Fiat 503: a refined Fiat 501 for the late 1920s

The Fiat 503 is a car produced by Fiat between 1926 and 1927. It was based on the Fiat 501, with modified suspension and brakes, and it used the 501’s 1.5-litre engine. The company produced 42,000 examples of the 503.

Fiat 503 at a glance

Based on one source, which records only the basic data for this model.

History of the Fiat 503

A development of the 501

The 503 appeared in 1926 as a development of the Fiat 501 rather than an entirely new design. The chassis and the 1.5-litre engine were carried over from that model, which had established Fiat in the smaller-car class after the First World War. What changed was the running gear: the 503 received modified suspension and brakes, the parts of a car of the period that most directly affected comfort and safety on the roads of the time.

The engine produced 27 PS, or 20 kW. Production was short, lasting only into 1927, but it was intense: Fiat built 42,000 examples of the 503 in that time, a figure that says as much about the demand for small, affordable cars in Italy in the mid-1920s as about the model itself.

The available sources record little more about the car than these basic facts, so the 503 is best understood as a transitional model between the 501 it derived from and the later small Fiats of the 1930s.

Design and features

• Fiat 501 foundation: the chassis and engine came from the established 501.
• Revised chassis: modified suspension and brakes distinguished it from its predecessor.
• 1.5-litre engine: the four-cylinder unit produced 27 PS, or 20 kW.
• Large production run: 42,000 cars in about two years.

Fiat 503 versions

• Fiat 503: the only version recorded in the available source, built in 42,000 examples in 1926–1927.

The 503 was developed from the Fiat 501 and belongs to the same period as the six-cylinder Fiat 512 and the Fiat 509. More cars are in the Fiat collection.

Sources

• Fiat 503, English Wikipedia: production dates, relation to the 501, engine output