If Americans remember #Fiats from the 1950s or 1960s at all, they remember the #Fiat500 - even though that car was not a good seller here. They probably don’t remember the #Millecento as well, even though it was Fiat’s best seller here at the time and one of the many imported cars that gained considerable traction with Americans (mostly in urban areas) in the #fifties. This one is a rare bird now - an early 1100/103E, probably from 1956-57, with #suicidedoors and it’s round back end. After the war, #Fiat had no choice but to keep producing the old circa-1937 Ballila 1100 and 500/Topolino, just as many other manufacturers kept pre-war models going because there weren’t resources for new cars, but by 1950 #Italy was beginning to recover and Fiat launched it’s first postwar new car - the large 1400/1900, a conservative large (for Italy) car seemingly inspired by the Kaiser Manhattan. The 1100, now a modern unibody car, arrived in 1953 and would serve Fiat well until 1969, with major updates coming in 1958, 1962, and 1966. As the name implies, the #Fiat1100 was driven by a 1089cc OHV four, although in 1957 an optional 1221cc version was added - both would gain compression and power over their long lives, but this car was an urban workhorse meant for tight streets and traffic, it had few frills and a top speed of just 71 mph from its 40hp. But it looked good, functioned and drove well, and helped Fiat climb to more than 10,000 sales a year in the U.S. (through distributors Max Hoffman in NYC and Witkin-Wolf motors in La Brea, CA) by the end of 1957, with over 20,000 in 1958 and 38,000 in 1959, though the import momentum was badly blunted by the arrival of the big 3 “Compacts” in 1960. Business-like and functional, the 1100 was a very practical car, which gave it quite a lot of appeal in India, where it first appeared in 1954. Fiat eventually licensed the car to the importer, Premiere LTD., who built it until 2000 as the #PremierPadmini - it was a common sight all over India until the old cars (mostly cabs) began to fall out of service about a decade ago. #ItalianCars #MadeinItaly #ptk_vehicles #rust #patina #junkyard #ig_autoshow #classicFiat #fiatclassic #italian