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Icon's 1966 Fiat Giardinetta is a quaint electric city car

If city cars are the ideal candidates for electric powertrains, then the compact Fiat 500 is near perfect for the green technology. Fiat currently offers a brand-new 500e, but for those who like an old-school vibe, Icon 4x4 has just the number. In collaboration with Stealth EV, Jonathan Ward and his team converted a gorgeous 1966 Fiat 500 Giardinetta to full battery electric. Dubbed the Fiat Giardinetta EV Derelict, due to the maintenance of the original car's exterior, this 1966 gem was able to fit electric components while keeping its four-seat configuration. The car has six Tesla-sourced batteries, two in the front and four in the rear to keep things balanced. It uses an Orion battery management system and an AC35 motor. The suspension was bolstered up with coilovers, a bigger panhard bar was added, and the car now uses upgraded disc brakes. Hilariously, it has similar, if not better, specs than Fiat's current 500e. Icon and Stealth EV claim the car has about 80 horsepower and about 100 pound-feet of torque. Using a single-speed gearbox, it revs up to 5000 rpm, and due to the electric powertrain, has 100 percent of its torque the entire way up. The battery kit was able to achieve 120 miles of range at 65 mph in a test run, and the company estimates it could reach 150 miles on a single charge when driven in less taxing city conditions. Keep in mind, this car only has heat but no air conditioning (cold air was possible, but it would be pricey and isn't really necessary when it already has a retractable top). Extra Icon modifications included new weather stripping, new glass seals, and added Dynamat to quiet the old car down. Icon also reupholstered the seats with marine-rated vinyl and incorporated a few Italian leather accents. According to Stealth EV, similar battery modules are available for around $1,500 (remember there are six of these modules in this Fiat) and the kit is not a one-off-specific job. Now that they have the CAD specs, the setup could be replicated fairly easily. We suddenly want a completely impractical mini station wagon. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Audi gets Q2 and Q4 badges in trademark swap with FCA

Audi has swapped trademarks with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to snare the rights to the Q2 and Q4 badges for upcoming crossover SUVs. Audi CEO Rupert Stadler confirmed at the Detroit Motor Show that the automaker had finally persuaded FCA to release the two names that would let Audi lock up the Q1 to Q9 badges for its growing SUV family. Audi already plans to drop the Q2 name onto its MQB-based city crossover five-door this year, while the Q4 badge will slot onto the rump of a coupe-like version of the next Q3. It will also reserve the Q1 badge for a 2018 baby crossover, based around the architecture of the next A1 hatch. The A1 will share a lot of its engineering with Volkswagen's Polo-based soft-roader, dubbed T-Cross in concept form. The German company has also pounced on the naming rights for SQ versions of all of its Q-cars, along with F-Tron to cover the day when it pushes hydrogen fuel cell cars into production. Stadler insisted that no money had changed hands in order to pry the two badges off FCA, admitting that they had "each found something we needed." "We promised each other we wouldn't disclose what it cost, but it was not something they were willing to sell," Stadler said. "We tried to get it years ago and they said 'No, never,' but there is never 'never' in business. ... This year I went back to them with a proposal and we talked and there were some negotiations and then we agreed to it." Those negotiations are believed to have centered on a trademark swap with a Volkswagen Group name that FCA desperately (evidently) wants to use on a Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge or Maserati. Asked if Audi had given FCA a trademark in return for Q2 and Q4, Stadler replied, "Something very much like that, yes." Audi has used Italian names on past concept cars that FCA could be interested in, such as the 2001 Avantissimo concept and the 2003 Nuvolari coupe. The latter was named after legendary pre-war racer Tazio, who won grands prix for both Alfa Romeo and Audi's forerunner, Auto Union. Both are unlikely trade chips, with laws in Europe preventing the trademarking of the names of actual people. There is always "quattro" (Italian for "four"), but after investing nearly four decades locking it in as an Audi all-wheel-drive name, it's just not anything like trade bait.

Junkyard Gem: 1979 Fiat Brava Sedan

Ever since I started spending too much time crawling around in junkyards, about 40 years ago, one thing has been constant: a steady supply of Fiat 124 Sport Spiders and X1/9s scattered among the dullsville econoboxes. These cars were shinier in the early 1980s, but they remain just about as easy to find today in your local Ewe Pullet. Of course, the current generation of Fiat 500 has been with us for a decade and so the days of shiny junkyard Fiats have returned for us. But what about the other Fiat models sold here prior to the company's departure from our shores in 1982? I've found the occasional discarded 128 and even a couple of 850s, but the rear-wheel-drive Fiat sedans of the 1970s and 1980s have become all but extinct. I'm not expecting to find a junkyard 130, ever, but this year I have managed to spot a pair of 131s (which were badged as Bravas during their last couple of years in North America). Here's one of those cars, now residing in a Denver yard. Unusually in the case of a Junkyard Gem, I know something about this Brava's history. Back in 2019, the owner of a beloved Fiat repair shop passed away and all 75 Fiats (plus some Alfa Romeos and Lancias) in the shop's storage yard went up for auction, cheap. I did my best to spread the word about these cars, and some got rescued. You can see our subject in this photo above, awaiting its new home. It had a lot of surface rust from sitting outside for decades, but not a lot of genuinely alarming corrosion. Along with a white '79 Brava sedan nearby, it was purchased for a couple of hundred bucks— at most— and towed out of there. Perhaps the buyer or buyers of those two Bravas planned to flip them for a profit, or maybe the intent was to fix them up and drive them. Two years later, both are parked in the same boneyard just north of downtown Denver. I'm guessing that everybody in Front Range Colorado who wanted an old Fiat sedan already has a half-dozen, and the 20-hour tow to places like Chicago or San Francisco is just too daunting for Fiat fanatics in those places to come here and buy a car. The 131/Brava could be bought new in the United States from the 1976 through 1981 model years. In 1979, the list price of a carbureted Brava sedan was $7,583 (about $30,860 in 2021 dollars). That was a lot cheaper than its similarly-sized BMW 320i rival, which cost $11,810, though the plusher and more powerful $8,129 Datsun 810 sedan must have stolen some sales from both types that year.