The car auction listing sheet showed a beautiful blue, 1972 Dodge station wagon, formally owned by the mayor, with a big block, hidden headlights, and air conditioning. Just the thing for a traveling family in a climate that was -30 degrees in the winter and 100 degrees in the summer. Alas, the bidding took it out of the bargain range favored by my Dad. Something else that wasn’t really a bargain, though it was cheap, followed him home though, which after a few unfortunate events allowed me to have my first car and more than a little wrenching experience.
My Dad was afflicted with a mania about auctions, rarely missing one or coming come home empty-handed. Usually, this was harmless enough like the time I became the owner of a Kawasaki 100 that would never run right, most likely because the carb needle had been replaced by a drill bit resulting in it never going more than 100 feet or so before spluttering to a stop. So rather than return empty handed after failing to win the bid on the Dodge wagon he had managed to buy a FIAT 128 which hadn’t attracted many bids at all.
We were lucky enough that every so often, my Dad saved enough to take us back to the old country for a month or two. One of the negatives about the immigrant experience was that my relatives really didn’t get to see us kids much. International phoning was prohibitively expensive so letters were how we communicated. This was pretty tough on the grandparents, though my Gran dutifully sent me The Beano, Buster, and The Beezer comics regularly which I enjoyed immensely. Enough so, that I had an incentive to run along the highway to the mailbox, braving the possible appearance of the fearful car-based ambulances to get special brown paper-wrapped package. Every few summers we flew off to see the relatives and broaden our horizons about our heritage. I personally wanted to broaden my relatively comprehensive knowledge of cars and prepared by studying my Top Trump cards and taking out books on world cars from the library.
My maternal Granddad worked for a Ford Dealer. I remember him having nice little Mark 1 and Mark 2 Escorts which seemed like great cars as they moved smartly around the roundabouts and hummed along the motorways. That side of the family had Capri 1600s and Granadas that seemed so tidy and efficient compared to the dull old Mopars at home. Young me thought all cars should be like that, 4 cylinders and 4 speeds and the ability to corner and stop without a lot of undue body motion. I looked up the 0-60 times and top speeds of these little cars recently and of course, Polaras and Furys were way faster than anything other than the 2.8 Granadas. Even the Coal Wagon, which had a few mods and an RV cam would probably outrun those little cars on a long hill. I can’t find a single picture in my files of any of these cars so I will remind myself that as respectable and proper as my Granddad turned out to be, he at one time rocked this look on a BSA motorcycle.
Anyone who has been following along and has an understanding of either genetics and/or children being a product of their environment, might anticipate that my Dad’s side may have been different automotively. My aunt had a new green Peugeot 304 wagon with a nice tan interior which had some stalling issue causing all manner of scary traffic moments. Also nominally, on the plus side my Granddad was willing to lend a car to us to use. Much less on the plus side was the condition of his cars. He had a friend who would help him get them through the stringent MOT in place at the time. Apparently, he always had something to drive as can be seen in this undated photo of him with some old heap or other.
The first visit we borrowed a Green Hillman Imp which overheated as a result of my rev-happy father and a trip down the M1 motorway. Next visit we were lent a G-Reg (1968) VW Beetle which performed well car, other than its frightful backfiring on deceleration. We toured the Northeast in that VW visiting castles, cathedrals and other ancient things that didn’t exist in the new world.
The visit after there was a white Morris Marina with a maroon vinyl roof which must have been the last straw for everyone involved as on any trip after that we rented a car. One fantastic summer though, my Grandad had a company car to use. Actually, a Ford Fiesta 1100 panel van which was just a Fiesta with no back windows or seat. I have indelible memories of him taking me and my brother all over the fishing villages, old shipbuilding sites, and the abandoned collieries of the North East. Plus the odd stop off at a pub for him to refuel with a pint. I really loved riding in a sharp little car like that and that’s what I wanted my first car to be like just like the reading I had done in Road and Track that told me that European cars were far superior to North American ones. I wanted a Euro car.
Which takes us back to the 128. Very shortly after it arrived home it became apparent there was a major issue with the transmission. There was a mechanic familiar with FIATS in town who said he could fix it. The real complication was getting the part which took two long months to arrive, presumably on a slow boat from Torino. Other than the electric fuel pump shutting down occasionally until the mechanic adapted a Honda one to fit, the car did what it was supposed to do in a noisy but competent way. It went hunting, ice fishing, even a family holiday over the Going To the Sun Road in Montana. Theresa’s reasonable room in it and it proved to be good in the snow with its Firestone Town and Country tires. My Dad who was still revving the absolute heck out of everything was in his element as the little 1300 was willing to do just that.
I had been on my learner’s permit in the Polara and doing well so my Dad wanted me to switch to the manual 128 for my driving instruction so I found myself one pleasant evening finally getting to drive a real European car on the road. Fiat 128s have an odd driving position, where you stretch out your arms to get far enough away from the closely set little pedals. The same closely set little pedals that allowed me to slide my foot off of the gas pedal and under the brake, which for a driver on their first outing on the highway with a manual transmission was a big problem. Preoccupied with my inability to slow down I turned late into the driveway, the front wheel caught the ditch, and the next thing I knew we were hanging by the seatbelts in an upside-down car. We unbelted, fell to the roof, opened the doors, and climbed out, both unscathed. My Dad was fine about the accident but very worried someone would happen along the road and tell the police. Within a couple of minutes of the accident the car was flipped back onto its wheels and driven into the yard.
Sadly the car had a smashed windscreen and a dented roof, though it wasn’t worth much before the accident, so it wasn’t a big financial loss. As often was the case in these stories, a solution presented itself quite quickly. A wife of a co-worker of my Dad’s had a timing belt go in her 1973 128 wagon. It had a mere 20,000 around-town miles on it and he offered it to us for $100. My Dad jumped on the offer, bought me a Haynes manual, and told me to get wrenching. He, being an expert rigger, supervised me while we set up a lifting arrangement for the engine but for the most part, I was on my own. It wasn’t that complicated. The engine drops out underneath and everything was lightweight enough that it was easy to handle. The wagon had an 1100 engine with slightly lower final drive than the sedan so I went with the transaxle from that to get a bit more acceleration. Within a few weeks, the little 3 door was on the road and I resumed driving.
The wagon had smaller bumpers on it which were lighter and looked better. That is until I did the exact same thing again with my foot and the pedals and I managed to drive the car into the side of a building while parking. The non- energy absorbing bumpers did nothing to protect the car, so the grille got pushed back and something hit the distributor which broke the cap. We got a ride home in a neighbor’s Dodge Aspen Roadrunner and returned the next day with a glued-together distributor cap and rotor and drove the FIAT home. I had some spare body parts kicking around and after a weekend it was all back together. I have no recollection of installing the big bumpers from the sedan on the wagon, but the pictures seem to show that.
I passed my driving test in the 128 and drove it to all the places a teenager with a car goes. There was an incident during the getaway phase of a stupid teen prank when I decided to pass a co-conspirator’s Chevy van on a corner. The maneuver was going quite well until oncoming traffic caused me to jerk to the right leading to a bit of paint swapping between my car and the van when we touched fenders. I then ended up commuting to college 30 miles away putting some miles on the little wagon. The mashup of the 1973 and 1974 bits caused a cold starting problem where the car would fire up fine if plugged in but I had to start it between classes when it was below minus 10 Celsius if I expected to make it home. Something it didn’t do one hunting trip when it made a pocka pocka glank sound signalling the expiry of the timing belt and with it a valve. I towed it home figuring that was the end of the 128. Happily fate intervened again with an ad in the paper for a 128 engine for $100. I spent a weekend swapping it in and I was back in business. I remember breaking a motor mount and the engine pivoting backwards causing full throttle to be applied one day on the way home. But by that time I had learned not to panic. I inserted a screwdriver in the broken mount, and drove home. An encounter with a deer caused me to undertake another round of body repairs and I became a bit concerned about structural integrity. I was also running out of spare parts as FIATS were getting thin on the ground by that time.
Soon after I went away to University and then to work, needing a car in neither location. Once I needed a vehicle again I went another direction, the FIAT became surplus so I sold it to someone to use on their farm to check irrigation. Despite its Italian reputation I’ve owned vehicles since that either broke more or rusted more. With only one upcoming relapse, I learned not to drive cars with small pedals while wearing anything but runners. Of all the cars that I experienced in England, the only two I would love to see in my garage now would be an original Fiesta or for some perverse reason a Peugeot, despite the scary experiences with the ill running 304. And of course, a FIAT 128 would always have a home with me. Something I couldn’t say for nearly any other vehicle I have owned since.
Next week I end up in the family motor pool again with another auction surprise.
Well, there you go…where our rather disparate pasts intersect. I too took my driver’s license test in a Fiat 128. A sedan, much like the one you had (also with the big bumpers) before transplanting parts of that into the wagon. I would love a wagon-bodied 128 right now.
I never experienced the issues you had with pedal placement. Then again, during my years of 128-driving I probably never wore anything other than sneakers on my feet given the decidedly nicer climate in DC vs. Canada. So, it was the shoes.
Despite their reputation as being kind of tinny boxes, all of which have since returned to the Earth from which they came, your experience points out that they were in fact tough little cars. They definitely loved being revved and provided the illusion of much greater speed than they in fact might have been making. Mine too was wrecked – not by me, but by the mechanic who I took it to for a tune up – but was put back together just fine.
All in all, a fun little car to have as your first real car.
Heel & toe was a bit awkward in a 128, but compared to German cars the pedal placement was quite good. I well remember the ‘Italian Ape’ driving position. BMC’s Issigonis cars were quite similar. Worse, probably…
I once nearly achieved similar in a Mk 4 TC Cortina, where the brake pedal was ridiculously higher than the throttle – some brain transplant donor changed lanes in front of me and turned a sharp deceleration into a very near-miss. Second time lucky…front tyre smoke.
GM J-cars were odd – same (but lesser) problem, but also the pedals were too vertical and too high off the floor. I have largish feet, but cannot remember how one says UK size 10 in Mercan. It’s 44 in J-car. Anyway, I envisaged that Opel designed it to be driven in clown shoes, or something. Don’t know if the US J-cars were afflicted too. T-cars were the same, but you didn’t get the original FWD version.
The trick to that “Italian driving position” is to steer as the Italians do, or at least commonly did back then — lightly holding the bottom end of the wheel to shuffle it hand-to-hand in your lap, and pulling down from the sides for sharper maneuvers. Turns out that’s exactly what their oddly-raked steering wheels were designed for, and perfectly so.
Once I learned of this, I found I could adjust the seat putting the pedals at a comfortable distance, and — et voila! — the bottom half of the wheel fell readily at hand. It’s a rather fun and relaxed way to drive, too, nonchalant-yet-spirited in a vaguely Italian spirit akin to sprezzatura.
Turns out, you only need to be an “ape” to drive a classic Italian car like an American, trying to hold the wheel at 10 and 2 o’clock and spooling over the top to steer.
I think that old car in that photo of your Grandfather is a 1937 Austin 12 or 14. My Grandfather, who died long before I was born, never had a car, but did have a motorcycle and sidecar. Not sure what make or model it is though.
Thanks for narrowing it down for me. I knew it was an Austin. Great old bike picture.
” with a glued-together distributor cap and rotor and drove the FIAT home… ”
So many wonderful shade tree mechanical successes in this post. It makes me feel like a mere dabbler, who used to be proud to do his own oil changes and maybe a tune up when points and rotors were the norm.
And yes, big wide water resistant winter walking shoes and smallish three pedal driving can make for some amateurish sounding shifts. I keep a pair of normal shoes in the trunk of the Miata for such occasions.
Another great chapter, I can’t say I’ve ever rolled a car, if I’d done that in our driveway my mother would have been furious, $100 car or no.
Lucky you for making multiple trips back to the old country. My grandparents had emigrated from Holland too, so we didn’t have as much reason to go back. We only went once in 1979, for a whole month.
And another auction surprise next week? I’d have thought that since you were working post university we’d get to something more normal, like a Honda Civic or a Ford Escort. Looking forward to it!
I am really enjoying these stories .
It just goes to show that Fiat’s like Renaults -can- be very good and fun to drive cars indeed .
-Nate
You learned many hard lessons early on. That’s a good thing…
The 128 was a terrific little car, and maligned much more than it deserved. A major issue (along with some other second-tier Euro imports back then) was the limited dealer network and parts availability. Folks who were used to VW or domestic dealers and parts would be frustrated, and lead to them ditching their 128s prematurely.
The pedals on my xB are pretty small, and if I’m wearing work boots or such, I’ve hit the brake pedal while shifting. Oops…
I’m not sure if I’ve told this story before, but in 1973 I ordered the dedicated valve adjusting tool for my 128 from the dealer in Eugene. It arrived, it rattled around at the dealership for some time, and then they sold it to someone else. I was not pleased. My independent mechanic got the valves adjusted somehow.
Yep, I know all about getting too many pedals at once it was the reason I didnt buy a rather nice Subaru 2.5 Inprezza my feet in workboots didnt fit an the foot well I found out later a 2.0 would have been fine Subaru widened the drive tunnel for a bigger clutch on 2.5s as they could be had with a turbo, I had a drive in a Subaru gravel express and liked it but got outbid. I always test drive cars in workboots as often I drive to work in them.
You hit the nail on the head Paul. These 128s and X1-9s were great and fun cars to drive, but the parts support just wasn’t there. That being said, If I buy another street bike, it may very well be a Ducati or Moto Guzzi
I had a ’71 Fiat 128 sedan from late 1973 to mid-1977. Long story short, it lived up to the “feeble Italian attempt at technology” stereotype. Regarding the pedals, I remember that the owner’s handbook explicitly advised against driving in hiking boots with waffle-stomper soles. I can’t remember the exact mph/1000 rpm figures for the 128 sedan and wagon, but I’m pretty sure the sedan was something like 15.1, and the wagon was 14 and change.
If you don’t want to tell us exactly where you grew up, that’s your right. But if there were that many 128’s and 128 engines around, I’m guessing that you were at least within striking distance of Kelowna, Kamloops, or some such.
The Peugeot 304 was sold in the USA only for the 1971 and 1972 model years. Road & Track gave the Peugeot 504 a very good review, the 304 not so much: “It’s a lot of money for the car …. It has to work hard to cover ground, and its brakes are deficient. There is just no reason to love the 304.” There used to be an immaculate green 304 wagon around the Ballard district of Seattle 25 or 30 years ago.
I should have read the manual! Stories go in a circle around BC. These first ones are Cranbrook area but eventually Vancouver, Golden, Sicamous, Kelowna, 100 Mile and Nakusp will show up.
Say what you will about bargain hunting, it can lead to some interesting cars – and great car stories!
Every teen learning to drive should hear about your unfortunate maneuver that turned the shiny side down. Most all of us would have felt better about some of the things we did while we were learning. That one is the best combination of awful (damage to the car) and great (nobody was hurt and nothing else was damaged) I have heard.
Most of us back in my high school days (’81-84} preferred to turn the rubber side up 🙂
I never had a 128 although I always admired their simple boxy lines and great visibility. The wife and I did own a 124 Spyder and a 131 four door sedan in that order, Both were bought new in Royal Oak, MI at a dedicated Fiat dealer. We never had a mechanical issue with either car and we put 100,000 miles on the 131 before selling it. My only complaint was there was never much heat going to the front foot wells during the winter months, something hard to understand from a car made within sight of the Alps!
Euro and Brit cars have anvil like reliability if you do the maintenance, its really that simple.My current cars are french and Brit an oil change every 20,000kms and a cambelt every 160,000 kms is about all the needs and the Brit car just oil changes and new plugs and air/oil filters i’m making modifications it didnt need because I can, not because I have to
As one who dearly loved his LBC and drove it hard far and wide I agree 100 % Bryce .
Please do write a column or three .
-Nate
Your mention of Beano drew me in right away. One of my favourite books as a child was this Beano annual from 1962. My daughter loved it in turn to the point where she started collecting them! There’s something special about British humour from those days.
I had a 1972 Fiat 128 wagon for a short time in 1976….unfortunately, I wasn’t very experienced with cars and didn’t check the body of the car out underneath before I bought it (from a Ford dealership). Only had it a couple of months when the transaxle must have thrown a gear or the shaft broke, anyhow the engine stalled whenever I disengaged the clutch. Had it towed to Fiat dealer, where they gave me the bad news, the transaxle could be repaired but they might not get it back together as the undercarriage was so rusty…so I had to junk it.
I started undergraduate studies with it, as a commuter student living at home..I picked it for its FWD, there weren’t so many small FWD cars that were in my budget (Rabbit and Civic/Accord were too new…couldn’t afford a Saab…my Dad even owned a Renault but didn’t recommend it (his was a rear engine RWD R10). Even in the short time I had it I did some electrical work on it, the low beams wouldn’t engage, trying to get it inspected. We lived in Vermont, I thought I was being smart but in my inexperience, picked a bad example. I liked the manual (everything)…choke, transaxle, etc . It took premium fuel but had a small (like 5 gallon) tank, and it got very good gas mileage, but I needed a more durable car more than I needed to save on gas.
Five years later I could afford a used VW (watercooled) when I bought my ’78 Scirocco and became a VW owner (which has persisted, haven’t owned any other make in 42 years so far). Now FWD is more common than RWD, but I live in the south now, so it doesn’t matter to me anymore….but in 1976, there were fewer options.
A friend had a 128 two door around 1978-79 when I had just bought my Fiesta. Both cars had some weird gear spacing in their 4 speeds and the Fiesta 1600 had a broader powerband that helped overcome that … a bit. But as much as I loved my “Fiasco” as friends called it, the Fiat was a blast to drive. And such a practical but stylish (to me) shape.
I certainly did not expect to see a Fiat appear in your COAL, but I have always liked the small Fiats. I have a lot of experience driving in winter boots and generally have not had a problem. The one time I did was about 30 years ago when we went to visit my wife’s parents for Christmas. They lived north of Montreal and we decided to skip the winter driving and take the train from Toronto. There was a real cold snap, and the night before we left it was so cold that we bought new winter boots, which were for extremely cold weather. I still have them, as it is only cold enough one or two days a year to wear them. They did do the job, and I had warm feet for the week were there, but they are very wide. My nephew arrived to see his grandparents in his(new to him) Volkswagen Passat Syncro G60 wagon, which is an extremely interesting vehicle that was not sold in USA. He offered to let me take it for a spin, but my new winter boots would each cover 2 or 3 pedals, so I had to decline the offer.
A student friend had a Fiat 128 estate for a few months. It was from his mother, and I got a few rides in it. Small but fairly quick, almost sporty. Pity these cars could not resist the rust (almost no car could back then) so almost none are left.
Try the X1/9 (or an NSX!) if you want one foot-three pedal driving.
Boots are NOT an option!