Italian fan squeezes Fiat Panda to one-third its original width

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A Fiat Panda was shrunk to one third of its original width by an Italian fan.

1993 hatch looks stock in profile, swaps its ICE for a tiny electric motor.

Creator hopes skinny Panda earns official Guinness World Record recognition.

Car builders usually dream about making vehicles faster, wider, lower, or more powerful. Andrea Marazzi went in a completely different direction. Instead of stretching a Fiat Panda into something outrageous, like this brain-scrambling M3 from China , he squeezed one down until it became barely wider than the person driving it.

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The result is an original first-generation Fiat Panda that’s just 19.7 inches (500 mm) wide. While it looks like something created with questionable Photoshop skills, the tiny machine is very real and actually moves under its own power despite being so skinny it only has room for a single headlight.

Squeezed By Hand Over A Year

Marazzi, an Italian craftsman and content creator, spent around a year bringing the project to life. According to reports, the build was completed largely by hand using a donor Panda from 1993. The goal wasn’t simply to create a static display piece but a drivable vehicle that retained as much of the original car’s character as possible.

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Much of the 57.5-inch (1,460 mm) wide donor vehicle remains, and viewed in profile you could even mistake it for a completely standard Panda . The roof, doors, wheels, and numerous other components were incorporated into the final design. The challenge was fitting everything into a package narrow enough to accommodate only a single occupant seated in the center.

Related: Fiat’s Pandina Replacement Has Three Seats And The Driver Sits In The Middle

The original gasoline engine obviously wasn’t going to fit. Instead, the ultra-slim Panda relies on a compact electric powertrain fed by a pair of 12-volt batteries. Performance won’t trouble any supercars. Top speed is reportedly around 9 mph (15 kmh), making it better suited to leisurely demonstrations than setting lap records. This Panda isn’t approved for public roads, and being so slow and – we’d imagine – liable to topple over, it’s probably better that it stays away from other traffic.

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A Big-Foot Brother

The unusual Panda made a public appearance at Panda in Pandino last year, a gathering dedicated to Fiat ‘s beloved city car in its home country. Unsurprisingly, it attracted plenty of attention from visitors who’d probably never seen a car with such crazy proportions.

Marazzi, whose other projects appear to include a Big Foot-style, car-crushing Panda monster truck, is pursuing recognition as the narrowest car ever built, according to a report in Design Boom from last year. It’s certainly hard to imagine anyone building anything thinner, or how his next project could be even sillier.

@tutti_pazzi_per_marazzi 🥇🤐 #narrowest #car #panda #fiat ♬ original sound – EpicGamingMusic

@tutti_pazzi_per_marazzi ahlelele

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♬ Ahlelele Ahlelas Scary – bariszortik

Lead image Andrea Marazzi