Tag Archives: Fiat

Bizzarrini, Fiat, Giacosa

1977 Fiat 128

We haven't been stingy with affection for the classic Volkswagen Golf on these pages. Taken out of context - no divided Germany, no fuel crisis - it's a remarkable automotive design, though it may have been driven by necessity more than we care to admit today. Capable of relatively high-speed travel in full comfort with all of the features required in a car and nothing more, it's a high water mark in the automotive design world.

Well, it owes some of its excess to none other than the Fiat 128. After all, it was chief engineer Dante Giacosa and his team at Fiat that brought the world the East-West layout of the engine and transmission found in nearly every FWD car today. It is even claimed that the team at Volkswagen disassembled a 128 while developing the original Golf platform.

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1972 Fiat 124 Wagon

Manual transmission entry-level station wagons have exited the US market entirely, leaving only a handful of wagon options in their wake. Nobody paying attention should be surprised by this - the manual transmission faces near-certain demise in North America, and crossovers have replaced the station wagon as the most practical family car.

Today's Fiat 124 is comparable to the recently departed Golf Sportwagen, taking up entry level family transportation duty. The twin cam Lampredi engines were not available on the wagons; in their place came a trusty OHV 4-cylinder. The 64hp unit wasn't overly burdened by the ~2000lb curb weight, but upgrading to a classic SOHC 1300 or 1500cc unit from an X1/9, or perhaps a DOHC unit from the 124 model-range would be a good upgrade.

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2013 Fiat 500 Turbo Cattiva

We hadn't heard of the Cattiva edition of the Fiat 500 until we found this example during our search this evening. The special appearance package includes a darkened headlights, taillights, and side markers, as well as a black paint on the roof and spoiler, and a dark finish to the wheels.

More interesting than the Cattiva package is the fact that this 500 is a Turbo model. To end up with a 500 Turbo, you start with an Abarth, detune the engine somewhat to 135hp (basically remove the sport button overboost on the Abarth), and add some comfort back in the form of a muffler, soft suspension tuning, and a bit of suspension travel. To us, it represents the best of both worlds, though we might be convinced to delete the muffler to achieve that Abarth growl.

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Centro Stile Fiat, Fiat, Uncategorized

1994 Fiat Coupé

The Fiat Coupé fits squarely in the center of one of our favorite categories of European cars, but we don't really have a good name for it. The Audi TT, Alfa Romeo Brera, and to some extent, the BMW Z3 all join the Coupé in a group of small coupes and roadsters that place a major emphasis on style without feeling a need to maximize performance.

We've said it before, and we think it bears repeating: most driving on the street is substantially below the grip limit of a given vehicle, and most street driving inputs do not require perfect body control or steering feel. A car designed to perform well in everyday driving can be more satisfying to drive on the street than a car set up for ultimate performance. So, we really find nothing wrong with these styling statement coupes, where some turbo lag and uncontrolled body motion might accompany more aggressive driving.

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Fiat, Pininfarina

1972 Fiat 130 Coupé

We had the big coupe out last evening, driving up and down Telegraph in Detroit in search of American iron to pick on. Our Maserati Coupe GT seats four pretty comfortably, and doesn't have much trouble getting out of its own way, much less keeping up with American muscle. We like to think of the Coupe GT as a newer take on the Fiat 130 format - large, comfortable, quick, and sleek.

Former Fiat chairman Giovanni Agnelli had a 130 in his collection, though his was converted to a shooting brake for added style and convenience. Today, a Fiat Chairperson might be seen in a Maserati Levante Trofeo, or a Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8, or if we're very lucky, a Maserati Quattroporte GTS. The crisp lines of the 130 Coupé are the essence of style, and make an appearance on the Ferrari 400i as well as on the Bitter SC. But, low-slung coupes are no longer the norm among the business elite in the day and age of the luxury crossover.

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Fiat, Italdesign

1987 Fiat Panda 4×4 Sisley

The Fiat Panda is a good reminder of how absurd the new car market is these days. The 4x4 variant of the Panda was an odd option, purchased by those with some sort of need for four-wheel-drive, but otherwise fairly rare. Today, it can seem as though Panda 4x4 type four-wheel-drive economy cars are the norm - think Ford EcoSport, Buick Encore etc - and that traditional economy cars are the exception.

We've mentioned before that many people find our website in search of the Panda 4x4 Sisley edition. It's basically an Italian version of the Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer edition, or the Subaru Forester L.L. Bean edition - a collaboration between an outdoor lifestyle clothing company and a vehicle with some level of outdoors or off-road potential.

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Centro Stile Fiat, Fiat

1997 Fiat Barchetta

The original Fiat 124 Spider production ceased in 1985, leaving about ten years between the 124 Spider and the Barchetta replacement. Compare this to the continuity at Alfa Romeo, where the Spider nameplate didn't skip a beat between the Series 4 spider and the 916 series Spider, swapping out RWD for FWD without so much as a name change. That Fiat abandoned its old nameplate to position the Barchetta as a new model was wise to us, as it allowed the Barchetta at least a chance at being evaluated in its own context.

In our experience, the formula for a hot hatch doesn't feel out of place in a roadster. Sports car reflexes are lost when the chassis is mined from a FWD economy car, but the result is far from hopeless. We've spent a lot of time behind the wheel of a first-generation Audi TT - a car that by all logic should be a disapointment - and yet the car just feels like a droptop GTI. No need to fret the FWD, in our opinion.

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1984 Fiat 127 Fiorino

The Fiorino on this Fiat 127 pickup name caught us up for a minute, as we confused it with the Fiorano test track at the Ferrari manufacturing center in Maranello. Look, if you owned over 50% of Ferrari, wouldn't you be tempted to borrow just a handful of names? How about an Alfa Romeo 75 GTO? Or a Fiat 130 Coupe Lusso? Again, we were confused by a vowel and this never actually happened, but the idea is pretty amusing.

The Fiat 127 would be analogous to a Volkswagen Polo, but since the Polo was never offered in a pickup truck version, we'll compare it to the slightly larger Golf Caddy. In this comparison, the Giugiaro-bodied Golf takes the prize on design. Really, no compact from the car stands a chance against the German Golf. They squeezed the very best from Giugiaro on that design, that's for sure.

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1973 Fiat 128 Coupe

As we touched on yesterday, the North American automotive players struggled in the 1970s to adapt to changing consumer demands. The Japanese automakers ultimately succeeded in taking on the domestics, but Italian car companies had a similar advantage - rather than shrinking down their offerings and downsizing their powertrains, they were simply loading their current products onto ships and delivering them to the North American market.

The Fiat 128 Coupe is a reasonably sized vehicle for personal use in Italy, where a contemporary Mustang would have met difficulty in navigating narrow and crowded streets. And its 1100cc SOHC 4-cylinder was a continuation of Fiat engineering success, rather than a rework of something from the European division, as was the Mustang's Lima 4-cylinder. Though less appreciated among enthusiasts today, the 128 brought front wheel drive to the market back in 1969, when American cars were roasting their rear tires with power from 800cfm double pumper carbs.

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Fiat, Ghia, Giacosa

1968 Fiat 500 Jolly Replica Service

Fiat 500s aren't so common today, but the original model sold to the tune of nearly 4 million units from introduction to end of production. Of the units produced, about 650 received the Jolly - Joker in Italian - conversion at Ghia. It is said that of those 650 examples, a mere 100 or so survive to this day.

Original units trade for shockingly high sums these days, with 6-figure sales becoming the norm at the auction houses. We understand that these are truly rare and unique vehicles, so as stunning as the price tag may be, it does make sense. Now, were the original units accompanied by years of design and development work, or do they resemble something more along the lines of hasty decapitation? We'd say the truth lies much closer to the later. The service advertised here basically takes a standard 500 and replicates the original Jolly body style. In our eyes, you get 99% of the Jolly experience for a quarter of the price.

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