From Eric M – So, I found a 1972 Fiat Sport Coupe for sale local to me near Seattle on craigslist. It was advertised as Grandma’s little sports car that Grandpa couldn’t fix back in the 70’s. At 70k miles, complete, and only a grand, I had to go get it. Turns out, the car had been in the barn since 1979. Grandpa had taken off the cam covers and let the motor sit. So it appeared the top end was wasted. With the reputation these have for rotting, this car seems immaculate! there is some damage below the battery tray from leakage, but otherwise, spotty surface pocks and thats it.
The seller tells me a guy from Portland offered him 1500 over the phone to hold it, so I had to match it. No problem. find any spares hiding out on the property and load it on the flatbed. This car is on the islands here in the Puget Sound btw, so it was either pay out the nose for a ferry ride with a trailer and large truck, (about 120 both ways,) or drive an extra 100 miles to go around. We drove.
Getting the car home, looking it over was quite the surprise. This car was better than had been expected! No real rust issues, and there was barely a dent in the driver seat! Turns out the bit of movement I got on the crank was because the motor was at tdc, so I was turning the top radius of the stroke… 3 pistons were seized. I expected the motor to need a rebuild anyway.
So, heres some pics, the motor ttrans are out now. Sourced new lightweight pistons bearing etc and is getting a rebuild. fThe interior has been sorted and the body is in the process of being cut/buffed. I will send an update when its finished, hopefully here in a few months.
I can’t wait to see Eric’s progress with this Fiat. As many of you know, I own a Fiat 124 Spider, so seeing this coupe has made me want to make a quick trip back to Wyoming to work on it! Special thanks to Eric for sharing and I wish him the best of luck!
one of the best 2015 BF’s ….. Good 124 Coupes are hard to find, ….they are worth 6-10k.. and rising
Good luck Eric….
“Breaker 1-9, you got the Yellow Paisano here, come on…”
Way to go, Eric. Want to see your pics as the project progresses. Good luck.
looks like a fun little project. good luck
Good buy at $1300 to your house, put an abarth exhaust after fix up, and we”ll hear you coming.
It has a CB,Im in
Love these cars. The first car I ever bought myself was 124 coupé. Then, at college, the most beautiful girl I ever saw I had a yellow one that was even nicer.
I wonder whatever happened to her. I’m sure the car rusted away, just like mine.
Check out the photos of the 124 couoe I saw parked at the Marina in Bellingham. Took the photos because I always liked these and you never see them, most of them been scrapped long ago. Nice hit Eric, bought really right. Looks like you’ll have a car as nice as this one.
Sorry photos didnt load, thought they did, have done it on this site before,
Looks like a good buy. I hope Eric can bring it back with just an engine rebuild and a cleaning.
Fiats had a bad reputation for rust, but this one looks really good. Must be the laid back Pacific Northwest life it led followed by the long sleep in the barn. Too bad so many older cars missed out on that kind of life.
I hope we’ll see some photos later on when it’s back on the road.
NICE. We just had one go up for sale near Vancouver (North). It has quite a bit of rust though. In my twenties my friend bought one and we drove up to Kelowna on the old highway. The twin cams had to be wound up pretty tight to manage the hills but the car handled quite well and had plenty of room…for a small car. “You need long arms to drive the early Fiats”.
Pininfarina….yes. We were actually attracted to the Fiats because of the famous stunt driver Remy Julienne. Although not this particular model he used fiats for many of his driving scenes. Before the Italian Job there was Remy Julienne’s tv commercials and movie scenes.
A 1969 124 coupe was my second car- just out of high school & I loved it but rust was an issue. By 1975 the rockers were already rusted out. But I still loved the car – air horn was a unique feature with that distinctive European sound.
If I’m remembering things correctly, the European version had aero styled headlights. They matched the body very well as I remember (I am getting old). I had a 124 roadster. It was a miniature Ferrari in my eyes. I loved it, it dissolved in water but I loved it anyway. Thanks for sharing and thanks even more for rescuing this little guy. Well done.
What a great find and at a realistic, project price. Great color too. Always a fan of these coupes.
Great find Eric thanks alot for shring the story with us.
terrific find! I raced a ’71 in SCCA improved Touring C in the eighties. It won the Southeast Championship the third year I ran it. We raced at Charlotte motor Speedway, Rockingham, NC, Road Atlanta, and Savannah (Roebling roads). With the spec weber 32/36 carb and open exhaust it would do 7200 RPM’s in 4th, (never used 5th during a race, 4th pulled better top end) with the otherwise stock 1600 twin cammer. What a car! Finished every race,too. I had a 72 street driver as well, and it was equally reliable.
Had one in ’75 or ’76…….tan with brown interior. I think it was a seventy three. Drove it up and down the East Coast a couple of times. Never had a problem. Probably just lucky. Had a spider later and of the two I kind of liked the seating postion and feel of the coupe. They bordered on tinny in the fit and finish of the dash. But a five speed is a 5 speed. Amazing they are bringing 6K today if they are.
Super cool fiat,
Make sure you rust proof the car while you are at it.
In europe we use Dinitrol or Rx5/Rx7.
So you can enjoy this car for a long time.
Nice find, even though that color wasn’t attractive in the 70s either…
great find. i hope you will keep us updated on this project. the 124s interested me back when they were new, i remember reading about them in Road and Track.