Limited-production super-fast city car has a heavily tuned Alfa Romeo 4C engine and rear-wheel drive.
The standard Fiat 500 is available in states of tune that range from mild to wild. On one end, there’s the base Pop model with 101 horsepower and 98 lb-ft of torque. On the other, there’s the Abarth performance model with 157 horsepower and 183 lb-ft (when equipped with the automatic). The Fiat 500 Giannini recently shown at the Turin Motor Show is beyond wild. It’s an amphetamine-fueled barfight with swordfishes that ends in scream-crying into handfuls of terrified chinchillas.
The wrench-wielding wackos who created the Giannini took a 500, converted it to rear-wheel drive, and stuffed the turbo four from the Alfa Romeo 4C in the back end. Predictably, they went beyond even that. In stock form, the 4C’s engine produces 237 horsepower. In the 500 Giannini, it pumps out 350. Goodbye rear tires, goodbye traction, goodbye sanity. Drilled and slotted front brakes with 6-piston calipers are there to scrub off the beyond-legal speeds this mini monster is bound to eventually hit. Then they stuffed a gaping maw and giant lights into the front end and bolted on a carbon fiber widebody kit, complete with pronounced louvres over each wheel. Thanks to the new rear engine layout, what was once the hood now features cutouts that show off the Giannini’s Öhlins shocks.
The company that produces the Giannini doesn’t plan to make more than 100 copies of it. Something this bonkers and rare won’t come cheap. According to Motor 1, “each one of them would cost around 150,000 euros ($168,230), depending on the level of a client’s customization.” If you’ve got that kind of money and you’re willing to spend it on this nuclear-powered rollerskate, remind us to never get on your bad side. You’re beyond wild, too. We’d hate to get a swordfish spear in the eye.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
