This Impossibly Low Fiat Panda Looks Like A Videogame Glitch In Real Life

Carmagheddon Fiat Panda Topshot
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What do you think of when someone says the words “low car”? Do you picture the impossibly squat proportions of a Porsche 550 Spyder, or maybe a Toyota Celsior slammed on coilovers so hard that the rear wheel wells had to be reshaped to clear the tires? While those are both solid picks, neither holds a candle to this original Fiat Panda that looks like it’s clipping through the ground. Barely more than a roof and a hood, it’s like a Grand Theft Auto glitch come to life, and it’s not just a static object.

Made by Italian YouTube channel Carmagheddon, this Fiat Panda was sliced in half horizontally to create the head-bending vehicle you see on this page. While it may seem like it came out of nowhere if you’re only on the English side of YouTube, Carmagheddon has a history of outlandish builds, from a drivable bathroom to a Piaggio Ape boat. If you know a little bit of Italian or just have faith in YouTube’s auto-translated captions, I recommend giving it a watch.

Carmagheddon Fiat Panda Chassis

Underneath this half-Panda sits a fairly simple platform chassis with handlebar steering and an unusual five-wheel arrangement. Two wheels at the front steer, two wheels at the back act as a dead axle, and one wheel in the middle is powered by a gasoline engine in a moped-like arrangement. It’s resoundingly weird yet it makes perfect sense at the same time.

Carmagheddon Fiat Panda Driving Position

Mind you, the five-wheeled arrangement isn’t the only oddness going on here. The driver basically lies down in a fetal position so if the windows were actually windows, the driving position and go-kart-esque frame would completely ruin the illusion. As a solution, the driver sees where they’re going through a camera feed. Imagine driving with latency in real life. Sounds hard, right?

Carmagheddon Fiat Panda 1

If you’re thinking that there’s no way a little chassis like that could move a car, get ready to be surprised. A 1980 Fiat Panda 750 weighed just 1,576 pounds when new including all the running gear, the interior, the lamps, and all that. Once you slice and dice it so only the upper sheetmetal remains, it likely only weighs as much as a person. Maybe a big person, like an NFL linebacker who’s 240 pounds of pure beef, if we include the chassis, but a person. If it only needs to move slowly, it doesn’t need much motor to get a leisurely pace going.

Carmagheddon Fiat Panda 2

The end result is an absurdly low drivable car. Sure, it likely doesn’t go very fast and it’s obviously not legal on the public roads, but it’s still a drivable car that looks stuck in the earth. Needless to say, it’s also an attention magnet. Bring your Lamborghinis, McLarens, and Paganis, this will still turn the most heads. It’s as much an object of pure weirdness as it is art, and that’s what makes it so appealing.

(Photo credits: Carmagheddon)

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33 thoughts on “This Impossibly Low Fiat Panda Looks Like A Videogame Glitch In Real Life”

  1. I adamantly believed that this was remote control from all the videos, and didn’t even think twice that it was legit human driven.
    Fantastic.
    Edit: I can’t believe you guys are arguing pedantry on a Friday night, holy shmoly.

  2. I think it’s cool but think the general flack is coming from it’s a go cart with half a car on it, not a car, and the article is written as it’s a car, a la:

    “The end result is an absurdly low drivable car.”

    Even the Low Res Car is more of car than this, and that’s admittedly an art project.

    Look, I can take a dump in a box, stick half a Fiat on top of it and call it a car if that’ll make you feel better, I got spare time, but for your sake, for your reader’s sake, be honest and call a pipe a pipe.

  4. This is one of those stupid ideas done so well i cant help but admire.
    Pity about the horrible scraping and rattling noises.With the body done so cleanly that jars more than it should

    1. I think everyone saw the same video and, sometimes, we all come to the same conclusion. There was no working together, it’s just one of those things that sometimes happens. We aim to have the majority of our posts be something you can’t find anywhere else.

  7. What do you think of when someone says the words “low car”?

    The plasti-dipped 350Z – and to a lesser extent the Subaru – on the Donut Media channel. 🙂

  9. This is so wonderfully absurd! I’d love to see something like a Fiero done this way – complete with flat fold-up faux-glass lens pieces to create the effect of working pop-up headlights coming straight out of the ground.

  13. There is a surprising amount of negativity for what should just be a giggle. Its a silly gokart, one anyone should be proud to roll up to a cars and coffee in (albeit only rolling from the other side of the coffee shop parking lot). If this is such a stupid idea, then everything Garage54 on youtube does shouldn’t even be discussed (double wide car, springs for connecting rods, bearings instead of bushings in suspensions). Its hilarious.

  14. I am disappointed by the fact that nobody in this comments section so far has a concept of art or fun.

    This isn’t supposed to make sense, it’s supposed to be a silly fun amusing novelty at car shows, and that’s okay. This isn’t “stupid,” it’s just a bunch of guys having fun building stuff.

    1. Agreed. It’s a silly project for fun. Like the classic automotive practical joke of reversing a car’s body on the frame (when cars had frames…) and driving it so that it looked like it was going in reverse on the highway. This is just a modern take — do something unexpected with a car body. As a car nut and a video gaming nut, this is guaranteed to make me laugh.

      1. I’ve always wanted to build a backwards car like that, particularly for drag racing, because… I just think it would be funny to see a car driving ridiculously fast backwards down a drag strip! Same with push-me-pull-you cars with a front end at both ends so it’s driving forward no matter what direction it’s going, and “shorty” cars with a significantly reduced wheelbase.

        People take cars way too seriously nowadays, I love seeing people having goofy fun with them and all the creativity that comes with it.

      1. It’s in Italy. A Panda doesn’t rust there like everything does in the UK (where I guess someone is from if they think Austin is somehow awesome). So they ruined a classic Panda Mk1. Not cool.

        1. There are plenty of rusty pandas in Italy, and in my experience they corrode from the ground up (especially when left in a muddy field).

          I prefer to imagine that this started off as a regular panda and just got lower and lower as they trimmed off the flaky bits.

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