That Fiat Got a Hemi? Nope, but It Still Has 725 HP
LAS VEGAS — Now that Chrysler’s chief executive, Sergio Marchionne, has laid out the company’s five-year survival plan, it’s not so unnatural to associate Chrysler’s iconic Hemi engine with anything wearing a Fiat badge. At least it didn’t seem so when walking the miles of aisles at the annual SEMA.Show.
For example, surrounded by customized but cookie-cutter Camaros, Mustangs and Challengers, a perky yellow 1959 Fiat 500 sat humbly in a booth hawking welding and metal cutting equipment. At first glance from head-on, the diminutive Italian looked cute. Bug-eye headlights gave the 500 a happy look that made people smile.
Another moment of attention quickly revealed that this Fiat was not as it was when it left the factory half a century ago. The twin Dominator carburetors (a staple of American drag racers) poked up through the hood. I was mildly disappointed to find that the engine inhaling through those high-flow carbs was not a Chrysler Hemi, but a 427-cubic inch Chevrolet V-8.
Walking around the car, it quickly took on an Ed Roth Rat Fink persona. Huge tires somehow fit between the 500’s rear fenders. Skinny front tires on chrome mag wheels helped complete a look that fans of classic Hot Wheels will love.
Troy Spackman from York, Pa., built the 500 for his client, Bob Hershey of nearby Lancaster. Mr. Hershey (no relation to the chocolate kingdom) bought the car with the intent of doing something unusual. “I like over-the-edge cars,” Mr. Hershey said. “I knew the 500 would be light, and with the right motor would have a wild horsepower-to-weight ratio.”
Reher Morrison of Texas completed the build on the V-8 engine, and dynamometer plots attest that 725 horsepower arrive at a screaming 7,400 r.p.m. This figure is over 30 times more powerful than many versions of the old 500s and about seven times that of the current Fiat 500, which the company is planning to sell in the United States in early 2011. Remote-controlled electric pistons lift the body to reveal the engine.
Suicide doors lead to the purposeful interior. A Lenco four-speed drag-racing transmission positions several levers to the driver’s right, gasser style. In that same vein, gauges are mounted to the front section of the tubular chassis and integral crash cage.
While an old Fiat at the SEMA Show may have seemed like the proverbial snowflake in a coal bin, Mr. Spackman’s creation might actually be one of the more combustible briquettes here in Las Vegas. As popular as the car proved to be on the show floor, don’t expect something like it to appear in any of Fiat’s future presentations.
But maybe if it did have a Hemi….
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/that-fiat-got-a-hemi-nope-but-it-still-has-725-hp/
