1973 Fiat 128.

April 15, 2012

15 comments




15 comments:

erdobaz said...

Capturing these era of EU cars in Portland,US still does not find a place in my mind :) - Eventhough we have Fiat factory, I havent seen this version of 128 before even in Istanbul - This orange is original Fiat color

cher.monsieur@gmail.com said...

Honeycomb grille adds 15 mph top speed

Ben Piff said...

I can't imagine more style, detail or presence crammed into something this size. I've always wanted a 510, but this thing blows it out of the water! This would be a blast at any speed.

I can't tell which I love more, the grill or the 13" long trunk. Have we ever seen a trunk that's shorter than the C-Pillar? Wow.

Anonymous said...

Good looking example, this one.

I had 2-door version about 8 years and this really is fun car to drive in a city or small roads.

About 60HP but only 800 kilos to move, acceleration is quite good up to 65mph.

great white tiburon said...

gak!!!! how did you find one of these tony, I never thought id see a pic of one of these on the streets. WOW just WOW. this should be a rare find even in Oregon. those rims are a great look for that car. I am seriously jealous of that owner.

G4þRI€L said...

hermoso auto, tenemo smuchos aqui en Argentina

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness - this is amazing, as these cars not only function as transportation but also as an infinitely expandable hole into which money disappears! I can't imagine what it has cost to keep this car rolling since it passed the 25K miles mark. If it has any number of miles on it at all, the owner(s) could have probably collectively purchased any one of a number of very expensive world-class cars, such as a Mercedes or BMW.

Splendid photo though, and sharp eyes to catch this rare beast. But what an amazing piece or engineered-to-drain-every-penny-out-of-the-pocket-of-its-owner piece of crap.

Do I sound bitter? Sorry. These things are just so bad, not matter how cute they are or whatever attractions they might hold, that I fell into an emotional response...

Unknown said...

They share mechanicals with what Yugo created with the GV line. I hear of folks bumping HP on their Yugo... but like this car... I cannot imagine much in terms of reliability. This car IS stunning though... I would vote a top 5 for this year thus so far (almost as cool as my Turbo Sprint)

Tony Piff said...

kenny, i thought the sprint got sold?

adam.giguere said...

holy crap

Anonymous said...

Other anonymous claims that these are "so bad" and I don't get it at all: Mine (1978 model) was quite reliable and spare parts were very cheap.

I sold it 1999 when it was starting to rust (salted roads, Italian car, +20 years of age) way beyond my welding capabilities, everything else was working OK and it had 100k miles at that point.

Not much in the US scale but much more than these were designed to last in 70s.

Turbo said...

I envy all of these rare, oddball cars that survive and thrive in the Pacific NW. Here in the Midwest you'd be hard pressed to spot one of these in a lifetime!

Justin said...

Anon2-You don't sound bitter, you sound like your average BAT commenter(read:asswipe)
Awesome find, love the shots, all of them are perfect.

Unknown said...

You are absolutely right, Tony. Just stating this Fiat is almost as cool as that Sprint was (past tense;) I wish the guy that bought it would let me know how things are. I was quite attached to the Sprint. Granted, he called when reaching about Shasta at midnight on his venture home because the ignition would not turn over. I think the tumbler failed. Oops!

Anonymous said...

BTW: Those one in good shape aren't cheap anymore:
http://www.nettiauto.com/fiat/128/4720293

2K is quite a lot, I paid about $200 for mine in 1991.

(Same anon as April 17 here. ;) )