Start with what the Fiat 522 is: a 2/4-door sedan / 2-door coupé / 2/4-door cabriolet / 4-door torpedo with 2516 , built from 1931 to 1933, when streamlining and independent suspension were arriving together. What it meant takes a little longer.
How it came about
The Fiat 522 is a passenger car produced by Fiat between 1931 and 1933. The 522 was offered in three different body styles : 522C (SWB), 522L (LWB) and 522S (Sport). The engine was a 2,516 cc in-line six-cylinder with a claimed output of 52 PS (38 kW) or 65 PS (48 kW) for the Sport version. The car also featured a four-speed all-synchromesh transmission, which set this Fiat ahead of its time.
The 522 was the first model to feature Fiat's subsequently familiar rectangular logo: the badge used here employed gold lettering on a red background. Almost 6,000 examples of the 522 were produced. A Fiat 522 CSS was also offered: in this version, the car had a higher compression ratio and twin carburetors. A variant with the smaller Fiat 514 engine was released as the Fiat 515. In addition, a variant with a longer wheelbase and a more luxurious interior was released as the Fiat 524.
The hardware
The engine is 2516 . On the scales it comes to 1300 kg-1400 kg. Drive goes through a 4-speed manual. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 278 cm (522 C) / 280 cm (522 S) / 307 cm (522 L). These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
In the Fiat line-up the Fiat 522 has a clear place: it replaced the Fiat 521; it handed the line to the Fiat 527. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Chevrolet Suburban, the Bugatti Type 57, the Škoda Auto Škoda 633. Its Fiat stablemates include the FIAT 702 and the Fiat 1.
Owning one today
There is no federal ownership record for the Fiat 522 — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.