Fiat 521

Fiat introduced the 521 in 1928 as a replacement for the 520 model, even though the Italian carmaker kept its predecessor into production until 1929.

The vehicle followed the same ideas that made its predecessor a sales hit but with a larger engine and a longer chassis for the regular versions. Fiat also built a shorter version, named 521 C (corrto – short), as a sportier version.

The 521 was a large sedan with a closed cabin built on top of a ladder-chassis. Its front fenders were slim and featured special mounting points for the spare wheels. Its rear doors were suicidal type (rear-hinged) to offer a better ingress and egress from the car.

Inside, depending on the customer's wallet, the carmaker offered the car with leather seats and wood-trims from Tasmanian oaks.

Fiat made an important step forward, offering the inline-six 2.5-liter engine that was known for its smoothness. It was paired to a four-speed manual transmission and sent the power to the rear wheels via a driveshaft.

More than 33,000 Fiat 521s were produced in Italy and Germany.