Yesterday I felt a day over forty. Today, I feel two days over forty. Wonder what I'll feel tomorrow...
Yesterday I felt a day over forty. Today, I feel two days over forty. Wonder what I'll feel tomorrow?
Member since:17.04.2004
Reviews:35
Members who trust:16
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 was a screamer, the gearbox slick and easy to use, and the controls seemed to all fall naturally to hand. I was in love with this orange rust pile.
Sadly the affair 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 Ford Escorts... but that's another story.
So what are the cars like? Old and rare as hens teeth now is the easy answer. I haven't seen on on the road outside Italy for years. You do still see them at classic car shows and the like, but because they halped build Fiats rotting reputation not many made it out of the 1980s.
The interior is 1970s plain vinyl trim, real no frills motoring. This was a car in the days when carpets were an optional extra, heater a brochure feature, and vinyl seats seen as a bonus. There really are no 'features' to describe, it had four doors, five seats, a steering wheel... you get the picture!
Fuel economy on these cars is excellent, 45mpg being normal and 50+ being possible. Parts were also very cheap costing less than the equivalent Ford model. Amazingly a quick search on fleabay revealed well over 100 diferent parts for sale now for a 128. No cars though!
Boot space in the saloon was adequate rather than spacious, this also applied to the interior where I could drive (I'm 6'4" ) without banging my head. The doors did their job too... allowing easy access to the interior as all good doors should... The picture up there is the two door coupe version, I have only ever seen one of these and that was in a show... might not be the easiest thing in the world to find now then.
The biggest problem with his model is the quality of the rust proofing, or rather the lack of rust proofing! Fiat signed up to take steel from Russia in the early 1970s, it was sub standard mixed grade , and nearly brought the Italian giant to its knees.
Did I mention they rust?
Later on in life the Fiat 128 became the Seat something or other (3P ?) when Fiat sold patterns to the Spanish car maker. Further on still Fiat sold the patterns for the 128 and 127 to Yugo to make the cars in the Eastern block, much like Lada's were based on the even older Fiat 124. These really are poor quality. Fiat's with all the rust problems but none of the engineering build quality.
The most bizarre twist in the 128's history was when the engine from it was used as the basis for the Lancia Group B supercharged rally car. Apparently the 128 engine block was light weight and very strong, allowing the rally engineers to supercharge it up to 500+bhp. The group B car went on to win many world rally championship events in the hands of Markku Alen and others.
Would I buy another? Hmm. For nostalgia sake maybe, to use only if it was in Arizona or Australia or womwhere equally rain and salt free.
The 128 started a life long affair with Fiat's, I currently own 3. A great car of its day... but ugly and a bit of a rotter!
The only place I could see to buy one was this site in OZ... (less rust down there) from teh fiat club of New South Wales. A long way to go to buy one admittedly...
http://www.fiatclubnsw.com/classifieds/class.html
For a more thorough 128 History go to www.sportingfiatsclub.com or perhaps http://www.fiatmotorclubgb.com/ - the UK's oldest RAC affiliated car club.
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Very interesting read full of useful information. When I see cars like this now they seem very strange and to think they were once quite sporty looking and interesting.
dakota196 23.06.2005 02:22
Just noticed you referred to this car as water soluble - reminded me of this website: http://www.rathergood.com/soluble/ . You can see why I'd find Thumb Wars amusing. Sad really.
May 9th, 2005
(Mar 1st, 2006)
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