A large number of the Curbside recycling posts come from Colorado, thanks to Jim Klein’s frequent visits to our local yards. However, Jim missed this Fiat from an Aurora yard, so I’ve stepped to the plate.
As it turns out, many people have missed this version of the Fiat 128- Few were sold in the US, and very few remain on the ground 44 years later.
As an aside, I went to the junkyard to gather some Turbo II engine parts for my 1984 Chrysler Laser XT, seen here. The donor car was the barely visible silver Dodge Daytona present in the top image. I hope to run the Laser at Bandimere Speedway next summer, so the plan is to have it up and running by Spring 2022. As time goes on, I’ll share more on this fine Chrysler G-body (the XT stands for eXtra Tasty).
At first glance, I thought the Fiat was a 1st Gen Ford Fiesta (another good CC find), but these unique tail lights clearly identify it as the rarest of Fiat 128s. This hatchback version of the 128 arrived in North America for a brief run in 1976. Looking very similar to the 128 SL Coupe, it never sold in significant numbers and was replaced by the Strada in February of 1979.
Under hood, typical Fiat 128. The spare tire is missing, but the running gear appears unmolested. I didn’t look too closely, but it also appears someone pulled apart the HVAC box in the upper right hand corner, leaving just the heater core. The lack of an A/C evaporator or any A/C plumbing reminds me that Fiat did not offer factory A/C on the 128.
Looking at the stick shift in the interior, I’m also reminded the 128 never came with an automatic transmission. The rest of the interior embraces this minimalist approach. Of course, the European automotive aficionados argue this provides a focused, driver centric experience, and who am I to argue?
Using a tradition started by Jim, I closed the hood and doors before leaving to create this “beauty” shot.
I’d like to include more insight on this rare CC, but I didn’t get much exposure to Fiats back in their heyday. A friend’s brother did own one back in high school, but I never even rode in it. He greatly enjoyed the driving experience, but found out about the 30,000 mile timing belt service interval the hard way. A bit stereotypical, but that’s how it went.
Still, the 128 offered a tidy package and Fiat remains a powerhouse in the European market. Comparing this little hatchback to other models available in 1977, I’m surprised Fiat never gained any traction in the US.
For more detailed information on the 3p, check out Paul’s Vintage Road & Track Review from August, 1976.
Nice find! Having been a Fiat fan and driver back in 1977, I recall seeing just a few of these…particularly at the dealer when taking the ’74 128 sedan in for service. Back then, I had my eyes more on the wagons than the coupes, but nowadays its good to see any Fiat from those days still in one piece.
Here’s a link to the 1977 US Brochure, that provides full specs and additional pictures for that coupe. The one in the brochure is the same color as your find.
https://www.veikl.com/d/Fiat-full-line-U-S–Market-Brochure-1977-EN-98526
I remember seeing one of these back in the early 80s when I was stationed in northern California. I remember it being this same red color and wondering if it was as much fun as my 80 Fiesta. A co-worker had a modified X/19, but this car was too practical to interest him. Only saw 1 other example in the last 40+ years.
Such a great find! I remember learning about the hatchback and flipping back and forth between pictures of it and the non-hatchback 128 from this vintage. There are things I like about both, but I think I prefer the other one slightly better. I was surprised to find out any of them were sold in the U.S., as I honestly can’t remember seeing any of them, ever. Maybe that had something to do with their breakability by the ’80s.
I see that silver Daytona peeking out! By any chance, did you also harvest any parts related to the t-tops? Looking forward to seeing and reading about your Laser in the future – I stan these G-Body coupes.
“By any chance, did you also harvest any parts related to the t-tops?””
Yes- A couple roof trim pieces to replace cracked and broken ones.
I’m intrigued that you picked up on (or noticed) the “beauty shot” thing, I never really thought about it, just always figured it’d be best to try to recreate the car as it sits Curbside. Or in the showroom 🙂 . I’ve actually skipped cars with trunk springs so strong that they won’t close for my shots (usually Cadillacs) – trunk locks are usually removed or broken open from junkers by the yard workers and usually avoid cars with missing body panels with rare exceptions. But enough of the behind the curtain info…
That Fiat is quite the find, I have to say, had I seen it I’d have shared it for sure, looks like it’s at the yard I tend to avoid. I cannot recall having ever seen one in the US in the metal at all and wouldn’t have included it if asked to describe the 128 line-up.
I love the primer happy face on the hood. Perhaps you should purchase the shell and install the Laser XT turbo engine underhood. The Laser would be fun at Bandemere, but a Fiat 128 with Mopar Power would be even better and actually appropriate from a corporate perspective!
PS – For those who don’t know, Bandemere is our local 1/4-mile drag strip. In the summers they run a “Run what you brung” night” and there’s everything from an 80year old lady in a stock green Prius (really!) who just loves running 1/4s in it to Nissan GTRs to home built specials, numerous Teslas, and actual drag cars along with everything else. Along with the local PD and Sheriff running their patrol cars against any kid who wants to try to race them. A very fun evening for maybe $20 as I recall, you can even rent a helmet. Here’s me running the Porsche a few years back, remember it’s a mile above sea level so the time sucks unless corrected: https://youtu.be/QTR5iBpDczU
Interesting little car .
I like smaller vehicles but FIAT never really cracked the necessary reliability nut for the North American market .
The Japanese cars reliability really killed FIAT and Renault in the U.S.A. ~ into the early 1980’s I had a few friends / Customers who were still driving them but the necessary constant maintenance drove most owners away after a couple years .
-Nate
Correct. And Peugeot suffered the same fate.
Interesting find. Is that the obscure and rare section of the yard? Dodge Daytonas are pretty unusual these days and you definitely don’t see 66 Cutlass (I think) sedans very often.
“and very few remain on the ground 44 years later.”
That’s putting it mildly! I have never seen one of these that I can recall, in person or any other way. I am not surprised that someone would send the car to the junkyard, as a non-running example would have virtually no value beyond metal scrap, partly because of the scarcity of parts. Yet, here’s a parts car for the perhaps one guy in America who could use one for his Fiat 128 project car. I hope he finds this car before it’s crushed!
Interesting find. It looks very savable if someone desired it. It has a look of a car that had been stored a long time before being scrapped.
I owned a 128 3p. Or should I say it owned me. It broke down almost daily, blew an engine as the Rev counter was well out, and broke clutch cables on every date, to remind me that it didn’t like being right hand drive. Looked ok, when it did work, was quick for its era, and the hatchback meant it could carry a good load. At 60k the Fiat garage phoned me and said it was basically dead. 60k!
I recently parted with a Prius that had done 195k and never broke down. Ever wonder why nobody buys two FIATs?
60000 miles or about 100000 km was about par for the course for FIATs of that era. But that was true for many makes and models. Ford and Opel improved on that , in particular Ford who extended warranties with the Escort II from 6 months to an astonishing 12 months. I don’t remember the odo limits. Maybe it was 6000 km to 12000 km. That was in Germany. Others had to follow Ford’s move.
Guess that’s what happened to my ’72 128 wagon, the shortest I’ve owned any car…it was a good idea in a way, but I shouldn’t have chosen it. In my innocence, didn’t know a whole lot about cars, but I needed something to get me from Shelburne to Burlington daily for school…FWD was a good idea, but most of those cars were new and too expensive for someone out of high school. I really should have bought a Rambler or a Valiant instead, would have been easy to work on and a bit more robust than a Fiat. But was also looking for good gas mileage, the Fiat was better (but in retrospect I could have bought a lot of gas for the amount it cost me for the short time I had it).
Fall of ’76, my Dad took pity on me and gave me a set of 13 inch snow tires for it, but it didn’t even last into the winter. Coming home, up on Spear St. it threw a gear in the transaxle. They didn’t even try to fix it, it was so rusty that the shop man didn’t think they’d get it back together if they attempted to change it out…unfortunately Dad’s snow tires went to the wrecking yard with it. I saw a new 3P at the dealer, thinking if only I could have afford it, where I should have been thinking “get something different”. My Dad actually bought his first FWD car that year, a new Subaru DL (this was before all of them came with AWD) so in a way the acorn didn’t fall far from the tree.
The Fiat was pretty neat, it got great gas mileage, but only had about a 6 gallon tank, and it took premium. Even with the great mileage, the cruising range wasn’t great, and that was really the name of the game during the gas shortage, since sometimes you couldn’t find gas stations that had any gas. Interestingly in 2017 during Hurricane Harvey, ran into similar shortages (I’ve lived in central Texas for some time, even though we lived near the area where the storm stalled, we were on the coveted western side so the effects were greatly reduced, but gas shipments were short and people panicked ). And premium costs more than regular for a student’s budget. I had problems with the electrical system which I fixed; only one low beam light came on, and some sort of horn issue. It also had a (standard) manual choke; had to remember to adjust it while I drove. I don’t recall the spare tire being on top of the engine which was not a boxer like Dad’s Subaru, so there wasn’t so much room on top for it as was on that car, though the 13 inch wheels would probably have fit if the engine was shorter (to correct one of the previous posts, I think only the air cleaner sat on top of the engine, no room for a spare).
After that dubious start, I guess I’ve made up for it, as I’ve only owned 5 cars in 47 years driving…I usually forget to count the Fiat as I owned it for such a short time; I’ve had my current (only car owned at a time) for 21 years now. Yes, it is FWD (though I no longer live in snow belt so RWD would be fine if they still sold it in inexpensive cars) but still a manual like the 128. Cars have gotten much better and I’d guess that even up north, I’d have my current car much longer than my Fiat. But I learned a lot from choosing that car, which certainly is worth something.
Interestingly my youngest Nephew turned 21 this month, and I got him a toolkit for him, something my dear departed Dad bought for me when I turned 21 (albeit probably for Christmas rather than for my Birthday), which was the basis for all the tools I acquired since and surely was the most useful gift I ever got. I think he also bought me a car battery, which of course was useful but didn’t last very long, but car batteries seldom do up in the snowbelt. I hope the tools serve him well; I’m sure my Dad would approve if he were still around. They helped me nurse whichever car I owned so it would last a bit longer and is probably one of the big reasons I’ve only had to buy 5 cars in the time I’ve been driving.
Great find, how come Canada got the rust proof Fiats, 70s Fiats here dissolved quite rapidly it was one of the faults other than Italian electrical systems.
You have seen one of these more recently than me – I remember seeing one regularly in the mid 1970s and being mildly intrigued, and it certainly looked a lot more modern than the 1298 Coupe.
I actually know a little history about this very car. It was part of a collection by a Denver area Fiat/Alfa repair shop that closed down and sold off it’s back lot in 2019. Another Denver area automotive journalist tried to persuade the 24 Hours of Lemons community to pick this up to no avail. It was then bought by someone who tried to flip it a few months later. It seems they weren’t successful.
“was part of a collection by a Denver area Fiat/Alfa repair shop that closed down”
Apple Motors?
Warranty in Germany on cars? LOL!
Some 40 years ago it was the law the dealer had to grant 6 month warranty. That’s what they all did, and no cent more.
It was Porsche and Audi in the mid-80s who started advertising “10 years no rust holes warranty” when they began to sell zinc-plated bodies. Other auto makers tried to catch up, but Opel got most of the laughs in 2010 with their slogan “Life Long Warranty for up to 160,000 km”. So, it was clear to everybody then that nobody at Opel expected their own products to last for more than 100k miles!
FIAT? In Germany it stood for “Fehler In Allen Teilen” (Faults in all parts). Italian motor bikes were and are famous, but cars just known as crap.
My ended up with my sister’s after she moved to the USA. If you think a 1300 engine with a short stroke can’t have torque steer, think again. I’ve forgotten which direction it wanted to go in, but I could turn faster in one direction than the other.