Italian Mechanic Sets Guinness Record With 19.5-Inch-Wide Fiat Panda
By Aboki Forex —
A 30-year-old Italian mechanic, Andrea Marazzi, has built the world’s thinnest driveable car. The vehicle is a modified 1993 Fiat Panda, measuring just 19.5 inches wide, and Guinness World Records has officially recognised it.
Marazzi spent about a year transforming a salvaged Fiat Panda into the electric car nicknamed the “Flat Fiat.” The project took shape at his family’s auto dismantling business before it was completed in Bagnolo Cremasco, Italy.
From junkyard joke to world record
What started as a joke at the family business became a serious challenge. Marazzi said the idea came to him while working at the junkyard. He described it as a “silly idea” that gradually developed into an attempt to create “something no one else has.”
The finished car has four wheels, one headlight and a single seat. Despite its extremely narrow body, it remains roadworthy and has enough room for Marazzi to sit and drive it. Marazzi has reportedly driven the vehicle around the narrow streets of Italy.
Key figures and parts retained
The Flat Fiat weighs about 582 pounds and can reach a top speed of 9.3 mph. Marazzi managed to retain more than 90 per cent of the Panda’s original components even after drastically reducing its size.
He chose the Fiat Panda because of the model’s global popularity and its history of unusual modifications. “There have been Pandas with bathtubs, Pandas made of wood, but nobody had made one this thin,” he said.
Message for people with learning difficulties
Marazzi believes his dyslexia has contributed to his creative approach to problem-solving. He hopes the record-breaking creation will encourage people with learning difficulties to pursue unusual ideas and turn them into reality.
The project has drawn attention for combining creativity, engineering and recycled vehicle parts to produce a fully functional car from an otherwise discarded vehicle.