How does a C7 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 (650 factory horsepower, baby!) that can comfortably sit six average-sized humans sound? If the Fiat Multipla is the kind of car that gives you nightmares, you can always use this view for the project we have here: a $1.1M crowdfunded Fiat Multipla sitting on an ex-gen ‘Vette base that’s being built over in France.
Fiat hit the practicality sweet spot with the Multipla back in 1998, with this 4m-long (157.5 in), 1.87m-wide (73.7 in), and 1.67m-tall (65.7 in) machine providing the said accommodation-for-six along with a generous luggage compartment.
However, the rather unusual proportions and especially the way in which the Italian designers chose to wrap them in sheet metal and three layers of front lights make for the memorable bit.
With so many enthusiasts and non-car people finding the word “ugly” an understatement in the case of the Multipla, the practical contraption will forever be remembered this way, despite the 2004 facelift that brought a more mainstream appearance, which was maintained until the 2010 demise of the model.
To this day, the OG Multipla continues to haunt the Internet via memes, renderings, and even builds.
And it appears that certain enthusiasts might’ve even become attached to it. At least this is what we make of the fact that the Multipla project which brought us here kept showing up in the comments section of Donut Media’s latest video, which talks about some of the wildest builds YouTubers have put together.
You know, stuff like Rich Rebuilds’ Cummins-swapped Tesla Model D six-wheeler or B Is for Build’s R69 GT-R, which puts an R34 body on an R35.
Project 1000tipla
Returning to the Fiat, whose nickname is 1000tipla for obvious reasons, this is being whipped up by two french YouTubers who have built their Vilebrequin channel into a monster with over 1.72 million subscribers—yep, they’re using the same name as a luxury French swimwear brand, but it’s a different industry.
And that’s not all they did. Back in 2020, they took their idea, namely building a 1,000 HP Multipla, to French crowdfunding platform Kiss Kiss Bank Bank.
While their initial goal was set at €50,000($54,048)—as I’ve found out after researching multiple Kickstarter projects, it’s a common practice to set a lower, more achievable goal—the campaign ended up raising a jaw-dropping €1,096,111($1,184,875).
So, is this 1,000 HP Fiat Multipla going to cost $1.1M, are they building it out of gold?
Not really. In the latest video on the project, Vilebrequin breaks down the costs. And it goes like this: 8% is the said platform’s fee, 20% is the VAT collected by the French authorities, while 40% are being used to handle the merch and other bits offered as rewards for the backers.
This leaves the budget for the car at 32%, so somewhere around €350,000 ($379,000). This might still seem a little steep, but if you take your financial advice from us, we’re all screwed, so we’ll refrain from making further comments on the matter.
However, it’s worth noting that the vloggers, whose videos are flooding with humor and unorthodox editing that should have you riding the giggle machine, aren’t doing the work themselves, which means added costs.
A one-off Rocket Bunny widebody
Meanwhile, they’ve convinced Kei Miura, founder of Japanese tuner Tra Kyoto, to build a one-off Pandem Rocket Bunny widebody kit. And, thanks to the power of our rusty French and the approximations of YouTube’s Auto Translate feature (it’s mostly the latter), we can tell you the fiberglass kit cost around 30 grand and required some eleven months of waiting. Surprisingly, nobody had ordered a Rocket Bunny Multipla kit before!
In the clip, which you can find below, the guys do a mock-up installation of the kit, with the Fiat’s body having already been married to the rolling chassis of the C7 Z06.
So no, this isn’t an LS swap, it’s an LT4 swap, with the supercharged 6.2-liter V8, which works with the 8-speed auto, set to be pushed to at least 1,000 hp, as mentioned above.
Perhaps a roof chop would’ve helped with those proportions, but keeping the awkward look of the Fiat Multipla is the whole purpose of the project, remember?
Thus, while French digital artist Dourfer Robin (aka winnipowa) created some renderings to preview the machine—check out his Insta post below—the look of the Fiat with the Rocket Bunny kit installed is more clearly visible in the renderings created by the Japanese developer, which are included in the video.
And you can bet your project car money that the YouTubers mention Bugatti’s name at least once in the video, so perhaps we’ll see a drag race against a Molsheim hypercar once the build is done, which should happen later this year.
Update [July 10, 2022]: The pair of vloggers behind the Vilebrequin YouTube channel has showcased the final look of project 1000tipla, with a big name dictating the livery of the track toy.
