A new British automotive studio has joined the growing field of companies reinterpreting small European classics, though La Cinquecento is starting with perhaps the smallest and most recognizable canvas of all: the original Fiat 500.
La Cinquecento made its public debut at Tutto Bene in Italy, where it presented the first prototype of its comprehensively re-engineered Fiat 500. The event, held around Lake Maggiore, brings together an eclectic mix of historic, modified and contemporary performance cars with a particular emphasis on automotive design and culture.
The London-based company was founded by Max Kindersley, with the project growing out of his family’s own Fiat 500. That car had spent roughly 25 years stored in a barn before Kindersley began a project to return it to the road. What started as a personal restoration eventually developed into the considerably more ambitious La Cinquecento program.
Rather than simply restoring the 500 or replacing its mechanical package wholesale, La Cinquecento is developing the original formula. The prototype is based on a 1970s donor chassis and powered by a modified Fiat 126-derived two-cylinder engine fitted with twin-spark ignition. The company has not published output figures, emphasizing instead improvements in torque, response and driver involvement.
Much of the work goes beyond the engine. La Cinquecento has developed bespoke or extensively revised suspension, brakes, steering, cooling and electrical systems, addressing areas where the original 500’s age is considerably more apparent than its enduring styling might suggest.
That styling has also been altered, although relatively carefully. La Cinquecento worked with Milan design studio BorromeodeSilva on the exterior, adding widened wheelarches, side skirts, rally-style auxiliary lamps and a wider, more purposeful stance. The result remains unmistakably a Fiat 500 rather than attempting to transform the little Italian into something fundamentally different.
Interestingly, the first prototype is being constructed in the same barn where Kindersley’s family 500 had been stored. That gives the new company an unusually personal origin story in a segment increasingly populated by highly polished, professionally engineered restomods.
Following the car’s debut at Tutto Bene, La Cinquecento plans a limited production run of individually numbered cars. Each will be developed in consultation with its owner, suggesting considerable scope for individual specification. Pricing, production volume, performance figures and a timetable for customer deliveries have not yet been announced.
For now, the Tutto Bene appearance serves as the introduction not only of the car but of La Cinquecento itself. In a market where re-engineered Porsche 911s, Land Rovers and larger Italian classics have become increasingly common, applying the same level of attention to the humble Fiat 500 offers a distinctly different proposition.
More Information: www.500.design
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