The story
History
Fiat had had no small estate since the Giardiniera Belvedere of the Fiat 500 Topolino, and the new 500 was a hard car to make into one. Its upright twin sat in the tail, just where a long load floor would have to go.source 1 Giacosa (more on him among the designers) laid the twin flat. The cowling was reshaped, the centrifugal fan gave way to a radial one, and instead of a grille in the tail the engine breathed through two intakes high in the rear pillars, away from the dust thrown up by the road.source 1source 2source 3 It had the 500 Sport’s 499.5 cc, in a softer tune. Italian Wikipedia notes that the flat version had already been worked out for project 110B, which became the Autobianchi Bianchina.source 1
The Giardiniera was launched in May 1960, with a windowless micro van, the Commerciale, beside it.source 1source 2 Up to the central pillar the body was the saloon’s; behind it came a squared-off tail with a door at the back hinged at the side, rectangular rear windows that slid, and a partly fixed roof with a very long section of fabric that rolled back.source 1 The wheelbase grew by 100 mm to 1,940 mm (76 in), and the car was 3,185 mm (125 in) long. With 17.5 CV it reached 95 km/h (59 mph), like the 500 D saloon.source 1source 4source 2source 3 Suspension and brakes were strengthened for the load, with brake shoes and drums from the Fiat 600, and it cost 565,000 lire.source 1source 2 For export it was the 500 K, K for Kombi, and the Weiner museum counts about 120,000 of them between August 1960 and February 1965.source 3
No period road test of it has been found. Because it had the 500 D’s engine and gearing, it was as fast as the saloon despite carrying 55 kg (121 lb) more, and it used about 5.2 litres per 100 km.source 2 At first the load floor was not quite flat, because of the folded rear seatback; a thinner seatback later made it so.source 1 It had a windscreen washer from the start, which the saloon did not, and its later changes followed the saloon’s: self-parking wipers in 1964, and from March 1965 the 500 F’s details, with a 22-litre tank, less chrome, a new dashboard and flatter hubcaps.source 1
The doors that stayed
The saloon’s doors were hinged at the back, and in 1965 they were turned round. The Giardiniera’s never were. The rule of 1965 that called for doors hinged at the front exempted commercial vehicles, and the Giardiniera kept its rear-hinged doors to the end.source 1source 3
Autobianchi
Production moved to Autobianchi’s works at Desio, near Milan. Automania dates the move to 1966; Italian Wikipedia says it moved for good in February 1968, when Autobianchi came wholly under Fiat. Both may be right, with the move begun in one year and finished in the other, but no source says so.source 2source 1 From 1968 it was sold in Italy as the Autobianchi Giardiniera 500, with a nose in the style of the Bianchina and a black steering wheel and dashboard.source 1 In 1972 the rear side windows were hinged instead of sliding and the engine grilles became plastic instead of aluminium; from 1974 a new front carried the Autobianchi badge.source 1
The van, renamed the Furgoncino, had two front seats only. Steel replaced the rear windows and the canvas roof, four ribs stiffened the roof, and a covered well sat behind the seats.source 1 The Weiner museum says the commercial version was sold under the Autobianchi name, but the Commerciale was a Fiat from 1960.source 3source 1
The Giardiniera, the last of the Nuova 500 family, was built until 1977, two years after the saloon ended in August 1975.source 1source 2 The idea outlived it. The flat twin had already powered the Bianchina’s Panoramica estate, and in 1987 Fiat laid an engine flat the same way for the Fiat 126 Bis.source 1source 2
