(first posted 3/4/2018) We covered the original Fiat Sport Coupe (AC) here in rather considerable detail. It was face-lifted twice and received several bumps in engine size and power in the US, to keep up with weight increases and the power-sapping emission controls. This is the final version, which now had a 1.8L DOHC four. It did the trick in keeping performance stable during this time of increasing malaise. And although it had its charms, the Fiat Coupe was starting to show its age a bit, stylistically in any case.
“Grotesque”: the (fitting) word this article used to describe the ’74’s bumpers. Just one look at the shadow in the second picture is enough to show how visually distracting they would have been on what was otherwise still an attractive, if aging, design.
I honestly don’t recall having seen one of the since perhaps the ’80s. Thanks for this throwback.
Fiat was doing quite well in the USA around 1972-73. I recall them ranking just behind VW, Datsun and Toyota for a few months.
Those bumpers, which appeared on all the 124s and 128s in 1974, probably killed the Fiat brand over here as much as anything else. (And yes, as a former owner of a ’73 128SL, I’m well aware of Fiat’s reputation for unreliability back in those days).
The earlier 124 and 128 coupes were attractive cars.
A “lager” engine? 🙂 I’d never need an electric car!
I remember reading this article among a lot of R&Ts as a kid in my opthalmologist’s office; he had a habit of running late with every patient and by the time I got there after school there could be a couple of hours wait. We actually had a Fiat dealer in our little PA town so I’d usually see a couple of the 124 or 128 sedans around, and perhaps one of these in real life. Shame that the simple but sophisticated engineering of these cars didn’t seem to translate into reliability or longevity.
My neighbor was a Fiat fan and he restored one of these. Then he gave it to his daugter who tore it up. I think she did it on purpose because she didn’t like it.
Saw this lovingly restored Fiat 124 Coupe driven by a Fiat enthusiast in the 2016 Spring Thaw Rally held in British Columbia. A rare treat to see since so many others have disappeared from the roads.
Another view of the Fiat 124 Coupe with a 124 Spider in the background.
Unlike the last two offerings from 1974 this one could get out of its own way. Loaded down with four people it could possibly make the 75mph speed limit at elevation on flat ground. In the mountains? Yikes!!
This is going to sound like heresy, but looking at that $4400 Fiat after the $4500 Mustang yesterday, I’m thinking the Mustang was overall a better value. At least you had A/C and decent tunes as you cruised down the highway @ 55 mph, and didn’t have the Ford Service Manager on a first name basis.
Now we need to dig up an old Celica GT review (grins).
As always, thanks for posting this. Love these Sunday trips down memory lane.
I’m going to protest about the Mustang being a better buy. Oh, wait… maybe not.
The Fiat was definitely more fun to drive than the Mustang, and had better interior space utilization, but it would still be hard to justify buying one. At $3500, the 124 was enough fun to rationalize its disposability. However when the price jumped to $4500, it was hard to justify one. Fiats were always built to a price, but by 1974, they were getting pretty stripped of what made them popular. Additionally having to do things like adding 100 lbs at each end to the very far front and rest on a 2300 pound car didn’t help the handling.
Finally, while it’s true that everything rusted but the early 1970’s Fiats were just WOW.
The Government made FIAT recall 124,000 of them eventually
”VEHICLES MAY BE SUSCEPTABLE TO HEAVY RUSTING IN STRUCTURALLY SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF THE UNDERCARRIAGE. THIS CONDITION MAY IMPAIR THE ATTACHMENT TO THE BODY OF: 1) THE FRONT UPPER CONTROL ARMS, 2) THE FRONT CROSS MEMBER TO WHICH THE FRONT LOWER CONTROL ARMS ARE ATTACHED, 3) THE STEERING BOX AND IDLER ARM MOUNTING AND 4) THE REAR TRAILING ARM WHICH IS ATTACHED TO THE INTERNAL CROSS MEMBER BELOW THE REAR SEAT AND TO THE REAR AXLE. UNDERCARRIAGE CORROSION IS ACCELERATED BY EXPOSURE TO DE-ICING SALTS.”
https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/1971/FIAT/124#recalls
That kind of rust is scary. If the floor rusts out, you pick up your feet. But when the front and/or rear suspension rusts looks, well…
Always built to price….that was a lot of their reliability problem (how many are left compared to Alfas of the same vintage?) Take a look at their own slogan in those days.
I have seen one of these coupes parked in various places in my neighborhood in the last few months.
“Always built to price….that was a lot of their reliability problem (how many are left compared to Alfas of the same vintage?) ”
Don’t think Alfas really were better. It was just their owners had one or two bucks more to service and maintain the beast.
For Mr. and Mrs. Middle America, the Mustang II was definitely the better choice. The Fiat was fine, as long as you knew and accepted the risks before signing on the dotted line.
I loved the 1st version of this car, the 2nd version? Not as much, the styling/restyling was done by Fiat “in house”, IIRC. The 3rd and 4th versions looked like someone had bought a huge stock of new bumpers and just stuck them on this car so as to whittle down the pile.
The front end treatment makes it look like the front grille is missing, at least compared to the early cars and the rear end treatment is just…very unco-ordinated. It was almost like they purposely made them ugly. And yet, these cars are supposed to be good drivers, and I like the appearance of the interior.
First version (AC) was styled in-house as well by Boano who was appointed to Fiat styling with his son. I personally like the 2nd version better (BC), but the third (CC) as shown above is too plastic and fussy in the detailing.
This is the review I pulled up the day before you ran the 1974 X1/9 review. I love these coupes, and every so often there will be one that comes around up for sale that is very tempting.
It is interesting to see how things have both changed and remained the same. The MSRP of $4606 is bang on $26k today. What can we get for $26k? Well, you certainly get a car that will 0-60 in a lot less than 13.4 seconds. The point being here that price levels have remained since time in memorium.
I had some experience of Fiats as a teenager. A friend’s dad was really into them, and why not? They were pretty high tech for the time, with twin cam engines and all around disks, and handled well. Kind of an antithesis of Yank Tanks. I always got the impression Fiat didn’t really care for the North American market. It still holds true. Their Dodge Dart were introduced as manual transmission only.
I compared the Fiat with a Celica and a RX3. Bought the Toyota and always wondered if I made the right choice. My wife later bought an X1/9, though.
I bought one brand new. No problems until the drive home when the volt meter dropped to zero. I called my friend a Fiat mechanic who happened to be Italian. He said the big orange wire had fallen off the fuse box. He was right It never fell off again
I took a large amount of pollution control crap and the seat belt interlocks off. I put in an earlier distributor and iirc, the cams. The car ran very very well and cornered well. The inside door handles were plastic and broke, but I replaced them with earlier metal items. The clock and one wheel bearing were replaced under warranty. I recall it running best on pink (Lodge?) spark plugs.
There was not a big variety of sporty cars available in 1974, and prices went up rapidly. I think I had the Fiat for less than 2 years and sold it. I recall paying in the low $3000’s and being suprised at how much I got. The kid who bought it quickly blew it up.
I bought my new ‘74 X for $4400 – they were getting a mark up in SoCal when I bought mine in June – and sold it 6 years later for $2800. I regretted selling the car.
All four versions are very attractive. Hopefully, Fiat will continue here in the U.S. and be better tuned in to the U.S. market. Seems they have a large enough worldwide presence to do so if they really wanted to. No one I know has considered owning one since the ’70’s.
It’s a shame that, back in the day, auto leasing wasn’t as widespread as it is today. If it had been, Fiat might have done quite a bit better. Consumers could lease a Fiat, secure in the knowledge that they would be able to give it back in, say, a couple years.
It’s a shame that, back in the day, auto leasing wasn’t as widespread as it is today. If it had been, Fiat might have done quite a bit better.
Fiat offers leases now, but the pricing is delusional.
Right now, Fiat’s web site has a lease special on the 500 Pop Cabrio: $4449 down and $224/mo for 48 months. That comes out to $15201, for a car that stickers for $16,490. Last month’s lease offer on a 500 hatchback, also 48 months long, ended up just about dead on the sticker price. Leasing a 500 costs about the same as buying it, except, at the end of the lease, you don’t have the car.
You can however lease a 500X or 124 and pay less than if you had bought it.
After my 124 Spyder, I swore I’d never own another Fiat again. Who knew I’d join the Dodge brotherhood.
I’m all too familiar with this car as my brother had one. If only the 124 Sport was made by Mercedes…
It looks like a slice of wonder bread on wheels.
This article is yet another example of “Road & Track” would lavish love on a fragile, rust-prone, fun to drive, delicate foreign car that could be teased and finessed to stay running for a 4 or 5K a year life in benign, warm, seldom rained on, no rust present Southern California climate, but would sarcastically & snidely tear apart a reliable American or Japanese car of the same time period.
Out in “The Real World”, with all 4 seasons and 12 to 15K a year driving habits, these “fun to drive” Fiats quickly denigrated into broken down, rust laden, dead/dying shoulder of the road abandoned hulks when 4 or 5 years old.
I recall people changing lanes to get away from an abandoned Fiat; lest the unreliability and rust from the Fiat would jump onto their car if they passed to close.
I make my above observations from experience. I was foolish enough to own not one, not two, but THREE Fiat cars from the 1970’s and 1980’s.
Automotive masochism must be part of my donor DNA.
What people today often forget is that the first victims of the Japanese tidal wave were not the domestics. Their first victims were the low-cost European brands.
By the early 1980s, the low-cost European brands were either gone from the U.S. market (Austin, Fiat and Opel), or fighting for their lives (Renault and VW – and Renault would be gone by 1988).
Good point about Road & Track—they loved European cars to the point of not being objective
The 1970-1972 124 coupes were my favorite, but it wasn’t long after that Fiat began losing its way in the American market. Some superficially nice new cars (Lancia Beta/Scorpio, Fiat 131/Brava) turned out to be nightmares to own. Let’s forget the misbegotten US version of the Ritmo, the Strada.
Let’s forget the misbegotten US version of the Ritmo, the Strada.
One of my coworkers had a Strada for several years. I think I saw it once, and it was running! He said he ran the car into the ground by the late 80s, probably because it had no resale value.
No, Alfa’s were no better. The drivetrain of the 105s were little beefier, the the quality of the trim and the rust was generally similar.
But the Alfa Romeo brand had more equity that Fiat, so generally owners spent more money on maintaining them, and now restoring them, as their values have climbed so much.
I think the general American attitude to service and maintenance made the cars more unreliable than their reputation suggests. I’ve owned a 125 which had an identical engine and gearbox and whilst I had some rust problems, it was very reliable.
Although I’m a fan of the 105s, the Fiat was by most accounts a, superior car in some aspects, such as handling.