Fiat does not build many cars like the Fiat 126: a 2-door saloon / 3-door hatchback (126 BIS) with 594 , built from 1972 to 2000 as the oil crises and the first emissions rules rewired the industry. Its designer of record is Sergio Sartorelli. Production ran to 4,600,000 cars.
Where it came from
The Fiat 126 (Type 126) is a city car manufactured and marketed by Fiat from 1972 until 2000 over a single generation. It has a rear-engine design and seats four passengers. Introduced by Fiat in October 1972 at the Turin Auto Show, the 126 replaced the Fiat 500, using major elements from its design. A subsequent iteration, marketed as the 126 Bis, used a horizontally oriented, water-cooled engine, and featured a rear hatchback with additional cargo space.
The majority of 126s (some 3.3 million) were manufactured in Tychy and Bielsko-Biała plants, Poland and were marketed as the Polski Fiat 126p in many countries. Fiat stopped marketing the 126 in 1993 in favor of its new front-engined Cinquecento. Total production reached approximately 4.7 million units. In Poland, the car became a people's car, and a cultural icon, earning the nickname Maluch, meaning "The Little One" or "Toddler", a name that eventually became official in 1997, when 'Maluch' badges appeared on the rear of the car. In early 2020, the 28-year production run of the Fiat 126 was counted as the twenty-sixth most long-lived single-generation car in history by Autocar magazine.
Under the skin
Under the skin sits 594 other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. Kerb weight is 580 -. The gearbox is a 4-speed manual , 1st gear not sychronized. The layout matters: the engine hangs behind the rear axle, a layout that gives ferocious traction out of a corner and a reputation to match on the way in. The wheelbase is 1840 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
Where it sits in Fiat's history is not in doubt: the Fiat 500 came before it; the Fiat Panda, Fiat Cinquecento followed it; it was built at Alfa Romeo Cassino Plant. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Renault 5, the Volkswagen Passat, the Lancia Stratos. Nearby in the Fiat catalogue sit the FIAT 702 and the Fiat 1.
The money
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Fiat 126 has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.