A Fiat 500 with 458 engine, Lazzarini Design estimates the project will cost around $550,000. http://www.lazzarinidesign.net/550ITALIA.html
It would be more like those garage stools with a V 8 under. Great conversation piece, fun to sccot around the neighborhood or from one cul the sac to the next, but that is about it. I have an Abarth and it is pretty darty as it is, with the engine it comes with: triple the power and even with a wider track, it would be a real challenge to keep the rear wheels in the rear and the front wheels on the pavement.
Easy to fantasize when all it takes is an idea and a computer rendering. Would be cool to see if they ever made it, not sure why, but it would be cool.
It has been done before; Fiat did-up a 131 with a mid engine in 1976,then Gandini while at Bertone re-did the Renault5 (1980), then in 1989 Chuck Beck at California Special Editions used a Cosworth/Yamaha SHO motor in a series of Ford Festiva in a Group4 design. OK so possible YES, .....Probable..... eh! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Rendering surely is not long enough in the wheelbase for the longitudinal orientation of the F458 engine ... Pete
Good call I got a ride in the Beck car when I purchased my 550 it was called the Shogun and it was fast.
All the above mentioned cars were extreme, but possible. The Fiat 500 in comparison is tiny, smaller than the current Mini and, most critical, with a wheelbase that is almost square. As power and consquently speed increase, any vehicle needs to have directional stability built in its basic design and that is achieved by having a wheelbase that is adequate (i.e. long enough) to the speed potential. I would not even go into the comment made of "moving the fuel tank from where it is into the front", as obviously it was made by someone who has never looked inside the engine bay of a Fiat 500 and much less of an Abarth.
FWIW, the wheelbase on the early Festiva SHOgun) was 90.15in , and on the new Fiat500 90.6 in the Shogun allegedly outperformed the Ferrari 360 in both speed and cornering. Weighing in at around a ton with 220 hp, the car’s power-to-weight ratio is fantastic. It will clock over 145 mph, go 0 - 60 in 4.6 seconds and do a quarter mile in 12.9 at 100 mph As for the radiator, you take out the old motor silly, then re-engineer the front suspension, add ballast, gas tank, larger rad and condensor. or rad could be in fender extensions (a la countach)
insane it should cost that much to make ...i'm certain it could be done for well under half that $ all the images on that site are computer generated, so i've not much faith even one gets built, especially at that price!
Funny and cute at the same time BUT $550,000 no way. you can get two to three high end cars for those bucks
Let's not forget this piece of magnificent lunacy from the king of the eccentric and OTT, Franco Sbarro. VW 'Golf' with 3.3L Porsche turbo engine and ZF transmission from BMW M1. £35k in the early '80s. If that didn't ring your bell, I think it was also offered with a Ferrari flat 12 instead....what's not to like? Ah yes I hear you cry, The fact that if you crashed, it could eat you like Pacman. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I saw an article about a guy in a Street Machine magazine over here in Australia who put a Chev v8 (I think) in a FIAT Panda ... Pete
this would be enough for my taste! rwd Fiat 500 [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGhL3pra9OQ[/ame]
