Seat 600 celebrates 60th birthday

THE diminutive but iconic Seat 600 has just turned 60 years old and a huge party to celebrate will be held at the Montmeló Grand Prix circuit on September 9, where the manufacturer is hoping to bring as many of the model together as it can.

And a 'new' Seat 600 is due to be launched this year in exactly the same style as the original which hit the forecourts for the first time in June 1957.

The Seat 600 BMS is based upon the original Seat 600D, complete with its fabric foldable roof, a 'vintage' look and light-grey metalllic-twist bodywork with orange stickers, hubcaps and brakes just like the classic version, leather upholstery stitched in orange – and even the doors the late 1950s' Seat 600 had, which open 'the wrong way' and were, worryingly, known as 'suicide doors'.

When the original Seat 600 was launched, it was so popular that the waiting list to buy one ran into over two years.

Its pre-tax price straight off the forecourt was just 70,000 pesetas (around €420).

Seat ceased producing the 600 after just 16 years, in 1973, by which time it had made nearly 800,000 units at its Zona Franca factory in Barcelona.

And just 10 years ago, a total of 10,000 of these were still on the road and in use.

The model was so well-loved – particularly given that, for decades, the 600 was the first car most Spaniards owned after passing their tests – that a huge send-off was given by staff when the last one left the factory: banners were flown reading: “You were born a prince and you die a king.”

It did not only appear in most residents' driveways, but also on TV and film – the Alcántara family from the long-running series Cuéntame ('Tell me') owned one in the 1970s, and was the four-wheeled start of the show in the 1958 film Ya tenemos coche ('We've got a car now'), directed by Julio Salvador and featuring a man who had to sell his stamp collection to buy the family motor.

It has since inspired statues in tribute to the most-Spanish car in history – huge sculptures of the Seat 600 can be found in central streets in Fuengirola (Málaga province), Churriana de la Vega (Granada province) and Martos (Jaén province).

The Seat 600 has been created in miniature and toy models of them are highly sought-after – one collector, Antonio Coria from Mataró (Barcelona province) has over 500 on display in his home.