BATTLE OF THE BABES

When it came to designing all-new transport for cash-strapped families in the late 1950s, mobilising millions of folk who couldn’t otherwise stretch to a new car, Italy and Britain went in two very different directions. And yet what Fiat’s Dante Giacosa and BMC’s Alec Issigonis achieved had much in common, despite their contrasting approaches.

Both cars were capable of carrying a family of four and a modicum of luggage (well, one suitcase if you were lucky). But where the new-for-1957 Fiat 500 was a rear-engined, two-cylinder, air-cooled saloon, the 1959 Mini (or Austin Seven and Morris Mini Minor to give it its correct monikers at launch) came with front-wheel drive and a transversely mounted four-cylinder water-cooled powerplant. Different? Certainly. And yet both the 500 and the Mini went on to become international icons, revered by fans and – these days – appreciated by enthusiasts willing to pay serious money for the best examples.

Being lower-powered and even smaller than the Mini, it’s not surprising that the Fiat 500 undercut it in price. By 1972, for example, you could buy the better-equipped L version of the 500 for a mere £629, compared with £695 for the cheapest Mini 850. But, of course, most British buyers chose the home-grown product, willing to pay extra for the added power and performance. And now? You’ll easily pay £5000 upwards for a decent example of either from the early Seventies.

For the full story pick up the July issue of Classic Car Mart - On sale now