Davide puts the spot on Fiat 500 Custom Models - Part 6: 500 Scioneri

Scioneri was a car body repair shop in Savigliano (Northern Italy), founded in 1943 by Cavalier Antonio Scioneri.
In the beginning, the workshop built electrical appliances and carried out car repairs.
In 1951, the first car bodies were produced by hand and in 1957, the great leap into the world of automobiles was made, when Scioneri was the first to present a two-door Fiat ‘1100’ with a body halfway between a saloon and a coupé at the Turin Motor Show.

Although it did not become as well known as other brands, the Scioneri company has left its mark on the history of Italian car-body building and has contributed greatly to the image Italy has in industrial design as a pioneer of great and important innovations that are exported all around the world. In 1957, Carrozzeria Scioneri presented some innovative models, which were based on Fiat production cars, at its factory in Via Bisalta.

Especially for the “Nuova 500”, the bodywork company from Savigliano pleased its customers not only with the usual attention given to the interior, but also with some revisions of the legendary Fiat 500, which differed from the original mainly in the front emblem and the two-tone inserts on the sides. They gave the car an unusual elegance and made it an object of desire and trend.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the phenomenon of customisation spread thanks to a whole range of specialists, both car body manufacturers and tuners, who produced small batches of converted cars that either had more power than the standard models they were based on or were built on large-series underbody structures. Thus, many ‘new’ car drivers, be it enthusiasts or narcissists, were able to fulfil their dream of a car far from mass production at an affordable price.
After the company stopped building custom-made cars, Scioneri devoted itself to converting production cars, almost exclusively Fiat models, and renewing interiors and bodywork.

Amongst them, the Fiat 500 L Special Scioneri certainly deserves an extra mention. While the same line was kept, including the bumper tubes, it was offered in custom colours, equipped with an all-plastic dashboard with briarwood inlays, a wooden steering wheel and gearshift knob, a brand-specific front emblem and optional ventilated steel rims with a special wheel cover. This all made it a really fancy 500!