Davide puts the spot on Fiat 500 Custom Models - Part 5: 500 Giannini TV

The 500 Giannini TV and the 590 GT were the first two-cylinder cars from Fiat to be modified in the Giannini workshops founded by brothers Attilio and Domenico in Rome in 1920. With a great deal of commitment and mechanical knowledge, they turned the Giannini name into a genuine automobile brand with sporting aspirations.

The 500 Giannini TV, presented in 1963 and based on the Fiat 500 D, featured small body elements such as coloured stripes at the sides and the front bonnet, a central radiator grille and a metal “moustache” with the Giannini emblem. It was further embellished by various outside and inside decoration elements and crests.
The original displacement of the engine was retained, with the compression ratio and carburettor slightly adjusted, as well as the sports exhaust and 3-litre aluminium oil pan.

The 1960s and 1970s were marked by rivalry between Abarth and Giannini cars on racetracks throughout Italy. This created two real fan communities and sympathiser teams, who tuned their 500s with the conversion kits that Giannini supplied just like Abarth. Older people say that one red light about to turn green and an Abarth and a Giannini five-hundred were enough to turn the local ring road into a racetrack!