The 1966 Fiat Giardiniera was the epitome of “right-sized” utility, and still is! The guys at ICON bring this classic back to life.
The 1966 Fiat “Giardiniera” vans are timeless little utility vehicles with tons of charm – but their old, smoky 500 cc engines leave a lot to be desired, even when they’re kept in tip-top shape. Still, the shape is surprisingly modern, and the Giardiniera seems like the perfect little urban runabout for active adults and small families.
The restomod experts at ICON seemed to agreed, and decided that these classic little Fiats deserved a second chance at life – with all-electric power!
This build is more than just a motor-swap, however. ICON says that their system is completely thermally managed. That means that, If the batteries get too hot or too cold, the thermal management system will de-rate the power output to protect the life of the batteries.
With that tech in place, ICON says you can confidently give the keys to anyone and tell them to, “just go drive it till its empty. [sic] You don’t have to worry about driving it too hard, or too fast. You don’t have to worry about how low you run the charge on the batteries. There are no stipulations on how you can use the car. Get in and go, and when its empty, charge it back up and go again!”
Beyond the powertrain, a number of other subtle steps were taken to help this ’66 Fiat ride and handle more like a modern car. “After hunting down 95,475 Italian rattles,” explains ICON, ” “we lined the body in sound deaden-er, [sic] replaced all rubber, and restored the interior in the factory patterns (with) marine rated vinyl.”
You can check out the Derelict 500, below, and let us know what you think of ICON’s project Fiat in the comments section at the bottom of the page.
ICON Derelict Fiat 500 Giardiniera EV
SOURCE | IMAGES: ICON.
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