Fiat 126

Work on a successor to the Nuova 500 began at Fiat in 1968.source 1 The new car kept the 500’s floor pan, its 1,840 mm wheelbase and its air-cooled twin in the tail, under a squarer body by Sergio Sartorelli of Fiat’s Centro Stile; Italian Wikipedia says the shape derives from Pio Manzù’s City Taxi concept of 1968.source 1source 3source 2 The twin was bored out to 594 cc and 23 CV.source 1source 3 Underneath, much was new. The gearbox had synchromesh on second, third and fourth, which the 500 never had. The brakes were dual-circuit, the steering column split to collapse in a crash, and the body was engineered to crumple progressively. The fuel tank moved from the front boot to beneath the rear seat, and moving the starter to the side of the engine let the rear seat go back about 10 cm.source 1source 3source 2

At 3,054 mm (10 ft) it is 84 mm longer than the Nuova 500, the yardstick this site lays against every microcar; it is here as the 500’s direct heir and as Poland’s people’s car.source 1source 2

Turin, 1972

The first 100 cars were built at Cassino in September 1972, and the 126 was shown at the Turin show in October; Italian Wikipedia dates the launch to 1 November.source 1source 3source 2 It came sixth in that year’s European Car of the Year vote.source 1 The 500 R, which already used the 126’s engine, and the Fiat 500 Giardiniera estate stayed in production beside it, to 1975 and 1977.source 1 Right-hand-drive cars went on sale in Britain in July 1973.source 4

Quattroruote measured its test car in February 1973 at 110.795 km/h (69 mph), with a standing kilometre in 47.297 seconds and 6 litres per 100 km.source 3 When Motor Sport tested one at £715, it found the car would cruise at 60 mph with something in hand and return 45.6 to 46.4 mpg on test, and nearer 50, it reckoned, for an average driver, with light steering and a nice gear change; the engine was noisy, the more so with the heater on, and the rear engine gave good traction on slippery roads.source 5

Graz, and a 250 cc 126

Austria had its own version. From 1973 to 1975 Steyr-Daimler-Puch in Graz took 2,069 Italian 126s delivered without engines and fitted its own 643 cc air-cooled flat twin of 25 PS, with twin tailpipes and, as standard, an independent petrol-burning heater, an Eberspächer by the Austrian club’s account and a Webasto by Polish Wikipedia’s.source 1source 2source 6 It followed Puch’s long run of Fiat 500s with its own engines, the Steyr-Puch 500. In West Germany, the Steinwinter 250 L, or FIGO, put a 250 cc two-stroke into the 126 body for drivers holding only West Germany’s old Class 4 licence; Italian Wikipedia says the engine came from the Goggomobil, and puts the number built at a few hundred.source 1source 3

Italy lets go

In November 1976 Fiat Italy replaced the original trim with three: the base Economica, and the Personal and Personal 4, which had plastic-covered bumpers and side strips, new 12-inch wheels and bigger brake drums. Britain called the uprated car the 126 de Ville, and West Germany and Switzerland the Bambino.source 3source 4 In 1977 the bore went up from 73.5 to 77 mm, making 652 cc. The date varies by source and market, and so does the power: 24 KM by Polish Wikipedia, but unchanged at 23 PS, with more torque, according to auto motor und sport.source 1source 3source 2

Italian production ended after 1,352,912 cars: on 8 July 1979 by Italian Wikipedia, which adds that Termini Imerese went on building right-hand-drive and sunroof cars for about two more years, or in 1980 by Polish Wikipedia and the British club.source 1source 3source 4 From then on every 126, the Italian market’s included, came from Poland.source 1source 3source 4 From May 1983 Italy sold the 126 unificata, later badged “Made by FSM”, and in May 1985 it took the Polish 650E engine.source 3source 4 The last 126 for Britain was sold in 1992.source 4 The 126 was the last rear-engined Fiat.source 3

Poland had looked for a licensor for a people’s car since the late 1960s, and Toyota, Citroën, Renault, Volkswagen and Ford were among the suitors. Talks with Fiat began in July 1970. Fiat offered the front-wheel-drive 127 or the 126, and Poland chose the 126, because Fiat agreed to be paid in power units and cars and because the 127 would have cost 20 to 25 per cent more to build.source 1 The licence, signed by the Pol-Mot trade enterprise on 29 October 1971, was paid in kind: 820,000 power units for Italian-built cars, and 50,000 cars for Fiat’s dealers (more on such deals in built under licence).source 1 It was a political project too. Edward Gierek’s government wanted popularity through consumer goods after the austere Gomułka years, and in 1971 Poland had only 556,000 private cars.source 2

The factory, Fabryka Samochodów Małolitrażowych (FSM, the small-car factory), was formed in Bielsko-Biała on 1 January 1972, and the car was shown in Warsaw, on Plac Defilad, on 9 November 1972.source 1 From 5 February 1973 the PKO savings bank took advance payments of 69,000 zł for it, with first deliveries promised by 1977 or earlier, by lottery. A month’s average pay was 3,000 to 4,000 zł.source 1source 2 The first Polski Fiat 126p was assembled from Italian parts on 6 June 1973, production officially began on 22 July, and about 1,500 were built that year.source 1source 2 A new car could fetch up to 110,000 zł second-hand, or be bought for US$1,100 in hard currency at a Pewex shop.source 1

Motorising Poland

A second plant, at Tychy, opened on 18 September 1975 with room for 200,000 cars a year.source 1source 3 FSM exported engines to Italy from October 1974 to pay for the licence, finished paying in May 1979, two years early, and in June 1979 became Fiat’s only supplier of the 126.source 1 Output peaked in 1980 at 214,432 cars, and the millionth 126p left Tychy on 15 October 1981.source 1 It was the cheapest car on the Polish market and simple enough to mend at home, and families took it abroad with roof racks piled high, some towing the little Niewiadów N126 caravan built for it.source 1source 2 Its critics pointed to the poor performance, weak brakes and lack of space, and its small dynamo could not fully charge the battery on short runs.source 1source 2 The engine coughs as it starts, so Poles called the car kaszlak, the cougher, as well as the mały Fiat, the small Fiat.source 1source 2

The car changed slowly. The 650 of 1977 came in Standard, S, L and Komfort trims, and from 1978 to 1993 a 650I had hand controls for disabled drivers.source 1 The FL of December 1984 brought plastic bumpers, a new dashboard and, at last, a starter worked by the key instead of a lever between the seats.source 1source 2 The 126 Bis, built at Tychy from April 1987, was the biggest change: more than 800 alterations, largely by Polish engineers, including a hatchback and a water-cooled twin of 703 or 704 cc laid flat under the luggage floor, as Dante Giacosa, one of the designers, had laid the 500’s engine in the Giardiniera.source 1source 3source 2 It tended to overheat, and 190,361 were made before Tychy turned to the Cinquecento in 1991.source 1 The soft-top 126p Cabrio, developed at the Bosmal research centre in Bielsko-Biała, was made from 1991 to 1995; 507 were built, 80 per cent of them for export.source 1

Maluch

Fiat bought FSM in 1992 and it became Fiat Auto Poland.source 1 The 3-millionth Polish car was built on 20 July 1993 by Polish Wikipedia’s date, or in May by English Wikipedia’s.source 1source 2 The Cinquecento was meant to replace the 126, but demand kept the old car going at Bielsko-Biała. On 5 September 1994 the 126 el arrived without the “Polski Fiat” name or the “p”, with smoother flanks, one-piece door glass and Cinquecento parts; the Cinquecento’s water-based paint, it turned out, made the ungalvanised body rust faster.source 1 In 1996, at 11,920 zł, it was the cheapest new car in Poland, and with about 55,000 sold, the best-selling one.source 1 From January 1997 its official name was Maluch.source 1source 2

Exports reached 897,316 between 1975 and 1992, to most of Europe, to Cuba, to China, where more than 23,000 went in 1985–⁠89, and to Australia, where it was the FSM Niki.source 1source 4 Production stopped on 22 September 2000, because the body-pressing tools were worn out and replacing them made no sense with sales falling. The last cars were the numbered Happy End series of 1,000, half red and half yellow.source 1source 2 English Wikipedia reports, citing Reuters, that people of Bielsko-Biała gave Tom Hanks a restored Maluch in 2017.source 2

No estimate of survivors has been found. The car is still common in Poland and in Cuba, where about 10,000 were registered in 2016, and Cuba’s oldest motoring club, Amigos del Motor, named it its car of 2016.source 1source 2

The very last car, a yellow Happy End, is in the Wena Motoring Museum at Oława. Another yellow Happy End, no. 0979, never used, is in the Museum of Engineering and Technology in Kraków, which also shows a 126p Cabrio and the Kombi and front-wheel-drive NP prototypes. Two oddities built from 126p parts, the six-wheeled amphibious LPT and the tracked Wszędołaz, are in the Museum of Technology and Transport at Szczecin.source 1 Bosmal will certify a 126p Cabrio as original on request.source 1 In Britain the Fiat 126 Club was founded about 2005.source 4 No major auction house’s sale of one has been found.