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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! Britain has defeated Italy in a PCH Superpower Showdown (after two consecutive defeats , with the Triumph Stag going 70-30 against the Alfa Romeo Giulia Super yesterday. Today we're going to let Italy regain its bruised Hell Project pride, with an all-Fiat matchup! The early Fiat 124 coupes sure are wonderful machines, but they're rarer than honest politicians in North America. The few that came over here became red powder and wistful memories a couple decades back… except for this one in Oregon (go here if the ad disappears), which is priced so low we dasn't reveal it here, for fear of being deafened by screams of disbelief. This one needs some work, we'll be the first to admit, although the seller has decided to spare us the troublesome details in his description. "Good condition to restore" is all we get, and that should be enough...
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Fiat is hoping to recapture the spirit of the Fiat 500 Jolly beach cruiser with their Fiat Portofino Concept, set to debut at this year's Dusseldorf Caravan Salon . Based on the Fiorino van platform, the Portofino carries with it a nautical theme like the one found on the VW Caddy Topos Sail . In this case, getting nautical means swapping the floors out for wood and swapping out the seats with a natural fiber that goes through a special waterproofing process. There's not much of a roof and the doors have been replaced by pieces of rope, so we'd recommend the use of seatbelts. galleryPost('fiaport', 2, 'Get Out Of My Dreams And Into My Fiat'); The Italian carmaker claims the Portofino is purely a study, though they've apparently hinted they'd also make a covered version sometime in the future, which is something one likely wouldn't say if there were no plans to introduce a beach-friendly Fiat. [FIAT via CarScoop ]
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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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An Italian car with a glorious racing history should be given the red-carpet treatment at the Concorso Italiano , so you figure the Ecurie Ecrappe 1971 Alfa Romeo Spider should be a slam-dunk Best Of Show winner. Sadly, such was not the case, in spite of the car's great performance at many 24 Hours of LeMons races (when everything works, it's one of the fastest things on the track). Ecrappe member TheEastBayKid shot us a bunch of photos of the event; make the jump for the big gallery and EBK's description. galleryPost('Concorso08Top', 3, 'A Celebration Of Italian Style And American Bondo 1'); The Ecurie Ecrappe/Autodenta 1971 Alfa Romeo Spider returned to the Concorso Italiano in 2008 sporting red livery, Autodenta hood logo, and 750-series Giulietta front clip. This configuration was historically correct for Altamont 2008, though show judges did point out that while the car was accurate, fully documented, and competition-verified, it still totally sucks. Also...
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We spotted this miniature woody, a Fiat 500 C Giardiniera Belvedere, while passing through Charlevoix, Michigan. Ironically, it's still not the coolest car in town, as this place is also home to the awesome V8-powered Citroen 2CV off-roader we found at Autorama . The lakeside town is popular destination for Michiganders engaging in the summer tradition of vacationing "up north." As such, the ice cream-licking tourists were all over this little Fiat. It's hard (for me at least) to tell exactly what year this one is, but I'd say an early '50s model, as '55 was the last year for the original 500. These 'C' models were the final iterations of what many people know simply as the "Topolino," which started production in 1936. Of course, the iconic Fiat 500 that most people know was the rear-engined bubble that later came along in place of these originals. But the Topolino was no ass-engined VW-wannabe. galleryPost('fiat500c', 3, 'Fiat...
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The Pebble Beach Concours is always a spectacle of the well-heeled celebrating the well-known in the fancy-pants car show circuit. To go along with the car show wine is the cheese, also known as the Monterey Auctions, put on every year by the house of RM Auctions. There are always hit lists of the most desirable and historical cars crossing the blocks for huge sums of money; to wit, Edmunds Inside Line just did their "10 Best Cars at the 2008 Monterey Auctions" piece today. But we tire of such endeavors. That's why we dug around and found out what's at the bottom of the list. Below the fold: The ten crappiest cars at the 2008 Monterey Auctions. 1) 1909 Peerless Model 19 Touring Car Expected haul - $350,000-$450,000 Cough, cough, sputter! WHAT! You want how much for a clapped-out Clampit-mobile? Sure, Peerless cars have their place in history, but anything that two-boxes harder than a Volvo 240 just ain't worth that kind of scratch in our opinion. Let's say you...
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newVideoPlayer("/Andy_Plates_Rant.flv", 494, 410,""); Last night's bitch-fest by Andy Rooney on 60 Minutes' starts with his inability to discern the difference between cars and then as usual, inexplicably moves towards something only quasi-tangentially related. In this case, license plates and state slogans. Although there's no real point he's driving at, it's funny in that "Oh, Grandpa, you're so old" kind of way. Especially when he explains he's unable to figure out what one of the "cars he's seen on the road" is — and up goes a picture of a Fiat Bravo, which, as you well know, is a car not found on U.S. roads. Oh, Grandpa... [ 60 Minutes ]
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Just because the James Bond cardboard Aston Martin DB5 was pretty awesome doesn't mean that's the extent of Chris Gilmour's cardboard car art. In fact he's also cobbled together a Fiat 500 and a really bitchin' hot rod out of fibrous corrugated paper. We're assuming the Fiat was created as an attempt at a stiffer suspension, better ride characteristics, and greater crash protection. The hot rod? Well, that was probably built just because hot rods are cool, even if they're made of cardboard. galleryPost('carboardcars2', 3, 'Glue It Again Tony'); [ Chris Gilmour ]
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Only two companies achieved the voluntary average CO2 target of 140 g/km that European automakers set for themselves in the late 1990's to avoid actual government sanctions. Fiat and Mini were the big winners with emissions of 138.2 and 139.6 g/km, respectively. The worst offenders were Porsche (275.6 g/km), Land Rover (249.2 g/km) and Jeep (218.7 g/km). The figures were published by Clean Green Cars , which also pointed out that "Every manufacturer with average new car emissions significantly above 200 g/km of CO2 saw sales slump from January to June." Clearly, voluntary agreements are working. Why oh why then did the EU have to implement non-voluntary emissions targets for 2012? Press release below the jump. Fiat tops the CO2 league; Porsche is rock bottom Figures published exclusively by Clean Green Cars today reveal that Fiat and MINI are only mainstream manufacturers whose average tailpipe CO2 is now under 140 g/km. That figure was the target car makers' set themselves...
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Most of us Norteamericaños imagine a cheap, zippy 124 or 128 when we think of early-70s Fiats, so the luxurious Fiat 130 coupe appears to come from an alternate universe (in which, perhaps, the Vega and Pinto managed to compete with their Japanese rivals). It packs a snarling 160-horse DOHC V6 under the hood, as befits a car that manages to get away with a red velour interior without looking ridiculous. We'd been meaning to go photograph DSwig's 130 (and maybe talk our way into a drive), but we're too late and now it's up for sale. [eBay Motors] galleryPost('Fiat130eBay', 3, '1972 Fiat 130 Coupe For Sale On eBay');
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BMW and Fiat have signed a memorandum of understanding to co-develop the next-generation platform underpinning three different small cars — the Mini , the Alfa Romeo Mi.To , and the Fiat Grande Punto (which is desperately in need of help based on our experience). To borrow a phrase, the auto industry works in mysterious ways. It's not that BMW needs help on the engineering front, but by partnering up, the companies gain economies of scale they'll be able to leverage against their suppliers for a better price. Guess all's fair in love and the battle against rising material costs . [ Auto News Europe ]
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We're going to leave Anaheim and head a few additional miles behind the Orange Curtain... to Costa Mesa, as we continue our special Down On The California Street DOTS-O-Rama. Costa Mesa, as you may recall, gets a Thomas Pynchon shout-out in Vineland , with the Great South Coast Plaza Eyeshadow Raid sequence taking place at the city's famous shopping mall . We can thank VeeArrrSix for capturing this not-very-legally-registered little yellow bomb for us; make the jump to read his description. galleryPost('DOTSBECostaMesaFiat', 3, 'Fiat 500 Abarth Down On The Costa Mesa Street'); Spotted this "lifeguard truck" yellow little guy a few weeks ago in Costa Mesa, CA, right by my office. I didn't get a chance to grab a pic, but I saw it again yesterday, sans the car cover that thwarted me last time. The owner has a Exige as his daily driver... he definitely doesn't mess around. Any idea how he gets away with a british plate in the OC? Thanks! VeeArrrSix
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We're all now apparently destined to give up our delightful gas-guzzling luxury boats (again) and dump our super-sized SUVs in favor of wearably small fuel sippers. It seems, thanks to news yesterday that the Dodge Hornet 's still in the mix and planning to head stateside, that at least a few automakers are trying to make them interesting, or are at least making them look interesting. Unfortunately none of them are yet here. But of these unbuyable-here (and in a couple of cases, anywhere) econoboxes, we're wondering which ones you're most interested in — hit the jump. Fiat 500 Fiat has been on again, off again on its plans for a return to the US, but we're hoping eventually to see the reborn Fiat 500 on domestic shores — if for no other reason than to give Mini owners something to think about. Sure, it'll need a little more scoot or a totally different torque curve to get us interested, but the car has style and a superb interior, plus it sips the fuel...
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Maybe you didn't head straight to Nigeria when you learned that you can still buy a new Peugeot 504 there , preferring instead to save your money for a brand-new Italian 1960s car. Well, no need to head to Serbia for a 128- based Zastava Skala 55, not when you can go to Egypt and get yourself a gleaming new Nasr 128 ! You get the 65-horse 1300 engine with your Nasr 128, but we can't figure out the price; looks like you need to go ahead and order one online to get that info. Thanks to Franzouse for the tip! [NASCO]
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