Fiat 500

Fiat Nuova 500, designed by Dante Giacosa, 1957 Dante Giacosa, an engineer who spent 43 years at Fiat, worked out how to make a real car in almost no space, and the friendly rounded shape follows from that packaging rather than from styling for its own sake. Launched in 1957, it became a symbol of postwar Italy, and MoMA has since acquired an original-condition 1968 Fiat 500F for its collection. Pick it as the counterpart to the Mini: two answers to the same small-car problem, reached from opposite ends of the car.