SEMA 2009: 427-powered Fiat 500 is the stuff dreams are made of
1959 Fiat 500 Funny Car by Legacy Innovations - Click above for high-res image gallery
Okay, this is so awesome it hurts. The guys at Legacy Innovations took a perfectly lovely but woefully underpowered 1959 Fiat 500 and turned it into a Fiat 7,000. The Fiat 500 is an iconic car, one with tremendous nostalgic charm, but it was never really much good as a car until they redid it a few years ago. So although we might love the little 500, it doesn't provide a very good platform for what the Legacy Innovations guys had in mind for it – namely drag racing.
Easy fix though. They broke out the torches and gutted it. They basically removed all of the weak stuff and replaced it with a full-on 4130 chrome molly tube chassis, hinged the body in true Funny Car fashion and dropped in a 725-HP 427 small block. The body was kept relatively stock, save for the hood cutout, but they still managed to mount a pair of Hoosier slicks in back and still had room for wheelie bars that extend out far enough to effectively double the length of their little 500.
No word on how quick this baby is in the quarter, but we bet it's quick enough to embarrass just about anything else coming out of Italy. It's cars like this that make the trip to SEMA totally worthwhile.
Photos copyright ©2009 Frank Filipponio/Weblogs, Inc.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Shiftright 12:53PM (11/04/2009)
Fiat / Chrysler? You listening?....
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ridecolby 2:15PM (11/04/2009)
Can you say fat man in a little coat.
CAPSGOD 12:56PM (11/04/2009)
OMG WTF LKSAFLFS WORLDS SMALLEST DRAG CAR
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Dummie 1:35PM (11/04/2009)
Now someone needs to do a Peel P50 with an LS9.
;)
Arkz 2:39PM (11/04/2009)
I love this car, and for one reason above all else: being beaten by a Fiat 500 in a drag race could be just about THE most humiliating thing ever.
Geekengineer 9:20PM (11/04/2009)
Or a KV Mini 1 with a Hayabusa.
Attila.S2C 1:00PM (11/04/2009)
Now that is cool. :)
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MeiSooHaityu 1:01PM (11/04/2009)
Can I just say.....Awesome.
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larry a 1:10PM (11/04/2009)
OH MAN! LOL!
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Nuieve 1:16PM (11/04/2009)
It will probably roll back on itself upon any start.
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LaserRed38 1:43PM (11/04/2009)
My thoughts exactly, until I opened the gallery and saw the wheelie bars which extend a whole car length behind the back!
happyfun86 1:22PM (11/04/2009)
I want to find all the morons who had any part in this and tell them that their idiocy has resulted in the most awesome Fiat I've ever seen.
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Redline 1:22PM (11/04/2009)
Haha that is soooo coooool!
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Bobmarley 1:25PM (11/04/2009)
reminds me those high CG pull-back cars I had when i was a kid...when you whind it up all the way it does STAND STILL BACKFLIPS!!!
...cool!
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Haon 7:47PM (11/04/2009)
Penny Racers!
Franz 1:25PM (11/04/2009)
Would've been completely beyond reproach for me if it didn't sit so high, but I'm being nit picky. This is awesome.
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Howard H. 1:28PM (11/04/2009)
It looks like a waste of a good motor. I don't think it would make it down the quarter mile.
It would be like when dodge tried to drag race the mitsubitchy colt. so many of them wrecked because of too much power in such a short wheelbase car. This is uglier than
the old colts. I did not think that was possible. This whole mess of fiat and chrysler is a disgrace. I hope they both regret it soon. Back in the muscle car days chrysler was a proud company now they are fiats bitch.
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LaserRed38 1:42PM (11/04/2009)
Ya done now? Kthx.
Now back to awesomeness!!
atc98092 1:30PM (11/04/2009)
I'm trying to figure out where the driver's legs go. It seems like the they might have to go under the oil pan!!!
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Jay Evans 1:39PM (11/04/2009)
725 HP in a car with a 72.4 in wheelbase and the aero stability of feather.... NO THANKS.
Probably gives the word "squirrely" a whole new meaning.
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