This Video Of A Man Delighted With His Fiat 126 Is Making Me Quite Happy
I've always really liked the Fiat 126, Fiat's "modernization" of the old 500 if you're willing to accept that modernity just means swapping bubbly shapes for boxy shapes. I find them wildly appealing little cars, full of odd decisions and clever engineering and a certain kind of extremely budget-conscious charm that never fails to get me. This video by UK-based car-reviewer Mat Watson is a fairly straightforward video of a man just pleased with his car, and I think it's great.
Also interesting: it was published on my birthday! Maybe Mat knew I'd like watching him point out the weird heater controls and tortured trunk of the 126, and made this for me as a secret birthday gift, even though I'm pretty sure he doesn't know or give a rat's ass about me?'
Anyway, here's the video:
What I like is the level of detail he goes into, showing all the mundane bits that would have me enrapt were I to claw my way into the actual car. Stuff I so far have yet to have a chance to really poke around at, like, as I mentioned, the heater controls:
...and a nice shot of the engine bay:
...and, of course, that absurd little trunk:
Later versions of the 126, the 126 BIS, managed to make a viable rear hatch area by laying the engine on its side, and the amount of room freed up is really impressive:
Honestly, the transition from 126 to 126 BIS may be the most impressive opening-of-space in any car with the same body, ever. Maybe I should make that its own post? Forget I said it.
Our buddy Mat also has a follow-up video, explaining why this tiny little Italo-Polish box makes such a fantastic London car:
Even if you don't live in London, something many Americans can claim, it's still a great little video to watch.
Anyway, none of this is earthshaking, but I personally found these videos oddly soothing, and I suspect you might, too.