But I absolutely love it. Whilst we are all familiar with the cute Fiat 500 the Fiat 600 is less well known but equally cute for a family (though still tiny) car.
I come across Abarth versions of the Fiat 600 at historic race meetings and they add to the variety on the starting grid. With their propped engine lids and sliding cornering style they are very entertaining to watch and often beautifully built.
At the NEC my eye was caught by a bright red Fiat 600 from Middlebarton garage, probably the UK’s leading specialist in Fiat 500 and 600’s. But nothing could prepare me for the engine lurking beneath the bonnet, a Lotus twincam.
I assumed it was a current conversion to prove what could be done in a confined space. But I was surprised to find it was a conversion dating from the early 1960’s. It was a Tornado-Fiat 600GT and during the 1960’s and 70’s it competed succesfully in sprints and hillclimbs.
The Tornado company was a 1950’s specials manufacturer who hoped that the Tornado Fiat 600 would help them shake off the specials image. The quality of their build was certainly up to scratch but finances failed them as it did for so many small auto businesses. The company was then bought by John Bekaert, a succesfull amateur racer.
He built on the Tornado development by fitting a 1498cc Ford Cortina engine and the car went on sale in 1964 for £895. The first customer was David Render, but after losing a sprint race to John (who had fitted a full race dry sumped engine to his car) he decided to take matters further and fitted a Lotus Twincam. At the end of the 1970’s the car was returned to its original Fiat 1000 specification by its new owner.
In 2007 the car and associated parts were acquired by Tony Castle Miller (of Middle Barton Garage) who had owned the car in the 70’s. A new bodyshell was acquired from Italy and it was rebuilt to the Lotus Twincam specification we see here.
The car and its history took me by surprise. The quality of the conversion is superb and it says much about the enthusiasm and ingenuity of 1960’s engineers. Sadly it wasn’t matched by enthusiastic sales and it is believed that only three of the ford engined cars were built, two of which were changed to different specifications.
Owning and mantaining cars like this is a challenge to stay true to its original specifications and finding and resolving engineering issues. But they enrich the racing scene by adding variety. The car is currently for sale at just under £30k.