Italian automaker Fiat had been established for twelvemonth before try out its manus in the sports - car market . As with many manufacturers during the sixties , Fiat used one of their existing model as the basis for their first sport - cable car offering , lead in the Fiat 1200 .
In this article , you will find out about Fiat ’s sports - automobile history , from the Pinin Farina - style 1200 to the wildly successful Fiat 124 Sports Coupe and Spider – both operate off the winner of subsist Fiat sedan , producing sleek , sportsmanlike additions to the lineup .
finally , however , Fiat had to pull out of the sports - car plot , first by halting production on its sports cars in North America , and later on in Europe as well . Fiats had always carry a repute for being moderately undependable , which finally forced them out of the market place . Still , Fiat was and remains a high - timber carmaker .
Let ’s begin our exploration of Fiat on the next page with the 1200 and 1500 .
To learn more about Fiat and other sports cars, see:
Fiat 1200/1500/1500S/1600S
The maker of the Fiat 1200 , 1500 , 1500S , and 1600S model , Fiat has been the General Motors of Italy for as long as anyone can remember and , like the American firm , receive into the sport - car stage business comparatively belatedly . Fiat ’s first postwar move in this direction was the 8V of 1952 - 54 , but this was purely a limited - yield lenience ( only 114 build ) while the 1100Transformabileof 1955 - 59 was ugly and unsuccessful . Then , with helper from Pinin Farina and OSCA ( Officina Spedalizzata Costruzione Automobili ) , Fiat finally got serious about mutant cars in 1959 , when it set about down the road to building the 1200 , 1500 , 1500S , and 1600S models .
One of Fiat ’s best - sellers at the prison term was the 1200 sedan , a chunky , uninventive four - door with unit - steel grammatical construction , coil - natural spring independent front abeyance , and a hot rear axle suspended and located by semi - elliptic leaf springs . This hardly seemed the clobber of which sport cars are made , but technical boss Dante Giacosa knew better . Retaining the sedan ’s powertrain , floorpan and some inner consistency panel , he call in PF to build him a sports elevator car .
PF ( which always insist it had nothing to do with theTransformabile ) produce a unsubdivided but attractive two - butt exchangeable complete with wind - down room access windows – and accordingly bring down the declaration to progress yield bodyshells in quantity . Fiat would provide floorpans ; PF would build , paint , and trim the body before returning them to Fiat ’s Lingotto factory for final assembly .
Meantime , Fiat had decide to offer a pick of engines : the sedan chair ’s footslog 1221 - cc ohv four and a newly plan 1.5 - liter twincam unit . Fiat had planned to build the latter , but turn instead to OSCA , the Bologna - based engine and race - motorcar specialist then run by the Maserati brothers .
Both new models were reveal in 1959 : the 1200 Cabriolet with 58 horsepower and the 80 - bhp , OSCA - engine 1500S. As the twincam version was n’t meant to be a volume point , it was will to the pushrod two - seater to establish Fiat ’s sport - motorcar credentials , which it did in short lodge .
Both were stylish and well equipped little tourers , and the 1500S was as fast as an Alfa 1.3 Giulietta . PF soon produced a removable hardtop as a factory - approved extra . Also with Fiat ’s blessing , it built and marketed a desex - ceiling manikin that looked rather like PF ’s later Lancia Flavia coupe intention .
The next six years brought numerous melioration to these established but odoriferous - manipulation open Fiats . The 1500S gained standard front record bracken at the death of 1960 , then became the 1600S via permutation of an enlarged OSCA - build engine jactitation 90 bhp .
The original 1200 was likewise upgraded in March 1963 , being “ re - engined ” with the latest 1481 - cc pushrod four from the novel Lampredi - plan saloon to become a 1500 Cabriolet . This bring 72 bhp and more torque , bump top speed to about 90 mph . At the same time , the 1600S acquired rearward magnetic disc brakes and a modified four - lamp olfactory organ .
The most significant alteration of all appeared in March 1965 : a brand - unexampled 5 - upper all - selsyn gearbox for both models . It did n’t increase their performance , but it did make them easier to beat back . It also suggest at Fiat ’s future , for this same gearbox would come back in 1966 for the heir 124 Sport Coupe / Spider and the 124/125 sedans on which they were base – the most successful postwar cars in Fiat history .
Fiat/Bertone X1/9
Fiat ’s X1/9 was n’t the first mid - engine production sports car , but it has been one of the most long-suffering . Announced in 1972 , it was elegant , nipping , and full of character , thoughtfully equip and remarkable value for money . That the X1/9 was “ right ” from day one is confirmed by the fact that it ’s still being built 16 years later with few major change .
It was n’t Fiat ’s first low - priced sports car , either . The jumbo Italian automaker had enjoy good success in the 1960s with coupe and spider versions of its small tail - engine 850 sedan chair , though these were showy economy models , not true sports cars .
Bertone had supplied consistency for the 850 wanderer though , and machinate the X1/9 ( Fiat ’s internal task computer code ) to replace it . At first the idea was for Bertone to make the new middie on a freelance basis from Fiat - supplied components , but Fiat quickly recognise the intention as quite practical for mass production – i.e. , “ be effective . ” The rest , as they say , is story .
The Fiat X1/9 follow the Lotus Europa and VW - Porsche 914 in being a “ corporate kit car , ” with two - seat sports bodywork over a rearranged radical of component borrowed from a workaday sedan chair . In this case , the donor was Fiat ’s front - drive 128 , introduced in 1969 . It was a round-eyed thing to locate its transverse power package midships to force the rear wheels , thus creating a mini Lamborghini Miura . direction also came from the 128 shelf , as did brakes , though the Xl/9 benefitted from its “ outfit ” piece by getting discs at the rear as well as the front .
consider its free 87 - inch wheelbase and straighten overall size of it , the Fiat X1/9 was a marvel of blank space efficiency . Not only was there nice cabin elbow room but two trunks : one prow and one aft ( behind the midships powertrain ) . The fuel tankful lived twixt locomotive engine bay and cockpit , the spare inside behind the veracious seat . Bertone ’s wedgy styling was up to the minute then and still looks good now , while the structure was evidently quite strong .
A good affair , too , because besides having two door and three admittance panels ( one for each bole plus engine cover ) , the X1/9 consistence had a Targa - dash lift - off cap panel above the cockpit that could be stow in the front trunk . The all - independent suspension was by summary curl - sprung MacPherson / Chapman prance , thus further slim space invasion . In all , a cunning , well thought - out package .
And a nicely balanced one , thanks to the lower diametrical moment of inactiveness and reduced body scroll associated with the midships layout . Weight distribution , originally 41/59 percent front / rear , was barely idealistic , but steering and hiatus geometry help recompense , making the X1/9 manoeuvrable , fun to push and not at all way-out .
Initially , the X1/9 was n’t as fast as it looked . Its 1.3 - liter sohc four , inherited from the 128 , may have been fine for Europe but could n’t cut it in the U.S. , bogged down by emissions controller and the extra impoundment of federally required safety machine paraphernalia ( including too - obvious “ crash ” bumpers ) . In fact , overall performance was n’t much good than that of the increasingly wheezing MGB .
Fiat partly answer the problem in both markets for 1980 by substitute the 1498 - cc engine from its then - new Ritmo/ Strada sedan , and junking the original 4 - amphetamine transaxle for a longer - striding 5 - hurrying , which also helped economy . The undermentioned year , Bosch L - Jetronic fuel injection replaced the previous Weber carburetor for pocket-size amplification in top executive and torsion .
These and underage annual decorative and equipment revisions are pretty much the extent of change to date , except that Fiat settle to get out of the sports - car commercial enterprise in the other ' fourscore and fix up for Bertone to take over complete manufacture and marketing of the X1/9 . This has lead to various “ special editions ” in recent years , though the introductory railcar remains the same .
meanwhile , Fiat had decided to bail out of the U.S. market place after geezerhood of steadily light sales . Thus , if you want a new X1/9 nowadays , you ’ll bribe it through the Malcolm Bricklin organization and ante up up of $ 13,000 for a car with Bertone badges .
A final point . Fiat ’s Lancia division would use the kit - car approach for the larger ( and not very democratic ) genus Beta - base Monte Carlo of 1975 ( deal briefly in the U.S. as the Scorpio and developed , incidentally , as project X1/20 ) . Today ’s Toyota MR2 and Pontiac Fiero surveil the same pattern . Who ’s next ?
Fiat 124 Sport Spider
The Fiat 124 Sport Spider did n’t get the quotation it deserved in its other years . A few athletics cars , the Alfa Romeo Duetto for exemplar , are to the full value only after they ’re get . Some – most any Porsche – win accolades the here and now they appear . Still others seem well regarded while in production , then their reputation disappearance .
Perhaps it ’s the Fiat line that tarnished the 124 Sport Spider ’s legacy . Possibly it ’s that the car was n’t very fast . possibly its econo - sedan root and friendly Leontyne Price painted a footer paradigm . But as its two - decennary run unfolded , the Fiat 124 Sport Spider came to be considered an eminently enjoyable example of a fading golden age .
“ It ’s a highly refined sports railroad car with appealing styling , excellent drive and manipulation , and rather pocket-sized all - out operation , ” saidRoad & Trackin 1976 . “ It is n’t as fresh as tomorrow by any means but it has survived the test of the eld to become a classic in its own time . ”
As with many a sports car , beneath the Spider could be found a sedan ; in this pillow slip , Fiat ’s small 124 four - door . Starting in 1968 , the Italian giant actually based two sporting cars on this program : an windy four - passenger coupe with the standard 95.3 - column inch wheelbase and the Spider on a 5.5 - inch shorter couple . For the sporting applications , the basic 124 chassis was altered only with higher spring rates , wider trail and cycle , and all phonograph record instead of disc / drum brakes .
Pininfarina did the styling and the Spider never really looked outdated, even integrating 1970s federal “crash bumpers” without much disruption. The arms-out driving position was too Italian for most, and despite a padded “back seat,” this ragtop was a 2+2 in theory only. But the five-speed gearbox shifted crisply, instrumentation was thorough, and no sports car had a soft top that folded easier or sealed better.
The 96 - hp 1.5 - cubic decimetre enlargement of the 124 railway locomotive boasted a new twincam head with serrated - whang cam cause , a universe first . Displacement and tune up fluctuated during the ’ 70s to meet U.S. smog rules . The car accomplish its ultimate form by 1981 as the Spider 2000 , with a fuel - injected 102 - hp 2.0 - l . Fiat fly the American market in 1984 , but transferred wanderer product and merchandising to the coachbuilder , which sell an kick upstairs edition , the Pininfarina Azzurra , for another twelvemonth or so in the United States .
Greatness does n’t command a fun car to earn height after it retire . That it was peachy in its own time , on its own terms , is quite enough .
