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Sixty years ago, contestants and officials at the Olympic Games were transported by a fleet of extremely distinctive Fiats. The original 600 Multipla was once as much part of Rome’s traffic as whistle-blowing traffic police officers – and it also played a notable role in the history of the London taxi-cab.

Dante Giacosa commenced work on the Multipla (‘all service’) in 1953, two years after Fiat started the development of their ground-breaking rear-engine 600. The company needed a successor to their well-established 500 Belvedere. The new model would boast four-side doors and utilise a forward control layout. In the words of the great designer ‘If I can get the seats over the front wheels, that’s it’.

By placing the driver and front passenger atop the front wheels, Giacosa ensured there was extra space for a second row of seats mounted between the axles. This also meant the driver had to navigate with his/her left kneecap about an inch away from the offside headlamp bowl while the front passenger faced the spare wheel.

The Multipla debuted at the 1956 Brussels Motor Show, and it soon gained a reputation as the ideal low-budget method of transporting five or even six people in a vehicle just 11 feet 7 inches long. A universally jointed steering column saved even more space. In addition to the standard four-seater where the two benches could form a double bed, there was also a six-seater with four individual back seats that could be folded flat to create 18 square feet of luggage space -

And, of course, there was the  “Taxi” with a rear bench and a pair of central “jump seats”; and front passenger accommodation that doubled as a platform for suitcases. The black and green Multiplas plying for hire may be seen the background of so many late 1950s and 1960s Italian films. One also featured in early episodes of The Saint, driven by Warren Mitchell.

In 1960 the original 633cc engine was replaced by the 767cc unit of the 600D and Multipla production ceased six years later. One reason was that new Italian regulations demanded forward-hinged front doors and Fiat thought it too expensive to convert the existing design. Instead, they offered the 850T, but it never had quite the same appeal as the car with ‘a multiplicity of uses and purposes’.

Somewhat surprisingly, Fiat did import the Multipla into the UK, but sales were understandably limited. It was not just that £799 7s was a considerable sum of money for a small car or front seat adjustment restricted to a choice of three backrest settings; the cushion was fixed.  Put simply,  it was just too unorthodox by the standards of the day. However, in 1957 Commercial Motor found the Multipla to be ‘a delightful little vehicle to drive’, praising seats that gave ‘excellent all-round visibility’ plus the compact dimensions and turning circle that made it ‘ideally suited for driving in congested traffic and narrow streets’.

The writer concluded the Fiat was ‘an outstanding example of current Italian engineering practice. It is unconventional but highly efficient, and is a measure of the type of competition that the British motor industry faces in this field’. Alas, too many potential customers retained wary. By 1958 a fleet operator could even buy a Multipla van with bodywork by Siata of Turin, but at £782 13s 6d it was too expensive – and too offbeat to appeal to grocers with Thames 300Es or Austin A35s.

Yet, the Multipla made quite an impact on British culture, for in 1961 Tom Sylvester ordered a fleet of 25 Fiats to serve as minicabs. Here are Giacosa’s masterpieces in action on the streets of London – much  to the disdain of certain Austin FX3 drivers…

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