Del Boy
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Post by Del Boy on Apr 2, 2024 16:44:40 GMT
I like it. Only a 1.3 mind.
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Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Apr 2, 2024 18:13:18 GMT
I do too. I also like that it's a 1.3, good to see a basic spec version preserved. Like the very 70s yellow colour too. Whoever has owned that has done very well to keep it so good, Fiats at that time had a bad reputation for rust.
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Post by D.C. Burtonshaw on Apr 2, 2024 18:32:17 GMT
Great survivor - and great to see a surviving low spec one. A local mate had a 1.3 2 door saloon Fiat 131 as his first car and said it was great handler for what it was.
A similar car in black with those square lamps was used by Ian Ogilvy's incarnation of The Saint in one of the Italian filmed episodes. He goes undercover I think which is why he wasn't using his usual XJS.
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Villain
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Post by Villain on Apr 3, 2024 18:00:09 GMT
Being just a 1.3 is what makes it fun to drive, there might not be much power but you can use all of it . A similar one here with this lovely 1971 Fiat 128 Berlina, a rare early RHD example which I had a good look around at the NEC show last month, in fact I was quite tempted but don't have anywhere to put it... www.carandclassic.com/l/C1700715Villain
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Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Apr 3, 2024 18:49:09 GMT
Haven't seen a Fiat 128 for years
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Post by D.C. Burtonshaw on Apr 4, 2024 20:02:44 GMT
Yes car of the year 1970 - I remember a yellow N reg 2 door saloon which sat rotting on a drive in my town for nearly 10 years till one door had fallen of the hinges and then had to be lent up against the car!
A family we were friendly with had a red T reg facelifted estate version (with the square lamps) in the 80's, but I think they got rid of it with a duff engine and no MOT by the time it was only 8 years old.
Still - a good handling little car by all accounts and probably a good seller in Europe. The "Rally" sports 2 door version was cracking drive by all accounts. There was a rather pretty 2 door coupe version produced too with twin headlamps, which was later replaced by the 3P hatchback coupe version - more practical if slightly less prettier.
Later on of course the cars formed the basis of the former Yugoslavian (now Serbia) built Zastava cars (sold in the UK too from about 1981 onwards).
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Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Apr 4, 2024 22:18:50 GMT
The Fiat 128 looked a bit like a compressed 124/Lada I always thought. Fiat saloons all had that style at that time, the 125, which later became the Polski Fiat, was a slightly enlarged 124, and they did another one, the 130, which was an attempt at a kind of Granada competitor, looked like a massively expanded one
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Villain
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Post by Villain on Apr 5, 2024 9:27:29 GMT
Yes car of the year 1970 - I remember a yellow N reg 2 door saloon which sat rotting on a drive in my town for nearly 10 years till one door had fallen of the hinges and then had to be lent up against the car!
A family we were friendly with had a red T reg facelifted estate version (with the square lamps) in the 80's, but I think they got rid of it with a duff engine and no MOT by the time it was only 8 years old.
Still - a good handling little car by all accounts and probably a good seller in Europe. The "Rally" sports 2 door version was cracking drive by all accounts. There was a rather pretty 2 door coupe version produced too with twin headlamps, which was later replaced by the 3P hatchback coupe version - more practical if slightly less prettier.
Later on of course the cars formed the basis of the former Yugoslavian (now Serbia) built Zastava cars (sold in the UK too from about 1981 onwards).
Excellent info there DCB as always, thanks for that. I've been watching rather a lot of old Italian 'Politzia' crime movies from the '70s recently and and as you'd expect there are hundreds of Fiat 124s, 125s, 126s and 128s in them, plus the occasional 130 which as Cartman says was a larger, more executive type of car. Very handsome too the 130 I've always thought, the rarer Coupe version even more so. That red 128 Berlina at the NEC is a real gem though, I was sorely tempted to buy it, especially at the price being asked, if I had somewhere to put it I wouldn't hesitate. Although a fairly basic car for the time, the condition and detailing on it are really nice, even down to the correct period number plates which I suspect are the originals. The particular style of Cromodora alloys on it are quite rare too. All that's missing is one of these ID stickers on the back, as seen on this Lancia Flavia 1.8 ltr Coupe...... Technically it should be a 'GB' one really as it's a UK registered car, but I like Italian cars that look properly Italian! Villain
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Villain
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Post by Villain on Apr 7, 2024 10:39:37 GMT
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Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Apr 7, 2024 11:58:03 GMT
I've only ever seen one of those once, and that was years ago, certainly before I could drive, it was E regd and turned up for sale at a garage in Radcliffe
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