SPECIFICATIONS

Manufacturer: Fiat SpA

Origin: Turin, Italy

Production: 80,000

Motor: Fiat

Displacement: 499.5 cc

Power: 17.5 hp

Length: 10 ft. 6 in.

Identification No. 120b-081972

Autobianchi had been created in 1955 through a joint partnership between Bianchi, Fiat, and Pirelli. The new firm would build upscale versions of Fiat products, with a nod toward the female market through stylish, modern designs and fashionable two-tone color schemes.

Following a successful line of two-place Autobianchi Bianchina models, a stylish station wagon variant was first shown in 1960. It utilized the Fiat 500 Giardiniera platform, with its lie-down motor, to provide an exceptionally spacious and bright interior for four people and their luggage. Appropriately named Panoramica for its very large windows, the comparison between a Fiat 500 Giardiniera and the Panoramica is startling in terms of glass area. From 1969, both Fiat and Autobianchi station wagons were produced side by side at Milan.

Total control of the Milanese firm by Fiat did not come about until 1963. This makes this 1965 car, which would have been sold new in Germany as either a Panoramica Standard or a Panoramica with Sunroof, a fully Fiat product while still retaining the Autobianchi name. It was sold through the German Fiat distributors, NSU-Fiat in Heilbronn, and carried their badge, as well as the Autobianchi script below it. Today, it remains in remarkable, factory correct condition.