roof, round headlamps and a small chrome grille, parked on grass. Opens a larger view

    7 A white 1961 Bianchina Trasformabile head-on, in Florida in 2014.

  • A small red open two-seater with whitewalls and chrome bumpers on a country road, two people aboard. Opens a larger view

    8 Red Autobianchi Bianchina Cabriolet with whitewall tyres driven at a club meeting in Bad Wörishofen, Germany, in August 2015.

  • Pale grey small van with a tall box body and an orange beacon, surrounded by Fiat 500s and people on cobbles. Opens a larger view

    9 A high-roof Bianchina Furgoncino among Fiat 500s at a gathering in Rome in 2007.

  • Cream small coupé with a black roof and chrome side vents, lit in a dark gallery with factory films on screens behind. Opens a larger view

    10 A cream 1959 Bianchina Trasformabile at the Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile in Turin in 2015.

  • Front of a white small saloon with an Autobianchi script and small grille, against a red wall and wooden door. Opens a larger view

    11 A white Bianchina at the Automuseum Engstingen, Germany, in 2019.

The car: Berlina 4

  • Mint-green small saloon with cream lower panels and a show card in its windscreen, parked on long grass. Opens a larger view

    12 A two-tone green and cream 1962 Bianchina Berlina at a British show in 2010.

  • Pale blue small saloon with a chrome grille and British plate, parked on a pavement before a motorcycle club sign. Opens a larger view

    13 A pale blue 1967 Bianchina Berlina at a gathering in Bristol in 2017.

  • Dark red small saloon with a cream roof and gold lettering on its door, parked on gravel before a hedge. Opens a larger view

    14 A red and cream Bianchina Berlina in a shop’s livery in Bardolino, Italy, in 2021.

  • Mint-green and cream small saloon seen from the rear left on grass, a black vintage car and tents behind. Opens a larger view

    15 A two-tone green 1962 Autobianchi Bianchina Berlina from the rear left in the United Kingdom in 2010, its flank sweep running to the tail.

The car: Panoramica 6

  • Dark blue small estate with whitewall tyres parked on grass beside a silver car, visitors behind. Opens a larger view

    16 A blue Bianchina Panoramica, thought to be a 1962 car, in Hisaya-ōdōri Park, Nagoya, in 2022.

  • Turquoise small estate car with a long glass cabin, parked on a street beside red and white barriers and trees. Opens a larger view

    17 A turquoise 1966 Bianchina Panoramica parked in Caserta, Italy, in 2018.

  • Beige small estate car with a dark blue roof and New York plate, parked on grass and stepping stones. Opens a larger view

    18 A beige 1967 Bianchina Panoramica with a dark blue roof, photographed in 2024.

  • Teal small estate car with a cream roof and a sale card in the windscreen, in a hall of classic cars. Opens a larger view

    19 A teal 1969 Bianchina Panoramica with a cream roof at Retro Classics in Stuttgart in 2024.

  • Beige small estate with a dark blue roof seen from the rear left, a New York plate on its tail door. Opens a larger view

    20 A 1967 Autobianchi Bianchina Panoramica from behind in 2024, its rear door and long side windows on show.

  • Red small estate with a black roof whose long canvas sunroof is rolled back, against a white brick wall. Opens a larger view

    21 A red 1970 Bianchina Panoramica with a full-length sunroof at the Lane Motor Museum in 2024.

Inside and details 3

  • Looking down into a white open car with two red pleated seats, a thin steering wheel and a round speedometer. Opens a larger view

    22 The red seats and white dashboard of a Bianchina Cabriolet, photographed in 2024.

  • Open door of a lime-green small car showing tan seats, a thin black steering wheel and green floor mats. Opens a larger view

    23 Inside a green Bianchina, photographed in 2023: tan seats, a slim wheel and a painted dashboard.

  • Cream small van with a wood-coloured stripe, its rear door raised, on a show stand with visitors around. Opens a larger view

    24 A cream 1967 Bianchina Furgoncino van at the NEC Classic Motor Show in Birmingham in 2024.

Picture credits (24)
  1. 1 Greg Gjerdingen from Willmar, USA, CC BY 2.0
  2. 2 dave_7, CC BY 2.0
  3. 3 Mr.choppers, CC BY-SA 3.0
  4. 4 Craig Howell, CC BY 2.0
  5. 5 nakhon100, CC BY 2.0
  6. 6 MorningPhoenix, CC BY-SA 3.0
  7. 7 MorningPhoenix, CC BY-SA 3.0
  8. 8 Lothar Spurzem, CC BY-SA 2.0 de
  9. 9 Mark Ahsmann, CC BY-SA 3.0
  10. 10 Rahil Rupawala, CC BY 2.0
  11. 11 Lindemann97, CC BY-SA 4.0
  12. 12 Mick from Northamptonshire, England, CC BY 2.0
  13. 13 Andrew Bone from Weymouth, England, CC BY 2.0
  14. 14 Mateus2019, CC BY-SA 3.0
  15. 15 Mick from Northamptonshire, England, CC BY 2.0
  16. 16 KKPCW（Kyu3）, CC BY-SA 4.0
  17. 17 Rutger van der Maar, CC BY 2.0
  18. 18 Mr.choppers, CC BY-SA 3.0
  19. 19 Alexander-93, CC BY-SA 4.0
  20. 20 Mr.choppers, CC BY-SA 3.0
  21. 21 TaurusEmerald, CC BY-SA 4.0
  22. 22 Al*from*Lig, CC BY-SA 4.0
  23. 23 Al*from*Lig, CC BY-SA 4.0
  24. 24 Phil Parker from Leamington Spa, UK, CC BY 2.0

Variants

Five bodies on one floor

The Bianchina range, with the clubs’ production figures
VariantYearsWhat differsHow many
Trasformabile, series 1 to 31957–⁠1962Three-box coupé with a roll-back canvas roof and rear-hinged doors; 479 cc, then 499.5 cc34,000
Trasformabile Special1959/60–1962Two-tone, with the 21 CV Sport engine1,500
Cabriolet (series 1, D and F)1960–⁠1969Folding hood, no fixed side pillars, front-hinged doors, more chrome; 21 CV9,300
Berlina or 4 posti1962–⁠1969Steel roof, near-upright rear window, four seats; 17.5–18 CV60,000
Berlina Special1962–⁠1969Two-tone, chrome window frames, 21 CV9,000
Panoramica1960–⁠1969Estate on the Giardiniera’s flat engine and 1,940 mm wheelbase; a sunroof version160,000
Furgoncino1960–⁠69, or 1965–⁠77 by the clubsVan, with a low roof or its own tall rear bodyNot given

Specification

The Trasformabile and 4 posti unless noted

Engine and drive

EngineFiat in-line twin, air-cooled, overhead valves from a side camshaft, at the back35
Capacity479 cc (66 × 70 mm) to 1960; 499.5 cc (67.4 × 70 mm) after35
Power15 CV (1957); 16.5 CV (1959); 17.5–18 CV; 21 CV in Special and Cabriolet34Panoramica 17.5, 18.7 or 22 CV, by source
GearboxFour speeds without synchromesh, and reverse35

Body and chassis

FloorpanThe Fiat Nuova 500’s, with its mechanicals3
SuspensionTransverse leaf and wishbones at the front; semi-trailing arms and coil springs at the back5
BrakesHydraulic drums all round31
Tyres125 × 1235

Dimensions

LengthTrasformabile 2,985 mm; 4 posti and Cabriolet 3,020 mm; Panoramica 3,225 mm345The Weiner museum’s label gives the Cabriolet 3,040 mm
Width and height1,340 mm and 1,320 mm345
Wheelbase1,840 mm; Panoramica 1,940 mm35
Weight510 kg (Trasformabile); 530 kg (4 posti); 535 kg (Cabriolet); 585 kg (Panoramica)34Other sources differ by up to 40 kg

Performance and running

Top speed90 km/h (15–16.5 CV); 95 km/h (17.5–18 CV); over 105 km/h (21 CV)351
Price new565,000 lire (1957)32
Swiss pricesCoupé CHF 4,980 (1960); Berlina CHF 4,750–5,950 and Panoramica CHF 5,500 (1963)5

How many were built?

Every figure, with its source

About 275,000 builtAbout 275,000, from the two Bianchina clubs. Their model-by-model table adds up to 273,800, which matches; it is still one strand of evidence, reported through English Wikipedia.

  1. 301,300all versionsUnconfirmed

    Italian Wikipedia’s infobox, marked as unsourced3

  2. about 275,000all versions, 1957–⁠70One source

    Club Bianchina and the Bianchina Classic Club, via English Wikipedia4

  3. 160,000Panoramica estates, D and FOne source

    The clubs’ table4

  4. 9,300CabrioletsOne source

    The clubs’ table; the Weiner museum gives about 9,00041

  • Two sources agreetwo good sources give the figure
  • One sourcea good source, alone
  • Unconfirmeda lead only, not yet checked

Famous for

Three points

  1. A little luxury car

    Chrome, fins, two-tone paint and whitewalls on the bones of a Fiat 500.

  2. Fantozzi’s car

    Ragioniere Ugo Fantozzi’s white 4 posti, usually battered, in Paolo Villaggio’s films.

  3. The pretty one

    The Weiner museum called the Cabriolet the prettiest model of the series.

On screen

Confirmed appearances only

German Wikipedia, from the Internet Movie Cars Database, also has Otto Waalkes driving a Cabriolet in Otto – Der Außerfriesische; the film’s date is not recorded here, so it is not listed.

Survivors and collecting

Today

No one has counted the surviving Bianchinas. For the German Panorama the Weiner museum estimated fewer than 400 left; its own collection held a 1965 Panorama type D and a 1961 Special Cabriolet.61 In Italy the cars are looked after by the Registro Autobianchi at Orbassano, near Turin, the Bianchina Classic Club and the Bianchina Club.34 Of all the versions, the Cabriolet is the rarest and the one collectors want most.3

Sources

Numbered as in the text

No period road test, no auction results and no prices in lire after 1957 were found; the clubs’ own pages survive only as images. Sources are given as plain text; the links are on the Credits page.

  1. Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum, “1961 Autobianchi Bianchina Special Cabriolet”, tour page, read in full.
  2. Corrado Canali, “Autobianchi brand: legendary cars such as Primula, Bianchina and A112”, Il Sole 24 Ore (English edition), 12 July 2024, read in summary.
  3. Italian Wikipedia, Autobianchi Bianchina, read in full. It cites Stampa Sera of 16 September 1957, p. 19, the archived bianchina.info pages and La Repubblica of 30 October 2013.
  4. English Wikipedia, Autobianchi Bianchina, read in full. Its production table is credited to Club Bianchina and the Bianchina Classic Club; the French names to the 1968 Salon de l’Auto catalogue.
  5. German Wikipedia, Autobianchi Bianchina, read in full; its technical table is from Automobil Revue catalogues of 1960–⁠70.
  6. Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum, “1965 NSU/FIAT Autobianchi Panorama type D”, tour page, read in full.