Bambinas!

This month Todd Niall tells us about his passion for Fiat 500's, and how they inspired his new book about the iconic car's history in New Zealand.

For some people, the link to Italy is architecture, language, music or food. For me it’s cars. Two cars, one of them obvious, and one of them about as unlikely as it gets.
 
The obvious one has been the enduring tie - a 1968 Fiat 500F, or Bambina as they were re-christened, only in New Zealand. After a couple of Mark 2 Ford Zephyrs, my father became a Fiat owner while I was still an impressionable youngster. It was Dad’s 125 that I borrowed for my early years in the Fiat Club.
 
But after an OE, at the age of 18 I bought my first car, a Ferrari-red Bambina. And, to cut a long story short, I’ve just marked my 36^th anniversary with it. The Bambina is one of the great character cars of all time. Fantastic to drive, it corners like a Porsche – there’s the sunroof, and the double-declutching down through the non-synchromesh gearbox. The frugal fuel consumption - Ah the days of the $5 fill-up. Not to mention the charming minimalism.
 
That got me through my first couple of decades. The 500’s place in Italian culture captured me in only the past decade or so. In 2003 during a trip to Europe I managed to divert to Garlenda in Savona, for the annual gathering organised by the Fiat 500 Club Italia. It was like a pilgrimage, nearly 1,000 cars from all over Europe  descended on this small town, in a valley in from the Mediterannean coast. It was there I first understood the passion which Italians had for the car. It’s role in the country’s post-war development, and they way it found it’s way into the hearts of a society like no other car ever will. Vespa is a scooter you understand.
 
So as 2007 approached, I decided to combine my trade as a journalist, with my fascination for the Fiat 500, and published “Bambina” the story not only of the car, but of it’s curious history in New Zealand where 5,000 were assembled through the 1960’s. Miss New Zealand contests, long distance production car racing, and Antarctic transport – there was nothing the Bambina didn’t get up to in New Zealand.
 
“Bambina” has a dual text, English and Italian – an idea I thought might open up a larger market for it in Italy. The reality was more modest, but I still like it as way of linking the two countries involvement with the Bambina.
 
And to cap it off I returned to Garlenda for the 50^th anniversary, which also doubled as the launch of the New 500, one of which Fiat itself flew in, suspended from a helicopter. Another crazy weekend where the car became the glue that bound together as diverse a range of people as you could find.
 
But my most intriguing time in Italy came courtesy of a vehicle in which 1950’s-era Skoda mechanicals were bolted onto an unashamedly simple New Zealand-made body.
The Trekka, in 1996 became this country’s only locally-designed and mass-produced motor vehicle, with around 2,500 examples rolling out of Motor Holding’s Otahuhu factory in Auckland. It was the pinnacle of motor industry politics aimed at creating an increasing number of jobs in car assembly.
 
I made a documentary in 2002 for my employer, Radio New Zealand, on the Trekka, which attracted the attention of the artist Michael Stevenson. He had his own fascination with the Trekka, and it became the centrepiece of his installation which Creative New Zealand took as this country’s entry to the Venice Biennale in 2003. It ever there was a time to write a book about the Trekka, this was it, I decided. Research was essential, which was how I found myself living in Venice for just over a week, for the opening of Michael’s “This is the Trekka” which drew critical acclaim. A tale of a small agricultural nation at the bottom of the globe – pursuing industrial ambition with the help of a (then) communist, east European country. Perhaps the hottest week of my life – literally – in which I crept around in the shade, but thoroughly enjoying one of the world’s most fascinating cities.
 
The Bambina is back on the road after a few years of leisurely refurbishment, and driving is no longer simply fun – but an Italian cultural experience ! 
 
Part of the proceeds of a future Lotto with is ear-marked for a return to Garlenda with my Otahuhu-built Bambina. Not the craziest idea. In 2007 former Christchurcher Damon Earwaker shipped his 500 from Melbourne to Hamburg, and drove it down to Garlenda, while in the same year,  another Australian couple went there after completing a round-the-world expedition in theirs. Forza Bambina !


“The Trekka Dynasty” – How New Zealand Built a Car; and “Bambina” are both available from the author through the websites trekka.co.nz or nzfiat500.com, or by email toddniall@paradise.net.nz