With Alfa Romeo and Lancia both having elegant sports coupes in their armouries, Italy’s most prolific car-maker needed to get involved as well
Appearing in 1966, the very modern 124 sedan gave Fiat the platform it needed for a sequence of coupes and these in turn bred the open-top cars.
Australia saw its first Fiat 124AC coupes in early 1968 but sales didn’t start until the following year. The Fiat with its fresh lines and huge glass-house cost $3648 – money that would buy an MGB or GTS Monaro with change left over. By 1976 that price would leap past $7000 and shortly afterwards the 124’s reign ended.
Get a good one and they’re a fun and responsive drive..
The Fiat came with a five-speed gearbox, four-wheel disc brakes and a twin-cam engine. Media tests confirmed it would deliver a genuine 163km/h top speed, at which point the optimistic speedometer was hovering around 170km/h but the engine wasn’t nudging the fifth gear redline.
| Reader Resto: 1967 Fiat 124 Spider
In 1971 and accompanied by a slight price increase the Coupe acquired a 1608cc DOHC engine from Fiat’s 125 sedan. Power reached 81kW and top speed was listed at 180km/h.
Two years further into the Coupe’s life-span, Fiat uprated the design for a second and final time.
Under the bonnet a 1.8-litre engine from the heavier 132 sedan should have provided a solid power boost but emission-controls strangled them to 84kW.
As a drive they’re light, responsive and just simple fun. You won’t break any land speed records, but that’s not the point.
Our top 4 Best Euro Buys:
#1 – BMW E36 M3
#2 – Porsche 911 996
#3 – Peugeot 205 GTi
#5 – Mercedes-Benz W124 E280/300/320
From Unique Cars issue #442, July 2020