Fiat 126

Italy, Germany and Poland: The Fiat 126 as a border crosser

This new Fiat 126 essentially takes over the floor assembly and an upsized engine of the Fiat 500. With a different roof shape and a new position for the fuel tank, the car has enough space for four people and luggage. Sergio Satorelli, following designs by Pio Manzu, succeeded in designing a handsome body that considerably increased the utility value of the car.

The Fiat 126 was born in 1972 in Italy, where it was built until 1979.  At the same time, from 1972 to 1975, it was also produced in Austria. As early as 1975, production moved eastwards and the Fiat 126 was also manufactured in Poland until 2000. The FSM company from Bielsko-Biała produced the car under licence and in 1975, two years later, also in series.

In Poland, it was affectionately called Maluch (Polish for "little one") and achieved a status there comparable to that of the VW Beetle in the West Germany, the Trabant in the East Germany or the Citroën 2CV in France. In general, it should be noted that the sources for the Fiat 126 are very poor and countless myths circulate, especially on the Internet. If you want to read verified information about the history of the 126, we recommend the articles by Steffen Schwarz in our Limora catalogue, linked below.

In the Federal Republic of Germany, the Fiat 126 of the second series was finally marketed as the "Bambino" from the end of the 1970s. The Bambino, which was sold in Italy under the designation Personal 4, differed from the previous version primarily in its engine. The cylinder head was square instead of round.

In addition, the spark plugs on the Bambino are installed in sleeves and not screwed directly into the cylinder head. The sleeves were for safety reasons and the construction was intended to prevent toxic exhaust gases from entering the interior with the heating air if the spark plug was not screwed in or loosened correctly. This variant of the Fiat 126 can be easily recognised by the rubber side protection strips and the plastic bumpers.

But the wealth of variants in the Fiat 126 is not yet complete, because the small car was also produced around 1980 in the special models with the sounding names…

• Red

• Brown

• Black

• and Silver are offered.  

These special models, with the Silver being very rare, had green tinted glass and two reversing lights integrated into the rear lights, unlike the standard 126s. These rear lights were very different from the flat lights of the other versions. Grey instead of black bumpers and bars were also found on the special versions.

Standard reversing lights were fitted to the rear bumper of the Fiat 126 in 1984. This facelift resulted in a reversing light on the right and a rear fog light on the left of the rear bumper. At the end of 1991, the production of the successor Fiat Cinquecento was started, which was supposed to replace the 126. But it was only after 25 years and 3.4 million units that it was finally replaced by the Cinquecento.

For detailed information about the Fiat 126 and all series models, order our Fiat 126 Limora spare parts catalogue conveniently to your home!