One of the words we often use when describing some of the more unusual classic cars that we like is “quirky”. Another is “charming”, still more include “fun”, “practical” and “very cool”, and this week’s Prime Find is all of these and more.
FIAT have long been masters of the compact mini or city car, with a lineage that runs from the Topolino or Little Mouse of 1936 (built until 1955!), it’s replacement, the rear-engined 500 (and it’s bigger-engined sibling 600) which enjoyed an almost equally long production run from 1957 to 1975, through to the 126 and 850 of the ’60’s and ’70’s, the Panda of the eighties and nineties, the Cinqueciento and up to the latest – and very popular – version of the 500, FIAT has been exceptionally successful at building small, inexpensive yet practical small cars.
Sometimes, however, a little more space was needed than these tiny cars provided, and in 1956 the Turin company presented their ingenious solution to this problem at the Brussels Motor Show, the Multipla, and to say it caused a stir would be to understate things. Part of that stir was caused in no small part by its looks, which if we’re kind could be described as “unconventional”, another very suitable adjective for this innovative small car. In profile, you might think the rear was the front and vice-versa.
The frontal styling was also unconventional, looking not a little unlike a slightly irritated parrot, and sitting as it did on the FIAT 600’s 12-inch wheels made the car look even more top-heavy. Whichever way one looked at it, the Multipla was not what many would call a pretty car, but underneath it’s unusual looks lurked a very clever piece of kit indeed.
The Multipla was FIAT’s first front-wheel-drive car and using its rear-engine layout to the full, placed the driver and front passenger over the front axle, creating the maximum possible passenger space behind them. You wouldn’t want to have a head-on collision, though.
In fact, having lengthened the 600 by 25cm – a little less than 12 inches – FIAT were able to place not one, but two rows of seats behind the front row, enabling up to six people to be accommodated in reasonable comfort – for short journeys, at least – in this very small car, just 11 feet 3 inches or 3.43m long. For comparison, a Mini is 10 feet (3.05m) long.
Of course, with engine capacity of 633cc and just 21bhp on tap, performance was never the Multipla’s strong suit – especially with a full complement of passengers on board and their luggage on the roof (not uncommon in it’s home market, where the Multipla was frequently used as a taxi; indeed, one version was marketed precisely for such use). In 1956, Motor magazine managed to reach a maximum speed of 57mph and the sprint from 0-50mph was more of a leisurely stroll, taking 43 seconds, but none of this really mattered in such a car. Nevertheless, this did improve when the larger, more torque-y 767cc diesel engine was installed in September 1960, it’s 32bhp endowing the Multipla with almost 60mph capability as well as easier pulling power.
The Multipla was designed for family and light commercial use, so was extremely adaptable and came in three interior configurations:-
A 4/5-seater version which came with a fixed front bench seat and a rear fold-down flat bench seat, with luggage space between the rear bench and the firewall, and with that seat folded, gave the Multipla van-like capacity.
Another variant came with three rows of seats – the fixed front bench and two rows of single rear seats meaning the car could carry up to six people. The individual rear seats all folded flat, giving several combinations of seating/luggage capacity.
Finally, there was a taxi version, which featured an individual driver seat, a fold-down passenger seat, two foldaway jump seats in the middle and a bench seat in the rear. This variant of the Multipla was popular among taxi drivers in Italy until well into the 1970’s, even though the Multipla was replaced in 1967 by the 850 Familiare. The name was revived in 1998 for the equally odd-looking Multipla MPV.
129,994 600 Multipla’s were built in total, but the vast majority stayed in its homeland, with only c.100 finding their way to the UK for a retail price of £643. I’ve not been able to establish how many remain here, but I have seen just a couple in recent years.
This leads us nicely to our Prime Find, a 1964 600D Multipla that goes under the hammer at Historics’ sale at Royal Ascot on March 12th. It sneaks under our theoretical £20k limit by virtue of having a lower estimate of £19,000, with an upper estimate of £25,000. It will be interesting to see how it does, as there is one other currently for sale in the UK, a fully-restored taxi version, also a 600D from 1964, for no less than £34,995. It’s worth pointing out that the restoration in this one dates back to 2012/13, while our Prime Find’s restoration date is not mentioned in the auctioneer’s particulars. Nevertheless, it is claimed to be in “superb condition”.
Our car is a left-hand-drive example that lived in Italy until four years ago when it was acquired by the present owner, based on the Isle of Wight, who states that the car “starts, drives and stops superbly”, having been used to drive friends and family around the island. It has also won a couple of “Best in Show” awards in (presumably local) events. Mileage is stated as only 59,000km, but the lot entry does not state if this is verifiable.
This Multipla is finished in pale green with white roof and based on the photographs on Historics’ website– some of which we have borrowed – it looks as good as the lot description claims. There is of course a roof rack as with a full complement of passengers on board, there’d be no room for luggage inside the car. The seats – this Multipla has the two rows of two individual rear seats – are in a grey-green vinyl with white piping, and the floor is covered in ribbed rubber matting, all of which look to be in very good shape bar the odd scuff. The instrument binnacle contains just a speedometer, fuel and oil gauge and a few warning lights – it’s a very basic yet practical interior. The spare wheel is situated in the front passenger footwell, and the driving position – once you’ve clambered over the high wheel arch – entails having one leg on either side of the steering column. Again, head-on collisions to be avoided at all costs!
It’s hard not to love this characterful little car, and you can easily imagine it burbling around town and attracting attention. You can see the full lot entry here, and as always, if this Prime Find is of interest to you, we recommend arranging an inspection before raising your bidding paddle, if possible.
With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us be inspired by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same.
Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro.co.uk