700cc 2 Cylinder Aircooled
4 speed Manual
Rear Engined Rear Wheel Drive
Hydraulic Drum Brakes
50 bhp
Exterior White over Red Interior Red and White
The Autobianchi Bianchina was a series of Italian microcars originally only sold as the Trasformabile, with full door frames and a part steel roof with a folding fabric panel in the middle, but later available in a range of body styles, including a fully convertible cabriolet, a station wagon (Panoramica), a Berlina, and a couple of commercial van variants. The original drivetrain and suspension was identical to the Fiat 500 Nuova, which had appeared just a few years earlier, and was it was fitted with a 479cc engine that put out only 15 horsepower. The gearbox was a 4 speed non-synchro unit and brakes were hydraulic drums all around. Like the Fiat 500 Nuova, the body was a true monocoque design, capable of seating 4 people in a remarkably small, compact package. With its light weight, the engine was perfectly capable of moving the car, albeit without much acceleration, around cities, which coupled with its great fuel economy, made the Bianchina an ideal city car when it was introduced. In many ways, the diminutive size coupled with it perfectly balanced design, which is rare on microcars, makes the Autobianchi Bianchina one of the cutest cars on earth. This example was purchased at auction, with its original drivetrain in place. It was a US market model, with a Miles-Per-Hour speedometer. On looking the car over before I bought it, it was obvious that the car had been found, cleaned
up cosmetically, and made to run, but not really restored before it went to auction. As I intended to swap the engine out for one from a later Fiat 126 along with a synchronized gearbox, this made it an ideal candidate for what I was after. As new engines were available in a range of specifications, I opted to go a bit crazy and bought a Fiat 126 engine bored out to 700cc and fitted with a Weber DCOE carburettor, cams, etc., giving a theoretical output of 50 horsepower, which was 3.3 times what the original output was. The gearbox was also swapped to a new example from a Fiat 126, which gave synchronized gears making it easier to drive without having to double-clutch. As it proved, the swap was a bit more involved than I initially anticipated as it required changing out hubs and other components to get everything to mate up and although the 126 engine with the Weber fit easily in a Fiat 500, we had to lower the engine somewhat to make it fit in the Bianchina without the carburettor touching the engine cover. After all these modifications, the car drives very well, though the short, narrow wheelbase makes it feel a little unstable at times and things like speed bumps can be a little unsettling as the second the front wheels clear it, the rear wheels are starting to ride up it. Though it has pretty good performance now, the suspension is still pretty primitive so some care still has to be taken into account when driving it.
