This little piggy went to market.
This little piggy stayed home.
This little piggy had roast beef.
This little piggy had none.
This little piggy went “wee, wee, wee!” all the way home.
Nursery rhyme courtesy of Mother Goose.
All five vehicles were photographed in Chicago, Illinois.
1. Andersonville. Sunday, May 8, 2011.
2. Rogers Park. Friday, July 3, 2020.
3. The Loop. Friday, November 22, 2013.
4. Edgewater. Friday, May 22, 2015.
5. Edgewater. Tuesday, July 23, 2019.
Fiat 124 Spider.The thinking man’s MGB?
As much as I disliked the looks of the Alfa roadsters you wrote up recently, I absolutely love the styling on these, and always have.
+1, or +2 really, as I agree on both counts there, adding only the caveat that the 124 must really must be an early chrome-bumper job for full approvalismness.
I’ve always loved these, and would gladly own one if the circumstances were right. Although the earlier, freer reving engine might be more fun, the 2000’s torque would make driving more enjoyable up at my altitude.
A nice classic that never goes out of style.
Under rated over here, and often overlooked, but nicer than an MGB, if not quite as much of a roadster?
The earliest definition of a roadster I’m familiar with was a two-seat car with side curtains and removable rain gear. The FIAT is very much a convertible with roll down windows and a magnificent top mechanism that one operated without moving from their driving position. The MGB has roll-down windows, but a veritable pup-tent of a top by comparison. On the other hand, the FIAT is more sporting in specification. The MGB was wonderfully balanced in its pre-bumper-and-headlight height regulation-addled form though.
I’ve driven a few British roadsters with wonderful shift linkages that are connected to decidedly inferior gearboxes compared to that in the FIAT. The FIAT’s shift throws are fairly long by comparison, but all five of its gears are better spaced and first is easier to engage than that in the best MGs.
My FIAT had racing cams that let me use engine speeds on the street that only British car drivers who race carefully developed A-series-powered cars of two-thirds the 124’s displacement are familiar with. The heavy B-series engine in the MGB was…ordinary, if disguised by a nice exhaust note.
I have an article where Road & Track track tested all the affordable sports cars for a proposed new showroom stock SCCA class that I don’t believe ever saw the light of day. At the time, the 124 was still of smaller displacement than the MGB and still had its battery up front. IIRC, the MGB turned in a very respectable lap time in drop-top form, less so in the heavier GT format. None of the drivers seemed to care for it much, and they tried to promote other cars of similar performance above it. I believe the FIAT was better in a straight line, but the MGB definitely had a more buttoned down chassis at the expense of being less comfortable on the street. So perhaps you’re exactly correct. On the other hand, FIAT kept adding displacement and then fuel injection and even turbocharging to the 124 in order to maintain performance in the US as emissions standards became more stringent and door-beams and impact bumpers added weight. The MGB….lost a carburetor and its ability to go around corner. By 1980 the FIAT was better than the MGB at pretty much everything.
The earliest definition of a roadster I’m familiar with was a two-seat car with side curtains and removable rain gear.
The early roadsters didn’t barely have a body, never mind a top or side curtains. How effete.
Trying to pin down definitions of terms like “roadster” is an exercise in futility. They invariably change over time. Today roadsters all have roll up windows as well as other amenities folks back then couldn’t even possibly imagine.
if not quite as much of a roadster?
What’s your definition of a roadster? A horrible top to erect and a hard ride?
How is the 124 any less of a roadster than the MGB? I can’t imagine…
Good one, Joe. It looks like only the fourth example has the earlier door handles, which make the car for me. I had two grand in my pocket to go look at one of these for sale over 10 years ago. I couldn’t even believe how bad it was when I got there. It was sitting crooked, the steering wheel was loose (!), and it had as much bondo-hidden rust as you might imagine. The driving position would take some getting used to. Needless to say, I drove two hours back home wondering again why I trust sellers’ descriptions. 🙂 Of course, what do I expect when a guy’s asking $2500 for a car?
Aaron, before you pointed it out, I would not have noticed the door handles. The navy blue example was the outlier as it was from before the ’79 tweaking.
Joe, this was a great piece; with three dozen words, you brightened my day. Thanks!
And ordinarily, I loathe random stickers on cars, but that last picture is great.
Thank you, Eric. I’m with you on stickers on cars, but also like you, I liked them on this car. Kind of like how I sometimes admire tattoos on other people without having any myself.
Did you notice the Warner Bros. cartoon theme? Both Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner were represented on that last example, so I can’t tell which (if either) that car was supposed to represent.
I had a book about these; “Essential Fiat 124 Coupe and Spider” I think by Martin Buckley from the ‘90’s. I lost it moving out of Chicago (ironic). Great explanation of all the international variations, and the most info I’ve ever come across regarding the coupe. It seemed from period accounts the top (hood) was a masterpiece of functional simplicity compared to British efforts of the time in both weatherproofing and ease of use. Maybe a big reason it was the long lived success it became?
Great pics – who knew so many Fiat 124 Sport Spiders were lurking around Chicago!
My visiting Uncle from Arlington Heights IL had one of these, and I still remember when I was 8 or 9 he took me on one of my first highway convertible rides through the Wisconsin driftless area.
I always think of the 1982 dark comedy “Eating Raoul” when I see a vintage Fiat 124 Spider.
Why are the rear ends of all but #3 sticking up in the air? Bumper regs? or?
This is the way these are supposed to look: no 5 mile bumpers and no ass in the air:
That one is simply beautiful – love it in chartreuse, almost the color of limoncello.
It has claims to prettiness no doubt, but it has other claims to infamy, involving untimely deaths and ill-completed journeys and rusted floors and mould and noisily failing parts just after their many-eth repair and many other things in the canon of Italian Car Cliches besides, and so, looked at in another way, perhaps:
This little piggy went to cark it
This little piggy stayed gone.
This little piggy gave roast feet
This little piggy had scum.
And this little piggy screeched “”wee wee wee” all the way home.
A bit mean on the old beauties?
Mine was a ’69, bought reconditioned in ’71 or ’72 at a dealer in eastern Massachusetts. Painted a nice medium blue (factory color ? I never thought to look) with Veith radials (what ?). Fell in love before week two; a real lesson in driving pleasure. Seat: good. Tranny and shifter: great. Shape of accelerator and choke knobs: perfect. Driving position: worked for me (you sit upright bur comfortable, like a serious driver; you push, not lift, to execute a turn).
Car came from Minnesota. Doors started dropping on their hinges after two more years. Someone backed into a headlight. Sigh. I gave up and moved on. Still miss her deeply; a perfect “gentleman’s sport roadster.”
Oh yeah: one evening I found myself looking at the reflection of the parking light in the top of the bumper. The reflection was a perfect continuation of the curve of the fender, meaning the angle of the reflecting surface was calculated to be “normal” to the point of intersection. Accidental ? I doubt it. +1 for Pininfarina.
The stylists at Pininfarina were truly masters of their craft!
Editing disabled ? Make that “throttle and choke.” Thanks for the subject, Joseph Dennis !
Tom Tejaarda the amazingly versatile Stylist of the Pantera, early ‘60s Ferrari California, first Fiesta and the 124 Spider . . .
Love my 76, removed the ugly bumpers, and looks and runs great with 78,xxx kms.
Don’t drive it much, but not going to sell it. Few and far between in Alberta Canada.
this was the car that got me into cars