The Fiat 124 had a moderately successful run in the US, but its successor never quite caught on. Why? Toyota and Datsun, for starters. Of course, that’s not to say the 131 wasn’t capable of racking up high mileage, as this example with 559k miles makes rather poignantly clear. In Europe, the 131 did well enough, although the halcyon days of RWD sedans was quickly ending there. I’m rushing out of town for a few days, so no more commentary from me. It’s not really needed anyway, as R&T does a pretty thorough job here of going through all of the 131’s details.
My Maternal Grandparent’s last car, they replaced a yellow 128 wagon with a dark red 126 and an orange 131 1600 estate. I don’t recall if it was a ‘supermirafiori’ or not but it had the quad lamps. My grandad loved it, my mum put a dent in the right hand c pillar practising reversing, into a skip. When my mum passed her test, he immediately insisted on teaching her to change a wheel on his car (mum would’ve been gingerly steering the family 145S solo already by now). He was a naturally gifted, practical engineer who’d worked at The Air Ministry (back when the UK was literally organised upon Monty Pythonesque lines) and had managed Spitfire maintenance in the 39-45 war. Amongst other things he did a Feynman-like debunking of claims that workers’ poor technique was responsible for some aeronautical unreliability; on the way to a meeting he bought some cheap wire from Woolworths and bent it backwards and forwards until it was his turn to speak; I’ve just bent this wire, considerably cheaper than that being supplied, hundreds of times and it has not broken. The problem lies with the supplier, not the workmanship, he suggested. I’ve seen rough sketches he’d done while waiting for my Gran, for example, and all the parked cars are readily identifiable. Anyway I digress somewhat but my Grandparents’ adoption of FIAT products has had a profound effect upon their grandchildren (4 of us) who have between them owned a 128 sedan, 2 Cinquecentos, 3 Tempras (1 sedan, 2SWs), 4wd Pandas & 500x, as well as heavily FIAT-related items such as Lancia Deltas and a Saab 9000
Beaverbrook complained about the “Bloody Air Marshals.” Fortunately for everyone, the Luftwaffe made even more mistakes than the RAF did, & most importantly, the latter had the eccentric but able Dowding & Park.
The Spit was a production-unfriendly design, with lots of pretty curves compared to the Hurricane & Me-109, which explains its availability problems early on, but it seems they sorted that out later. The Hurricane was relatively primitive, but easily maintained in the field.
My aunt & uncle had more exotic automotive taste than my parents & at one time had a Mirafiori, which I got to test drive. My 1st twincam.
A Fiat 124 came into the family with my wife and it was speedy little car. I later read that they suffered from electrical problems, which later proved true when it caught fire one night on the freeway and I just barely got my wife and infant son out of it. Years later, I bought a 4 door Brava which actually held up well. It ran well enough but at 6″ 4″ and heavy, it was simply too small for me. I bought a Buick Regal and that was the end of my foreign small car days.
Mirafiore? Misfire in Italian?
Most likely a typo. It should be Mirafiori, which roughly translate as looking flowers
Yup, and I repeated it! My bad.
The Fiat 131 was proof positive that conventional engineering, thoughtfully done, could be entertaining as well as durable. My brother had a ’76 sedan in Positano yellow, and it was kick to drive, a real hard nosed little flogger that could just be comfortable and quiet when you didn’t want to play. Like all Fiats, it didn’t take to “set and forget” care, but if you actively maintained it would reward you with a long life. I miss straightforward European cars like this and the Peugeot 404.
My friend’s parents had the estate version and at 18, it was one of the little fleet of cars we used to test the limits of our bravery. Got massively thrashed by my friend, and it took it without a whimper. I remember the interior being quite cheap, but it stayed on the road as it got hammered down the little English back roads, so I’m thankful to it for that.
I never even sat in a Mirafiore. Maybe I expected something more from a 124 replacement. Certainly I expected a front panel, rather than the meeting of bonnet(hood) and front wings being complemented only by a big black grill. These cars all rusted away pretty quickly, but I can understand Fiat-love. They always seemed to have soul/brio. Like they were doing their best to be cut-price Ferraris.
The 124 begat the twincam 125 and NZ market oddity 125T for production saloon racing both of which headed east and the four headlight 125 returned with a Russian OHV engine the 131 just continued on in place of the earlier models.
FIAT’s rustworthiness was pretty typical for the period. The only mainstream brand(s) that actively seemed to resist it in the UK at the time were Volvo and Mercedes. They’d done a massive deal for cheap Russian steel, hadn’t they…
I remember being disapointed with the 131 when released here in Australia.
Where were the 4 wheel discs and twin overhead cams? It seemed a step backwards from the family 125S in those areas.
As for rust, the 125S was in the family for 12 years, with one pinhole in a front mudguard in that time. Perhaps we were lucky.
The US market got the OHC std. along with the now-cool quad headlamps. I had no idea Fiat even offered pushrod engines.
Australian climate is kind to cars I saw lots of old cars in OZ that were just rustbuckets in NZ yet in OZ they were unaffected
The Fiat 131 saw a lot of action thanks to French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo driving one in the movie “Le Professionnel”(1981).
http://www.carscoops.com/2011/05/belmondos-chase-scene-from-le.html
http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_4619-Fiat-131-Supermirafiori-131C-1981.html
Also, the Fiat 131 got a second lifespan in Turkey as the Tofas Sahin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tofa%C5%9F_%C5%9Eahin
I had one! I really loved it for the smooth ride and the comfortable seats. But unfortunately it was prone to rust. That must be reason why almost none of these survived.
However, something is wrong here. A mispronunciation in this printed article.
The correct name is “131 Mirafiori” (not Mirafiore). It was named after the factory in Torino.
Righto! I can fix my headline title, but not Road and Track’s.
I’ve always wondered how such errors escape the eyes of multiple magazine staff.
Nice pairing with the Volvo 144E. Two of the cleanest sedan designs of the era.
There were still some of these around back in the early 80’s and I remember admiring their looks-simple but stylish, a nice break from all the brougham-mobiles that filled the streets back in those days.
Very popular in Israel at the time and they still have their followers among members of the old car movement. When I arrived in the UK in 1989, there were still a few of those on the roads but they were fading fast. It was actually not a bad car as long as one kept on top of the rust and, with the bigger twin cam engine, none too slow; the Abarth version was of course a monster but out of reach for most. However, even the standard 8 valve could be easily modified and the chassis could take the extra power.
That reminds me: the 131 was successful in rallying during the late ’70s.
I member Turin black and yellow Mirafiori taxis having the drivers seat replace with a sprung cushion metal frame seat like a early Citroen 2CV, any body lnow why?.
It seemed like the 131 models didn’t have the excitement and fun-to-drive factors of my 124 and 128 cars; but still had the rust, electrical and constant maintenance issues of the 124 and 128 models.
The 131 series reminded me of an unreliable, Italian version of a Ford Falcon.
I’ve never seen it, in Brazil Fiat only offered a sedan in early 80’s, the Fiat Oggi, based on the 127 (named 147 in Brazil for some unknown reasons).
People mention Fiats and rust … in coastal California where there was no road salt, but a certain amount of sea salt in the air on foggy days (and perhaps on the ships coming over) Fiats could show major rocker panel rust after just a few years. My Alfetta had rust-through around one of the front sway bar mounts after just 3 years. Vegas were also rust-prone here … maybe they picked up road salt on the transport trains or even just being driven out of the Lordstown plant to the truck or train. Major rust on other domestics wasn’t evident until the cars were 25-30 years old, and then more a surface patina than real perforation.
Such a handsome design; and just look at that greenhouse. The 131 was the first Fiat-badged car I’d ever encountered; a face lifted, orange one, made mostly of body filler.
Made in Spain by SEAT until 1983. The last versions were called Diplomatic and had Diesel 2500cc engines (I should check where they were sourced from).
One of my uncles had one that lasted over 150000 km. According to my uncle, it was a Spanish-made but Fiat-badged for export version, with the 1600 engine and plush interior. I remember that it was thick velour – he kept the plastic original covers from the door trims for more than 7 years. He drove it hard when going on vacations, as the village where this side of the family comes from is about 900-1000 km away and he always drove that in under 8h (oh, the times before Radars in Spain). It was replaced by a Gen-2 VW Gti.
The second generation of those cars was extremely popular in Spain. I must have been in at least 10 or 12 of these cars.
One of our neighbours actually had an awful accident with a 1983 Diplomatic 2500 Diesel. He replaced it for a a Renault 9.
They were made longer after production ended in Italy and Spain by Tofas in Turkey, who now make the Ram Promaster and the Fiat Tipo.
Don’t know anything about the Mechanicals or driving ability of these models, but it sure looks like it had X-lent unobstructed vision and great head room.
A lot different then the new modern sedans sold nowadays.
You practically have to be a contortionist to enter and exit.
One of the reasons SUVs are super popular now “practical”
A coupe version of the 131, in rally trim and Abarth livery, was produced in 1/64 (or something in the neighborhood) by Matchbox in the 80’s. I didn’t have one as a child but picked one up on eBay a few years ago.
I never knew the Lancia Scorpion/Montecarlo was intended to be the Fiat X1/20…
Popular at the time here in Greece. It was a good, faster and agile car. The supermirafiori 2000 cm3 engine had a maximum speed of 125 mph or 200 kmh. The Abarth was used at rallies.