Max Fun in a Most Minimal Minivan.(Escape Roads)

Byline: JOHN F. KATZ

The Stow 'n Go seats that fold neatly flat into the floors of 2005-06 Chrysler minivans have been hailed as one of the most clever innovations in the annals of transportation. And rightly so-except Chrysler didn't invent them. Fiat did, 50 years earlier.

Tiny, low-cost vehicles were long Fiat's specialty. The two-seat 500 Topolino of 1936-54 was one of the best-loved small cars of its time, but the rear-engine, unibody 600 of 1955 fit four adults within an even shorter wheelbase of 78.7 inches.

In 1956 Fiat created the van-like Multipla by simply moving the driving controls forward to a new third row of seating ahead of the 600's front wheels. The sedan and van even shared some body stampings and glass; though the Multipla came with lower overall gearing, worm-and-roller instead of worm-and-segment steering, and a coil- and-wishbone front suspension rather than the sedan's transverse leaf-spring.

Actually, there were two Multipla models: a "4-5 seater,'' whose two rows of bench seating folded flat into a bed; and the "6-seater,'' with a front bench and then two rows of individual seats that disappeared into a cargo floor as flat as a pancake.

From 1969 to 1980, when Jim Manbeck fixed Fiats for Syd Baron Auto in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, the dealership used the 1959 Multipla seen here as an all-purpose shuttle. Manbeck bought the Multipla when the dealership closed in 1984.

All four rear seats feel like thinly padded folding chairs, which is exactly what they are. Purely in terms of space, even the way-back row is as comfortable for adults as that of a modern minivan. You have to respect that in a vehicle less than 12 feet long and barely over five feet, two inches high! On the other hand, driving a Multipla is a little like driving an old Volkswagen microbus, only without the comfort and performance.