Fiat 128

Advantages: tough, not too expensive
Disadvantages: extinct

...a brand new light mint Fiat 128 with a black stripe along the lower part of the body and dark grey all vinyl seats (sticky in hot Italian summers!). The Fiat 128 was introduced in March 1969 and awarded ´Car of the Year´ in the same year. It marked the start of an era of front-wheel-drive which has been adopted by almost every other successful design since. In 1971 the 128 Rally came on the market with a more powerful engine (1290cc and 67bhp), this ...
...we could reach the first Fiat garage in Italy where the mechanics could perhaps, but only very perhaps, help us more, he doubted that we would ever reach Sardinia with this wreck. This meant one night in a hotel in Seeberg, one of the most expensive resorts of the region! The Fiat mechanics in the first town south of the border found all this very funny, they made some derogatory remarks about Austrian mechanics, did something mysterious to the ... Read review

Advantages: Cheap to run and very nippy
Disadvantages: Water soluble, small, utterly unsafe in a crash

I bought my Fiat 128 as an MoT failure in 1982. It was rotten, the wings were rusted through and it was generally due for the scrap heap, which in 1982 wasn't uncommon for a Fiat 128. However I lived in a rural area where it was possile to drive off road. As a 15 year old learning to drive off road I thought the Fiat was fantastic. I could get it to jump. handbrake turn, understeer, and even four wheel drift round muddy corners. The 1200cc engne ...
...had to end, and the Fiat was consigned to the great scrap heap in the sky after a rather rough landing from a more spectacular than average jump. My nextdoor neighbour (hello Bob!) was in the car holding a cup of tea at the time. The tea went up to the roof lining, and then down on his head. I don't think he was impressed... I sold the gearbox out of the car for £15, a £5 profit on what I'd paid for the whole thing and moved up in the world to 1300cc ... Read review