For most of my youth –actually up until their Chrysler re-branding– Fiats were the butt of reliability jokes. The most familiar being “fix it again Tony”.
The joke was of course not all that funny, not all that accurate and perhaps a bit racist. But it was the 80/90s and darn near every joke ticked all the same boxes.
I’ve never driven a Fiat, nor have I ever seen one broken down at the side of the road. So my opinion of them is fairly neutral.
That is outside of a few pretty cool ones I have seen over the years, and this ’37 Topolino is one of the cool ones.
As you can see the silver Topolino is a far cry from its original form. In reality it’s actually a fiberglass body that mimics a Topolino.
Built by RCD Race cars the car has a roomy 112″ wheel base thanks to a custom 4130 cro-moly chassis. The front suspension is RCD inboard rocker arm while the rear is and RCD built four link.
As it’s size and shape suggests this car is not a canyon carver.
Instead it is built for the 1/4 mile, capable of low 9 seconds at 149 miles per hour.
Sticking through the hood is a healthy Rodeck 6 bolt main 406 cubic inch aluminum small block. Fit with BRODIX heads, new cranks and rods, and an 8 trumpet stack the car is no slouch.
A reverse manual valve body turbo 400 transmission backs it up, supported by a Ford 9 inch and upgraded center section.
It also fully opens up, just like a Funny Car would, to allow the occupants to get in and out and giving onlookers a gander at what lies within.
The car was quite successful in the early 2000 show scene wining a variety of Best engineered awards and shows such as the Detroit Autorama.
Now though, the Fiat for sale on ericsmusclecars.com waiting for the right owner to come scoop it up.
The 95k asking price isn’t chump change but, it looks like you get a decent amount for the cash. According to the owner 125k was invested overall.
If you want to take a look, click here to visit the ad, on ericsmusclecars.com
