Simca 5

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Simca
Simca 5 convertible sedan
Simca 5 convertible sedan
5
Production period: 1936-1948
Class : Small car
Body versions : Convertible sedan , station wagon
Engines: Otto engines :
0.57 liters
(8.8 kW)
Length: 3220 mm
Width: 1350 mm
Height: 1400 mm
Wheelbase :
Empty weight : 560 kg
successor Simca 6

The Simca 5 is a French - Italian small car that Fiat designed and that Fiat and Simca built from 1936 to 1949. It was launched in Italy as the Fiat 500 Topolino A.

history

It is said that the first idea for this small car came from the Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini, who was then in power. In 1930 the "Duce" summoned the Senator of the Kingdom of Italy, Giovanni Agnelli , founder of FIAT, to inform him of the "urgent need" to motorize the Italians with an economical car, the price of which should not exceed Lit 5000 .

This idea had such an effect and served the propaganda of the fascist party so well that Adolf Hitler , just appointed German Chancellor, made it his and called Ferdinand Porsche over and instructed him to make a car whose price was not 1000 RM should exceed. The Fiat 500 Topolino is said to have originated in Italy and the Volkswagen Beetle in Germany .

In the height of summer 1931, the prototype of the new Fiat 500 with front-wheel drive was ready for the first test drive. The test driver was the designer, Senator Agnelli, impatient to prove the quality of the vehicle and to telegraph the news to the "Duce". The car left the Lingotto factory quietly drove a few kilometers, but on the driveway to Cavoretto an engine fire that started forced all occupants to get out immediately. The incident was due to a small hole in the carburetor, but Senator Agnelli decided that Fiat should never again attempt to design front-wheel drive cars. Engineer Lardone , the project manager, was fired on the spot.

A few months later, Dante Giacosa took over the management of the project. He presented a new automobile that followed the principle of the Fiat 508 , but with reduced dimensions. The new project was approved by the company's management and the first prototype was tested and presented on October 7, 1934 in Turin . It reached a top speed of 82 km / h on the motorway between Turin and Milan . The car later christened "Topolino" was simply called "Fiat 500". But the nickname sticks to him and is always associated with the memories of the Fiat 500 Topolino.

The political conditions of the time did not allow the Fiat management to present the car to the "Duce" on June 10, 1936, but production had started long before that. The plans and pre-production copies were sent to France to set up the production of the Simca 5, the French clone.

The Simca 5 (Fiat 500 Topolino A) is a small car with 2 seats "for less than 10,000 francs" (9900 francs ), designed by Fiat engineers in Turin before World War II .

  • Simca 5 convertible sedan

  • Simca 5 convertible sedan

  • Simca 5 station wagon (1939)

It was first presented in the first Simca factory in Nanterre on March 10, 1936, three months before the Italian version. It was built with 46,472 copies

  • individually suspended front wheels
  • Four-speed transmission
  • hydraulically operated drum brakes on all 4 wheels
  • 12 volt battery.

The management of Simca then declared: “Compared to the wishes expressed on the other side of the Rhine, we are further”. Reference was made to the German Volkswagen Beetle, which didn't come out until 1938 and had a similarly brilliant career.

The production of the Simca 5 was delayed due to strikes following the victory of the Front Populaire in 1936.

5 liter test

With 5 liters of petrol, the Simca 5 got exactly 109.827 km, which corresponds to an average petrol consumption of 4.55 l / 100 km.

swell

Web links

Commons : Simca 5  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files