News July 17 2006

Fiat Topolino’s 70th Birthday

On Saturday June 17 over two hundred Fiat 500 Topolinos invaded the streets of Turin in a parade organised to celebrate the seventieth birthday of this runabout, which was launched between the wars and was an enormous success both on the market and in the public’s imagination.

Their reunion in the Italian car capital would not have been complete without a visit to Mirafiori, the plant which contributed so greatly to the growth of motorisation in Italy during the country’s economic boom. For most of the cars that took part in Saturday’s event, it was actually a return, because they had been built on the plant’s assembly lines many years before.

The caravan of Topolinos entered by Gate 3 and parked near the test track inside the complex, before trying a few turns of the circuit. Then they all went to the Mirafiori Motor Village to visit the new centre.
After lunch in the plant canteen and the usual photographs with the marble Topolino C in front of the office building at Gate 5, the caravan of 500s set off again on its parade through the streets of Turin.