A 2-door sedan version of Fiat’s 128 was almost my first car. No, really. I’d still love to have one, but maybe one that was already in nice condition. The seller has this 1976 Fiat 128 2-Door Sedan posted here on craigslist in Acres Green, Colorado, in the Centennial area, and they’re asking $2,600 or best offer. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Mike F. for the tip!
Can you imagine a 16-year-old living in major snow country wanting a square little Fiat in a city that didn’t even have a Fiat dealer? It was this same color, too, but I think it was a 1978 model, not that there’s a lot of difference. You can see that this little yellow example is pretty beat, somewhat rusty, and just generally sembra usurato (looks worn out).
A couple of my other first vehicle contenders were a 1971 VW window van in brown and white, and also a blue 1969 Pontiac Grand Prix with a 4-speed and a cue ball shift knob, and a 400 V8. My dad said it rattled too much, which it did, but he didn’t like the Fiat at all. He wouldn’t have liked this one in its present condition for sure. The 128 was made from around 1969 to 1978 or ’79, and these bumpers are crazy huge, but I like the trunk-mounted luggage rack. Here’s a fun little two-page brochure showing a similar car.
A cocophany of wires hanging from the dash, that’s something I’m rarely a fan of seeing, along with a dash filled with cracks, and a general dirty appearance. Even on a car like this Fiat, I would have cleaned the H out of this thing. You never know if spending one hour cleaning this car may have made a difference in a sale or no sale. I can’t imagine anyone buying this car to get it on the road again, or restoring it to like-new condition, even though I’d love to have one in that condition. The seats don’t look too horrible overall, but they’re filled with cracks, and I’m sure they’re brittle. Kudos to the seller for taking a bunch of photos, though, nice work! They even included two underside photos.
And they included two engine photos! Very nice. A lot of craigslist ads don’t even have one engine photo. This is Fiat’s 1.3-liter SOHC inline-four with 62 horsepower and 67 lb-ft of torque when new. Backed by a 4-speed manual transmission sending power to the front wheels, the seller says it runs when you pour gas in the carb. Is this one worth saving?
Even at a young age……. Scott Gilbertson had a vast taste in automobiles. I can see why you liked this. I can also see why your Dad may not have had. ( My Dad used to say parts for “foreign” cars were expensive and hard to find, which I’m sure, is why the only “foreign” car he had was a ’66 Beetle). But despite that, I’ve always been drawn to unique cars from other countries. Including Fiats like this. Maybe this can be saved. Looking at the photos a second time, I agree with Scotty, some cleaning would go a long ways with this. Cool write up Scotty thank you.
Yeah buy special soap (infused with c4)
My next door neighbor bought one of these new, using it as a commuter car. He told me he was getting close to 50 MPG with it, back then.
Luggage 🧳 rack 😎 👍
I owned one, a ’74 model same color as pictured in the Philippines back in 1980 while in the Air Force–sold it to a friend when I rotated out in December of that year. I genuinely loved it. Parts were a problem but it was soo much fun (that same friend who bought my ’64 Rambler American a year before, another friend wrecked it, ran the ’74 out of oil…).
Any car CAN be saved the Question is SHOULD it be saved I’m leaning towards NO however part of me wants to make it into a race car for when they run them little ones around the track
Came here to say this!
Fix It Again Tony..
My brother had a new one of these in blue. Great fun car and never a problem. I am so over that “fix it again tony” crap.
Nope, Fling It Around Turns!
Your story reminds me of going shopping for my first car with my dad. I looked at and passed on an AMC Sportabout, but the first thing I found i really wanted was a Mazda RX-2… one of the first rotaries. Not even sure if there was a Mazda dealer anywhere around back then. It was awesome, but I’m glad my dad talked me out of it. Unfortunately, he also talked me out of a 70 Camaro for completely different reasons.
Always lived these Fiats. Then, I like Checkers, too. Guess I have a penchant for the quirky.
Why do I picture a guy in a 1980’s track suit, driving like a maniac and cursing and laughing through some Slovak landscape as a taxi driver giving tours.
I remember this little toy! It was fun ! Lowering a little bit change the spring put it two 40 weber carburetor and shave the cylinder head with the same cam he will warp up easily up 6000 rpm with a nice headers that little thing went to the poorest 73 horses using premium gasoline went to 100 to 110 horses it was fun ! A fast gokart!
Same here, I put a mild cam from FAZA(remember those guys? They were always in the back page adds of R&T and C&D) and a 36/36 non-progressive Weber and it Really woke the little beast up. After that it was a header, instrument panel with tach, beefier spings&shocks, and a sway bar front and back. One thing that I really liked about the 128 was that unlike nearly all subcompacts of that era it had a heater core that was lager than a credit card in size: that meant that it would actually heat the interior of the car and keep the windows defogged in the sub zero temps around here. All in all it was a blast to drive and own and I would still be driving the 128 today if it hadn’t been eaten alive by the tin worm,…
Yes, but why?
I bought a 74 128SC right off the dealers showroom floor. I’m NOT going to tell you what I sold to purchase it. I was 21 at the time. That SOHC engine sung to me the minute I sent power to the starter and it screamed like only an Italian mistress could! Unfortunately, I took a front row seat in watching the rust overcome that sheet metal. Anywho, I would take a hard pass on this 128. As stated above, you could restore it, but why?
Why? Because it’s a cool car and stands out in a sea of sameness which of Mustangs, Camaros, and Barracudas.
Knew many that had these in the late 70s – early 80s… Popular college campus car. These were fun to drive, handled well and quite utilitarian. Could stuff ones entire dorm room in and on one. Unfortunately in the northeast US they didn’t survive all that many winters… They didn’t rust any faster than say a ’70s Plymouth Duster, but there was less car there so they became terminal that much quicker… Problem with FIAT in the US in the 1970s was dealer quality… Most dealerships had them as a second or even third tier line… competent support was virtually non-existent… hence all the tired “tony” jokes… and why they pulled out of the US in ’82-’83.
Dealer quality–so true. I bought a Peugeot from a Cadillac/Peugeot dealer. The salesman wasn’t at all interested in selling the Peugeot. “For just a little more you can get a Cadillac “. I wouldn’t be caught dead in a Cadillac. Service department had the same enthusiasm.
A similar situation was found with the Opel at Buick dealerships. There was very little enthusiasm in the showroom, in the service department or at the parts counter.
My local Porsche/AUDI/VW dealer took on Izuzu and FIAT and sold a ton of the FIATs but turned his back when the came in for service, When he heard that I was willing to service them (Why Not?? Easy to service and DIRT CHEAP parts.) he sent them all to me. I had a line outside my door. I liked the 128s and 124s and loved the 131 (“Bravas”). I bought a clean but tired 128 wagon (Green) and rebuilt it from the ground up as an about town scooter/ parts chaser. It was a fun little car but not suited for highway use.
I bought a used 1976 128 two door sedan as a stablemate to my Lancia Beta. A change in carburation and a free flow exhaust system allowed the little engine to breath and gave a noticeable improvement. (Al Consentino’s FAZA catalogue was required reading for any serious Fiat or Lancia owner). It was a reliable fun car with no major repairs or replacements, just routine service. Thanks to a size 24 battery, cold starts in zero temps were never a problem. The plasticized undercoating allowed the car to survive a life on salted winter roads with no appreciable corrosion. I kept it for six years and sold it to a friend who bought it for his younger sister who kept it for two years. I like the 128 Series, especially the 3P model but, I’ll pass on this.
I’m an owner from in the day too (1969). Cept it was the momiem0bile’n 4 dor. Got her to work’n trucked 2 kids “all over”. Step up from the renault dauphien, SIMCA 1000, other compact 4 doors?… Liked it enuff that when the kids could drive their own she went to the 850 then 124 spyder & lancia beta coup…
I used to ice race. (At the time, more like ice Autocross) Classes were divided up in engine over drive wheels and not. And then again by engine size. I was driving a ’76 Scirocco (which if set up correctly has minor overseer on the ice. Which is easy to go fast and fun.) Which was in the “larger engine group”. I usually won my class, but one of our club members had one of these in the next class down. He repeatedly was 5 seconds faster than me. My Scirocco was T-Boned by a Nova running a stop sign. So I started running a Honda Civic with the 1237 engine. The Honda was twice as much work to hustle around the course but I was now beating him by about 5 seconds. Lighter weight car accelerates and stops faster!
These were great driving cars. It would be nice for someone to restore this one, but not at this price.
Above the Fiat 127 was placed this car, with great success in Greece. Sometimes in Xanthi in N. Greece i needed as a member (founding member, Vice President) of the local car club to ask the Police Chief for permission to stage a car race event in the area. He was a bright young man a year older than me and he owned a Fiat 128 that comfortably suited his family with 2 kids and he liked our club and car racing. At the time i was racing for ‘Gruppo Fiat’ with a Lancia A112 Abarth, a large poster at the doors indicated it!