With the addition of the 124 Spider to Fiat’s range, the company has plucked a small gem from its heritage and updated it to suit. In period, the original car was based on the capable 124 Sedan…now, it’s based on the capable Mazda Miata.
On the surface, what’s important is that the world has another rear-drive, turbocharged, manual transmission-equipped sports car within reach of the average enthusiast.
But dig a little deeper into 124 history and it’s hard not to be captivated by Fiat’s once-commonplace range of cars. Here are some great historic clips of them in action, straight from the company’s archive.
One of the best things about the Fiat 124 family is that dozens of variants were built over a large period of time, all around the world. It was ubiquitous. And so without the sexy lines of the Spider or rallying prowess of the Abarth, Fiat turned to stunt drivers and testing footage to prove the standard car’s sporting credentials.
Hey, it was the ’60s and ’70s; don’t you wish modern car commercials had this much romance?
On the left, a somewhat confusing ad for the normal Fiat 124 Sedan. You know what it needs? What’s shown in the video on the right: Driving gloves, ladies’ head scarf, dashboard-mounted cigarette lighter…and Spider bodywork, of course.
Yes, this 1971 documentary produced by Fiat is in Italian, and yes, there’s a lot of footage it’s not easy to make sense of. But that doesn’t mean you won’t find almost 45 minutes of action, including your favorite classic cars duking it out on stage rallies.
This being an official Fiat film from the time, you can expect to see the 124 Abarth Rally, a competition-tuned version of the Spider, prove its mettle in competition.
Image Source: autoevolution.com
