Every one of us has a moment in our lives when we “Grow up”. Maybe it was the time you saw a television program you enjoyed very much as a little kid and thought “What the hell am I watching?” or maybe it was just an incremental process, moving from one demographic to the next without much fuzz. Me? I know exactly when I started to realize it was not all sunshine, lollipops and rainbows. And it certainly wasn’t last week when a cab driver destroyed the passenger side of the Tercel.
As with all stories regarding cars and my childhood, it begins with my parents. Long before my parents met and aeons before I was born, my mother bought a Fiat 124 sedan 1.2, an early series I model with single headlights and the small grille. I’ve absolutely no idea just how she came to buy it, Fiat is not a big player around this parts the way it is in Brazil; only now they’re getting new buyers thanks to the 500’s cutenesss. Oh there were plenty of Ladas running around but to my knowledge it was the only Fiat 124 in Tegucigalpa, nay, In Honduras. This would become a problem as you will soon see, but at the moment she was far too busy doing what most of us do with our cars. She was bonding with it.
It’s easy to see why, there are a lot of things to fall in love with on the 124. Italy, then as now, was known for making very fun cars to drive spiritedly. It was also very advanced for the times with fancy coil springs all around and disc brakes. Let’s not forget that the Eldorado at the time was still having to make due with drums. The result was, according to her, a very fun car to drive that was also very frugal. “It’s so economical it’ll just drive with the smell of gas” she used to say. High praise from a woman that once took an offensive driving course to chauffer high-risk dignitaries around. Sometime after her purchase she decided to make it even more special. Apparently being the only one of its kind was not quite good enough for her, so she decided to splurge on a fancy new coat of paint.
I don’t know much about types of paint and I’m sure someone on the commentariat will explain me how they did it. But the color was some sort of witchcraft that was RAL 6029 Mint Green when exposed to the sun and 5002 Navy Blue when in the shade. There was a lot of paperwork with our equivalent of the DMV trying to explain why they needed to write ‘Azul Verde Menta’ on the registration document, or so I’ve been told. I do know that it was already that color when it caused my parents to meet up and eventually drove mum to her wedding. By this point the Fiat was already synonymous with her and she enjoyed every minute of it. She would never sell it and the only way she would have it taken out of her possession was if she could no longer drive and her next of kin would take it. She continued to drive it even after getting her second (and to date, last) car. This is where things started to go wrong.
First causes of trouble were my cousins, who would just love to take the keys to the Fiat, open it, take the handbrake off and roll with it downhill. Bear in mind they were not much older than eight years old at the time. Lots of yelling and a few beatings put a stop to that, but there were quite some dents by then. Nothing that moving to a new house and some serious TLC from her part wouldn’t fix. That was enough for it to last until the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, when timing hit us, hard. You see, my mother had owned that Fiat since she was old enough to own and drive a car and hadn’t changed anything on it other than wear items. It was only a matter of time until something would break down, and it did. The brake system to be precise. The very very old hoses decided to finally give up the ghost and there was absolutely no spares for it anywhere in the country. Being unique did have its small disadvantages in the days before the internet became commonplace. Without any brakes, the car had to be parked. In the street. With vent windows.
The Dean of Medicine of Sacred Heart Hospital will tell you that humans are bastard coated bastards with bastard filling. I’m inclined to agree but I have to admit there was some fault on our end. You see, innocent young car fan me wanted to climb aboard the Fiat and play make-believe driving it. I went on many imaginary rides on it. Unfortunately someone noticed how I opened the car through the vent window and took notice. Garbage bags started to fill the interior, some clever kids decided to lock a pig inside it and leave it to its own devices, it was pushed to a river bank and drowned and no matter how much we fixed it people seemed hell-bent on killing the little Fiat. There was no accountability for them, as they were minors and when fingers were pointed parents just went “Ah those crazy kids.” I should point out that something happened to them they’d come up with new and clever ways to bleed you dry. But in the interest of protecting the bastards, their names will not be mentioned. I almost feel dirty validating their existence by mentioning them. My mother was naturally devastated, and she did blame me for “Teaching” people how to open it.
There are no happy endings here. The idiots got their fun, we got screwed out of a Fiat 124. In the end a man bought the remains of the once glorious car for chicken feed, maybe it’s now a Lada 2101, or three. Maybe it’s scrap. In any case everytime I see one of the Few 124 derivatives around here I always check whether it may be the little Fiat. A useless effort considering all I have from it are a few fuzzy memories. My mother will not help as talking about the 124 in her presence just opens the wound. The real car-killers still are around and the most I can give them is a sneer as I drive past. They have no idea how much pain they have caused, considering what they drive, they don’t care.
Now that we are all older and wiser around here, there’s a few lessons we can learn about the whole 124 ordeal, personally I’ve made them into rules for my own personal set.
- Never leave a non-functioning car dirty, it’s a sign of weakness. Start it, rev it, preferably while lots of people are watching.
- Buy a garage first, and a house hopefully.
- If you truly love something, rest assured someone will take great pleasure in burning it up.
Epilogue: I was looking at European classifieds, which is what you do when you’re bored, and noticed there are still some Series I 124’s for sale, very cheap too. Maybe I should call the DMV and my painter. But we still live on a place that doesn’t have a garage. Could I make love strike twice and atone for the destruction or the Fiat? Or am I just asking for trouble?
To my mind, your three ‘lessons’ are quite theological:
Never leave a non-functioning car dirty, it’s a sign of weakness. Start it, rev it, preferably while lots of people are watching.
I passed by the field of a sluggard,
by the vineyard of a man lacking sense,
and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns;
the ground was covered with nettles,
and its stone wall was broken down.
Then I saw and considered it;
I looked and received instruction.
(Proverbs 24:30-32)
Buy a garage first, and a house hopefully.
Prepare your work outside;
get everything ready for yourself in the field,
and after that build your house.
(Proverbs 24:27)
If you truly love something, rest assured someone will take great pleasure in burning it up.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.
(Genesis 3:1a)
But yes, there are always folks out there who, rather than putting in effort to better themselves, will seek to destroy what others have done in order to pull them down to their level.
I’ve had several of my cars broken into or vandalized over the years. Never a good thing, and it’s really hard to be forgiving when it happens.
These are the essentials. Amen. BUT not only the demolishers can make phisycal damage (on a car). Verbal insults can be also abusive. For instance I know a fella who hid his Thunderbird from the public because of constant verbal abuses…
Verbal insults can indeed be most abusive
When I was a kid, we were told, and EXPECTED TO FIRMLY BELIEVE that: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.”
Over the decades, I have observed that a more accurate saying, IMHO; would be: “Sticks and stones may break ones bones, but words can rip the very soul from a person.”
Theological? Oh, please…..
Some kids vandalised a parked car.
Well done.
Also, the more general themes of entropy – “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment…” Is 51:6 – and sin – “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” Gen 6:5.
And then there’s the manufacturer’s name which evokes Genesis 1 in which God creates all by divine fiat.
Not standing on a soapbox here, just talking. 🙂
Lol. A world created by ‘Divine Fiat’ explains a lot about its state.
You’d think Genesis would be about Hyundais…
Remember that the Almighty rocks a Plymouth. Adam and Eve? He drove them from the Garden in his Fury. 🙂
As I grow older I realize quite a bit of the stuff I’ve learned has a parallel in the good book. Thanks very much for sharing Ed.
+1 Ed.
Nice application of scripture! You must know your bible well, sir.
“If you truly love something, rest assured someone will take great pleasure in burning it up.”
That is a sad, painful truth.
There are some people in this world that killin’ is too good for.
That’s the main reason I’m against the death penalty. I want them to get life in solitary super max with no chance of parole.
Embrace misanthropy!
I’d probably be frozen with fear, but if the end of humanity occurs during my lifetime, I wonder if I’d be maniacally laughing in the streets. We’re nothing more than “reasoning” animals, but look at the damage we can do.
Yeah, the profundity of this fine parable is summed up here:
“The Dean of Medicine of Sacred Heart Hospital will tell you that humans are bastard coated bastards with bastard filling.”
Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout “Save us!”… and I’ll whisper “no.”
Yes, Rorschach is awesome…and that quote suits this thread.
Heehee! Sounds so “Calvinist”, though. (Apologies for any Presbyterians present; no offence intended.)
I discovered lots of common and personal things in this article. As a kid I had also made some fantasy rides in Fiats. In an old four door 1100 which had been parked in one of our neighbour’s yard. The next one had been my dad’s 1300 known as “Milletrecento” 4 door…which had some body design similarities with a Corvair (but that’s only my opinion). Later during the ’80’s as the chassis of the 124 became obsolete and the factory discontinued the production, my dad had decided to get a brand new Fiat alike Lada 1600 top-of-the-line model with all those chrome alike rustfree trim on the outside and fake-wood applications in the inside + plush fabric and velour. Somewhat the Lada became also the first car that I’ve ever ride when I got the driving licence. So Fiat played a major role in my life and (among North-Am. GM cars) still plays as my dad still have a Punto Mk2B and uncle has a latest gen Bravo. About 10+ years ago I had attended on an amcar show and there has been exposed a mid ’80’s Mercury Colony Park…demolished brutaly. The owner told to the audience the same problem. He lived in an appartment but had no garage. At the same time then I had a Pontiac Grand LeMans Safari which had been partially demolished on another amcar meeting occassion while I was away with my wife and then newborn son. The tires were pierced, the emblems and the hood ornament stolen and a working tire shop had been miles away… I had decided to give another chance to the organizers as one of them had helped me around the tire repairs and he also helped me to source new emblems and a new hood ornament. Few months later on a next similar occassion but on a different location the hood ornament had been stolen again. At the same moment I decided to give back my member id. card and to quit the membership once and for all. But did not gave up on the car. Some year and a half later a lad came to us, offered a reasonable buck for it so I decided to sell. Later a buddy from the former amcar club call my attention to check the club’s website because someone else had started the total restoration of my former LeMans Safari… So if you like the 124 then go for it…find one…
…and what is a pleasure to me…only a day ago I found another former car of mine ( a 4 door 1990 small LeMans) in a used car ad. I bought it in 1997. Sold in 2003. That was the carrier of my wife and first son when we rushed to the maternity hospital and after few days I carried them home safely and in good health. And that sweet lil’ car of a kind had also survived the next two owners after me…till 2014. 🙂 Should I got it back?
I’d add that these easy-to-force-open vent windows were a common and well-known problem of all fiat 124 derivatives (those which had them). There were even factory produced vent window blockers (pic) which prevented them from being opened either from inside or outside. My Dad had them on his 2106 LADA in mid 1990s, which I as a kid thought to be very stupid. The other problem was the windshield – one could steal it easily just by removing the plasticky chromed molding that held the rubber weatherstrip in place with a screwdriver.
Oh I’ve seen many (too many) good old cars ruined by idiots. Last time, some sh!tbags took my friend’s Volga for some joyriding. Found it a week later abandoned at some construction site, with vent windows broken and some dents on the fenders. They ran one of the rear wheels into a deep pothole and just left it there. Well, lucky him, they could easily put it on fire just to see how cool it burns.
This tone of green looks ve-e-ery familiar, I think LADA inherited it from Fiat together with the car. It really gets bluer when in shade. Hope the car at least turned into a good parts source to keep several more of its kind on the road.
In college I was always locking my keys in my 69 beetle. I leaned how to pound on the vent windows in such a way as to cause the latches to fall open and, presto!, I was in. Good times.
I could jimmy my Beetle open with a long bread knife.
I recently discovered I could do the same with my employer’s delivery truck in seconds.
Love vent windows (and want them in all my cars) but they were a joke security wise.
Chrysler vents during the sixties were also super easy to pop open with a little stick or such. I had considerable experience getting into our ’65 Coronet that way, including to hot-wire it and take it joyriding when there was no key to be found.
I discovered that with our 1965 Barracuda when we locked the keys in it once while we were camping at Ohanapecosh campground. Our instrument of choice was a fork.
I once got into my 1984 GMC van through the vent window after someone locked the keys inside. I managed to get a coathanger wire through between the glass and rubber and flip the latch up.
I can picture a thief walking down the street with a Fiat 124 windshield under the arm …….
That’s a kinda THING which had been used THEN in the ’80’s when my dad had his Lada 1600. As the car was an import sorta car and after few years the factory made and stupidly self adhesived to the glass vent-window-blocker dropped off itself, he had to order the replacement part from (maybe Hungary?) other side of the iron-curtain. Either blocked vent-window or not while he was waiting the replacement blocker, none of the potetntial thieves were interested to use the occassion of “free entrance”. Times had been more peaceful then than now…
After having numerous cherished bicycles and their expensive parts picked apart on our college campus, one enterprising fellow just started buying $50 Wal-Mart bikes and brazing the seat, seat post, axles, etc. to the frame. He was able to rationalize that you might as well buy a new bike if you get a flat tire.
One of these served him for a whole semester, longer than any previous ride…until some less enterprising fellow kicked in all of the spokes. Such is the natural order of things.
These days you can buy special bolts for all things bicycle that require a special wheel lock like key.
At my employer I choose to just bring my ebike inside b/c no way am I risking that to a thief with a cordless grinder. No bike lock will last long against that.
I can either put the bike in a locked closet I have access to or lock it to a pipe inside the building near my work area.
I too have seen people just ruin a bike wheel with a kick.
Stanislav: I have those vent locks on my 63 Valiant Signet 200. It’s endured broken antennas, stolen gas caps [replaced with a locking one], even the yearly tag stolen off the license plate.
First day after I took it home to L.A. back in 1981 someone keyed it’s fresh paint. Then a mystery dent was left in the door.
Guess that was pretty good for L.A. I always bank on the vandals not knowing how to drive a three on the tree.
So the neighborhood was full of no-account bastard kids and no-account bastard parents. That’s terrible. But the parents certainly should have been held responsible. It’s still destruction of private property.
Sorry to hear this.
Forget it, Tom. It’s Hondurastown.
I have a warm toasty rant about the country all written up, sadly it’s not automotive related.
This might make you feel better. Some cars get even! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbHKdn0XScg
Gerardo I would love to read your non-automotive rant on Honduras.
If it says Fiat anywhere on it I get as far from it as I can. I owned a 1960 Fiat 500 back in the late 60s. What a piece for crap. Other Fiat owners I know couldn’t wait to get rid of them.
I’m afraid that Fiat is going to be the down fall of Chrysler. And that’s too bad.
I have no idea how this incorporation shall affect Chrysler Corp. financially… But I can ensure you that Fiat-Lancia as the car manufacturer has increased the quality requirements of their cars. I am not talking now about the design solutions. I am just simply mentioning the quality of how these cars are assembled and finally has increased their durabilty requirements since the early ’00’s. While my Chevy is out of order I am driving a 2008/2009 replacement Fiat Mk2B as a daily commuter and this lil’ car is getting quite enjoyable. It’s up to see how the italians shall match north-am Mopar tastes on long-term basis…and shall this be able to create enough $ profit!?
I bought a new 1978 Buick Regal Turbo, which ended up having the worst paint and assembly quality I’ve ever experienced. So bad, in fact, that I’ ve never bought another GM car.
I once owned a lemon (HOW appropriate!) yellow Fiat 128 four door. I slowly came to despise that unreliable, rust prone POS. The 28K old timing belt broke & bent EVERY valve in the engine, the noisy electric cooling fan would run for so long after the engine was turned off the battery could barely make the starter grunt 2 hours later, the pull of the dealer add on A/C compressor would loosen up the combined alternator/AIR pump/A/C compressor belt, the threads holding the driver’s seat cushion gradually popped loose every time I plopped down into the seat, a kid on a ten speed and I could have drag races it was so irritatingly slow…..
I started parking it in high crime areas, windows down, keys dangling in the ignition, hoping someone would steal it and State Farm would pay off.
Never happened.
Finally, I fixed every varied mechanical problem with the car, washed & waxed it and parked it in my parent’s garage until I sold it for about half of it’s NADA book value to a Tulane University football player. As he walked up to it I didn’t think he could squeeze his massive weight lifter shoulders in enough to enter the car. But he did, drove it around the block, came back with a big grin on his face and drove it away and O U T of my life.
All depends on personal tastes… 🙂
You should have changed the timing belt at 15k miles, as per the maintenance schedule. The 1300s were interference engines, so, yeah, bent valves due to your oversight. In my experience, Fiat troubles were usually the result of owner idiocy or negligence.
Wow, 15K miles? A modern car is something closer to 120K miles for that same design. Expectations.
That’s been my experience with European cars of that era. Not bad cars but far more maintenance intensive than American cars of the era. And it was important to have access to low cost European maintenance parts.
Many Americans I’ve known expected something closer to Toyota or Honda maintenance requirements. And parts for their European car aren’t cheap nor easy to acquire (until the Internet came along).
My Euro-cars have been okay but they did need more frequent attention. My aircooled Beetle needed the brakes adjusted every oil change for example. Also the carb, points and valves. Took about 45 minutes every few months.
My watercooled VW ate ignition switches every few years. Fortunately NAPA had them for $10 and it was a 30 minute repair. It would “warn” me by not powering the radio or the heater fan. Make time human, I need a new switch soon.
The two Fiats I owned were similar.
Fiat sold the tooling to that car and they were sold here in Canada as Ladas–USSR couldn’t launch missles at us so they sent those POSs.
My wife’s former ’00 Alero had a similar thing to the easily openable vent windows–one of the back windows could be easily pushed down into the frame due to some broken part in the window regulator. Eventually it went one better and the window started opening itself–as you drove the car and went over bumps, the window would start to slip down bit by bit.
As to the vandals, they deserve a particular place in hell. Maybe I’m just materialistic, but I’ve always found destruction for one’s own enjoyment (or boredom, or general malice, or…) to be one of the most disrespectful actions you can take short of inflicting physical violence.
I love the 124, especially the earliest versions. It was such a a revelation in 1966; so clean, roomy, modern, great handling, and zippy. What a home-run design. And four-wheel disc brakes, to boot, at a time when American cars all still had drums all-round.
I’ve long wanted to find one for a proper CC; maybe one day…
The top car pictured is very nice , I remember them ~ some hated them , others loved them .
I have a Friend who’s a Fiat Fiend and has several , none give him troubles , I know he takes care of them unlike most American vehicle owners .
vandals and miscreants should be beaten or something , been the victim too many times and repaired Customers vehicles way too many times , it’s _not_ ‘ oh well , kids ya know ‘ .
-Nate
I talked to a guy who wanted to sell his nice 1980 Camaro and parked it in a parking lot where lots of people park cars with for sale signs. Next time I talked to him he still had the car.
“I thought you’d sold that…”
“Well, I drove by where it was parked and the bastards had broken every window in it. Now I can’t afford to sell it.”
………………………….
~ That’s the sound of my teeth gnashing in disgust .
Not even a lowly Camaro deserves this fate .
In 1995 I was working the night shift and one of the Mechanics was a real live ‘hillbilly Bubba typ who raced out at the then still operating Sagus Raceway ~ he had two or three roundy-round racers that he kept up quite well as I recall ~ like all good Bubbas , he cheated like mad and didn’t get too pissed off when occasionally his engine was ‘ claimed ‘ (for some absurdly low dollar amount like $500) although he did punch a few other guys out one or thrice for ‘ Claiming ‘ .
Anyway , his wife or # 1 girlfriend got in a hassle with him and deliberately wadded one of the cars on the Pit gate post , that same weekend he was hanging out in a local Mexican Bar having a good time when some stupid white trash b*tch came in roaring drunk , proceeded to drink all the local Mexicans under the table whilst talking serious smack to/about them ~ in time they’d had enough and left , she closed the bar down , walked out to find every bit of glass shattered , cried boohoo , my buddy bought it for $150 , it was in very fine shape , he gutted it @ work over the next couple days (things get _very_ lax in Sanitation on Swing Shift after the work is done and the Boss goes home) .
He was pleased as punch , just another boring Nate story , this one about assholes and a Camaro .
IMO , _she_ was the asshole , things *could* have gone very badly for her that night but didn’t .
-Nate
“But yes, there are always folks out there who, rather than putting in effort to better themselves, will seek to destroy what others have done in order to pull them down to their level.”
“Never a good thing, and it’s really hard to be forgiving when it happens.!”
I have some neighbors like this one in particular who has been a thorn in my side for years. Constant theft of things on the farm here, for years you could not leave anything out. Windows of cars smashed , windscreens etc .
Sheep gone missing about 300 over the years, then cattle stolen, police were her buddies so nothing happened . so the victim was blamed. Trespass continual until i locked every gate on the property. trespass signs and so made a legal difference . Gradually i wore them down. Lice infection with stray sheep plagued me for the last 15 years creating so much work and the wool value halved.
I contemplated selling and just moving somewhere else, no matter where you moved you could never get a neighbor that was so bad. This caused a lot of pain but then you think of the pain of staying versus the pain of going, the amount of work you put into a farm.
A shift in attitude had me go on the offensive rather than be the victim and the situation swung around against the person. Other people who had been wronged got the hump and joined in the struggle.
Things happen slowly but big changes can happen if you plod along.
Unrelated events compacted . debts , court cases and legal issues all came to be with the couple, then marriage breakdown and separation of assets.
The property has been put up for sale.
All i can say is fight long and hard to the end .
Don’t let others ruin your life and dreams!
A friend of mine had one of these little green bugs in college. He was driving it one day and the “C”-clip came out of the rear and the axle slid out going around a corner. It sat for months until he could find the right replacement clip (the old one was broke) What a piece of crap, something was always breaking on that car.
Nice read Gerardo. I grew up in a 125 and a 131 so its that much closer. I’d really like a 124 wagon, there was a white one being used as a dd in Adelaide a few years ago. Looked good.
Don…I also remember seeing a 124 wagon when I lived in Adelaide and also there was one I saw regularly in Hobart.When I was 16yo a friend,a rich young abalone diver,bought a new white/red Fiat 125S,what a fast,comfortable and fine handling car that was.I looked longingly at the fine shape of the 125 for years after.
Now if only you had a red and white 58 Plymouth Fury…these sound like the morons who burned down the new community centre on their estate because there was nowhere to go and nothing to do
It’s just so gosh darn cute! That’s all I got.
I always enjoy a Gerardo story.
The music teacher at my grammar school had a mid green 124 sedan in 1968/9. I really liked the style of that car,still do.
Well…
When I was 6 or 7, I played filling station attendant with Dad’s inoperative 1948 DeSoto…
With a garden hose.
The gasoline was pretend, but the water was quite real. Later, he couldn’t get it running but never figured out why.
Lucky for me, or I might not be alive to write this. 😉
I went to a private high school about 25 miles from my town. There was a handful of us who car-pooled, driven by parents in the first few years. An early 124 sedan was one of the cars that would be jammed full of teenage boys. Others were an 88″ Land Rover, VW Squareback, BMW 1602, 2nd gen 4 door Corvair, Opel Kadett wagon, a couple of Volvos and a slant-nose Corona. All CC’s now, and not a V8 among them. The 124 was surprisingly roomy and sounded nice, but the owner was the worst driver of all the parents. Thank God for those 4 wheel disks.
We have a name in metro NY for the people described in these posts. We call them “middle school students”.
My first Fiat was a new 1972 124 4 door sedan off the showroom floor, then… subsequently over the next thirty years I owned a 69′ 124 coupe, a 71′ 124 coupe, a 72′ 124 coupe, a 1977 Mirafiori [131], a 79′ Strada 128, a 81′ Strada 128, a 79′ 131 Brava wagon, and a 78′ 131 4 door Brava sedan [everyone of them with a standard transmission]. Then my health fail and legs were amputated and now I drive automatics. If I had the health & legs today I would buy anyone of these cars for they were great.