1959 Fiat 1200 Trasformabile

When the world got back to normal life, after World War II, there was so much pent up demand for fun, that postwar sales of sports cars skyrocketed. And perhaps nowhere was that demand more acutely felt than in the United States where affordable sports cars and convertibles where in very hot demand. British car manufacturers were able to capitalize on this sales phenomenon with affordable sports cars like the MG and Austin-Healey selling about as fast as they could be imported. By the mid-1950s, the growing U.S market was so unavoidable that even manufacturers of more staid vehicles wanted in on this lucrative segment.

In 1955, at the Geneva Motor Show, Italian manufacturer Fiat—noted for their low cost, utilitarian fare—debuted a diminutive, two-seat sports car called the 1100 TV (Turismo Veloce) Trasformabile. The 1100 TV featured a steel unibody designed in-house under the direction of Fiat Design Director Fabio Luigi Rapi. Suspension was in keeping with sports cars of the day, with independent suspension by lower wishbone, coil spring, telescopic damper and anti-sway bar at the front and a leaf-sprung live axle at the rear. Pushed by Fiat’s 1089-cc, OHV, inline-4, that produced an underwhelming 36-hp, the 1100 TV’s four-wheel drum brakes were more than a match for its power output. While the 1100 TV looked the part of a sports car, it lacked the performance that buyers thought should go along with it.