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October is generally the warmest month here by the Bay, so that's when you get the big car shows on the island. On Saturday, Park Street was taken over by hundreds of chromium-dipped chariots ; the following day, a horde of Ferraris, Fiats, Lancias, Alfas, and the like swarmed across the bridges and set up shop on the soccer field of the junior high school at which I was forced to learn " The Hustle " in P.E. class, circa 1979. Sadly, the LeMons-veteran Ecurie Ecrappe Alfa wasn't there, but the presence of such jewels as a Fiat 2100 wagon, supercharged Lancia Scorpion, and SEAT 850 compensated somewhat. Jump, jump, and see all the purty cars! galleryPost('LHSItalianShowTop', 6, 'All Italian Car And Motorcycle Show Part 1'); galleryPost('LHSItalianShow2', 50, 'All Italian Car And Motorcycle Show Part 1'); galleryPost('LHSItalianShow3', 27, 'All Italian Car And Motorcycle Show Part 1');
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newVideoPlayer("/80_Fiat_Ritmo_476.flv", 506, 423,""); North Americans knew the Fiat Ritmo as the Strada , but did they realize that the little built-by-robots Bertone-styled machine was possessed by Il Diavolo? Just watch as the happy Ritmo-equipped family gets tailgated by a menacing Jaguar (or maybe it's a Daimler)… but then Papa stands on the gas, all sixty ramaging Italian horses kick in, and the Fiat lunges ahead!
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Welcome to Project Car Hell , where you choose your eternity by selecting the project that's the coolest... and the most hellish! Last time we simultaneously crushed and seared our fingers in the red-hot vise of the Hell Garage, the Shelby-ized Dodge Omni beat hell out of the Shelby-ized Dodge Shadow in the poll. Today, with the New England 24 Hours of LeMons race coming up in just a few days, we're thinking about the kind of car it takes to win the most prestigious trophy of the event. No, that's not the one that goes to the so-called "overall winner" (although a team does get some heavy-duty bragging rights by taking that honor ). We're talking about the coveted Index Of Effluency trophy, the one given to the team that achieves beyond all reasonable expectation in a seemingly hopeless "race car." You contend for the IOE by showing up in a looks-fast-on-paper car that everyone knows is going to blow up for sure (e.g., Maserati Biturbo, Merkur XR4Ti,...
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My DOTS-detectin' antennae are getting more sensitive every day; I caught the briefest glimpse of something red and vaguely wedge-shaped down a side street out of the corner of my eye while riding as a passenger in a car and made a mental note: Possible Fiat X-1/9! Investigate later! Sure enough, when I went back to that block later on, here was a red X-1/9 and not a Toyota MR2 or Pontiac Fiero (not that there's anything wrong with either of those two, but they're not anywhere near as rare as the Fiat). This ability comes at a price, as I now drive at a maddening 15 MPH in Alameda- the better to scan for interesting iron- and I'm sure my car is hated by the impatient types who don't understand that I'm on an important mission. I had the use of an X-1/9 for a couple of weeks when I was a teenager, and I recall thinking "Cool! Italian sports car! This will be much fun!" Then, a few minutes into driving the thing, I thought "Damn, this thing is miserably...
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Let's say you have a 1983 Pininfarina Spider Azzurra, which is a Fiat 124 built after Fiat handed production over to Pininfarina for a couple years (go here for the story), and you know it's something special . How do you show the world? Why, you convince the world it's actually a Ferrari, by dressing up the Fiat Twin Cam under the hood and then adding a great deal of body modifications. Hey, Fiat, Ferrari, what's the diff? They're both Italian, right? Don't forget the headlight shields and Von Dutch shift knob! Thanks to LTDScott for the tip. galleryPost('1983Pininfarina', 6, '1983 Pininfarina Azzura For Sale');
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newVideoPlayer("87_Yugo_NE_476.flv", 463, 387,""); Can you believe it? Test-drive a new '87 Yugo and you'll get more than 1% of the purchase price in cash, even if you don't buy the car! That's because New England Yugo dealers know that one taste of that vaunted Yugoslavian build quality is enough to make you sign on the line that is dotted. Is it just us, or does Yugo's "Buy yourself a little freedom" theme song have ominous overtones of payoffs to the secret police?
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newVideoPlayer("85_Autobianchi_Y10_476.flv", 475, 376,""); Let's say you're Fiat, it's 1985, and you want to sell a little car based on the Panda and badge-engineered with the Autobianchi name: the Autobianchi Y10 . How do you market the car? Well, most folks in 1985 knew the answer to that question: a seriously cheezy animation featuring a curvaceous female robot with antennae sticking out of her ears!
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newVideoPlayer("80_Brava_476.flv", 475, 376); In 1980, Americans with a hankering for a snazzy European sedan could have headed for a BMW or Audi showroom... but those cars cost real money! Not so with the Fiat Brava (aka Fiat 131)- you could get one for $3,000 cheaper than a 320i. There must be a catch there somewhere, right?
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As the descendant of the 1928 Fiat 520, the early-80s Fiat Brava (aka Fiat 131 to the rest of the world) should have been a runaway sales sensation. "Handsome and luxurious as only a Fiat can be" claims this promotional video, and who are we to argue? Only thing is, we don't recall seeing even one Brava on the street back in the day.
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