What is longer and taller, and has a greater wheelbase than a long-wheelbase Mercedes-Benz S-Class, yet is only as wide as a Fiat 500?
Answer: The Castagna LimoCity, a ridiculously stretched Fiat 500 so long and so narrow you’d imagine it would need to bend in the middle to negotiate a tight city corner.
One of a stable of unlikely stretched limo conversions by the Italian company Carrozeria Castagna (including Fiat 500 and MINI Woody wagons), the vastly extended Fiat has a wheelbase of just over four metres and an overall length of 5.3 metres (A long-wheelbase S-Class IS 5.2 metres long, with a wheelbase of 3.17 metres).
The pencil-thin Fiat limo is said to offer buyers the choice of one or two sliding rear side doors giving access to an interior that must resemble a shooting gallery.
Evidently the car starts as a regular Fiat 500 and is then cut in half to lengthen and strengthen the chassis way beyond what the original designers intended.
The result is a surprisingly impressive mini limo – although what the LimoCity weighs, and what engine it is motivated with, would be critical issues.
There’s an eco version of the car too. Using two electric motors and making full use of the extended wheelbase to cram in a decent-sized battery pack, the EV LimoCity is claimed to have a range of 250km and a top speed capability of 160km/h.
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Published : Saturday, 21 January 2012