Months after the Group Health Division of John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company hired me as a Business Systems Analyst in 1974 I could afford to buy my own car. I had been using my ten speed bike or family cars to commute back and forth to Boston College a year earlier and now I was commuting to work on the Buddliner train to Back Bay Station. I was looking forward to a car.
I had been impressed with my cousin John Dempsey’s girlfriend Mary Scott’s Fiat 124 Sport Coupe. Flanagan and Seaton, a small used car lot in Brookline, MA, had one and I jumped for it. A blue 1967 AC model, that came over in the first group of Fiat 124 Coupes to arrive in the U.S. after a long delay to pass U.S. emissions tests.
I really liked it right away. It was a four on the floor with a double overhead cam engine, four wheel disc brakes, double wishbone front suspension and just a beautiful look in and out. This sports car fit four people nicely and handled incredibly well with exapansive 360º visibility. Ex Ferrari engineer Aurelio Lampredi, designed this Fiat Twin Cam (known as the Lampredi Twin Cam) which, widely used in motorsport, became the most successful engine in the history of the World Rally Championship.1
And it burned much less gas than American offerings, getting 22 miles per gallon or better. By contrast a 67 Mustang 6 cylinder got about 16 miles per gallon on average2. (At this time we were still smarting from the 1973 OPEC oil embargo which made gas very dear.)
It looked good on the inside with wood grain and wood steering wheel. I went about adding an FM Stereo radio where the chrome plate on the lower right of this picture appears. With the antenna to the rear deck it was “good to go”.
Spacious with great visibility
And the upholstering and room in the back felt really nice.
As the Road and Track review states, “The first impression upon driving either Coupe or Spider is that the cars are refined. especially in the chassis but also in the engine and powertrain department.”3
This David Graham Classic Cars video view of the exact same car may give you a feel for it:
A colleague from work, Steve Rossi, followed cars closely and brought in a copy of Car and Driver’s review of the 124 Sport Coupe, “New Standard in Sports Cars”. He said they almost go crazy over it.
Here’s what the Car and Driver Review of the 124 Sport Coupe in July 19694 said:
The Fiat 124 Sport Coupe costs $1400 less than an Alfa 1750 GT Veloce and $2300 less than a Porsche 912. Within the limits of sanity it handles just as well, it has way more useful room inside and it even has better acceleration than the Porsche. Do we have your attention?
[The interior] .. is beautifully styled and executed and would be acceptable in a car costing twice the money. The upholstery is all vinyl, the floor is fully carpeted and wood inserts are used in the instrument panel and on the console; Italian cars, particularly the sporty ones, always seems to be made with the driver in mind and this is clearly true of the Fiat.
The Coupe is very predictable and almost impossible to get crossed up. If you try to corner too fast the front will break loose first and you'll slide straight ahead until you've scrubbed off enough speed to regain a hold …[it] sticks to the road incredibly well and always responds gradually to any inputs from the driver.
No matter how good the Fiat's description may sound it's pale compared to the joys of driving. Visibility is exceptional. The controls are appropriately light and precise. It's a car that likes to be driven and the harder you drive it the happier it is
It did handle as well as Car and Driver states and it made one want to take it (as pictured in this 30 second video following) on winding roads like Turtle Pond Parkway behind Bellevue Hill where we lived. [the U.S. northeast’s terrain seems fit for European handling cars]
Another friend from work linked me to an Italian auto mechanic who worked by day at the Quincy Fiat dealership but worked independently on Fiats weekends and evenings in his own garage. I kept my Fiat in excellent shape going to him regularly. Though flat tires from rim leaks occurred frequently.
Then one day two years later I noticed that the rear wheel on the driver’s side would move forward with the torque of acceleration and then back on recovery. The axle, which was “live” — meaning it was designed to articulate with the road changes — was moving laterally. Yikes. I brought it to an auto garage with a welder.
He lifted it up and found the problem here where the driver side trailing bar5 attached to the underbody (yellow arrows)
In fact it had rusted through. 6
After welding it back together the welder looked over the rest of the underbody and said sincerely and directly, “a lot or rust here……[pause]….. You better peddle this thing.”
Very sad news. Like getting news that your best friend has an auto immune disease that’s eating away at him. I had driven it through two winters with lots of snow and salt. No doubt that contributed. But how could such a great car rust out so quickly?
The answers varied. Some blamed the perennial culprit, Russian steel. For example industry observer Dave Williams says “At the time the Russians were very short of foreign currency so they part repaid with steel rather than cash. Unfortunately, like their own currency, the ruble, their steel was junk.” 7
Others debunk this trope. "First off, there’s no conclusive evidence that Fiat ever used Russian steel. Italy was Europe’s second largest producer of steel, and there are documents that state that the Russians were going to pay Fiat for the technology transfer to build the 124 (Lada) in oil."8 They say there's plenty of evidence to blame European steel makers.
Still others point to the supply chain "being 'miserably flawed' during the handling process, [so much so that] the steel had actually already started rusting before the surface treatment had even begun…"9
Others blame the unions for inferior steel. For example, Mr. Cabianca contributor to the MotorSports Forum “…heard that the steel used was reprocessed stock (done in Italy), making for more jobs for Italian union members, but also creating a lesser quality of steel, which led to the rust problem.”10
In fact Fiat was not alone with rust problems, plenty of makers - U.S., European and Japanese — at the time saw rust issues. To wit, the Chevy Vega.
But Yikes! Whatever the reason, it was too bad. What a crime that such a great car rode on “feet of clay” at it were — poor steel. Its a shame for all the dedicated Fiat designers and workers that created such a great car to have to work with bad materials. It takes away the pride of work due them, not to mention its effect on those of us who bought them.
The slow down in demand for small cars in the early 80’s and the unfavorable reputation it had earned for turning out cars widely perceived as unreliable and rust-prone led Fiat to abruptly withdraw from the United States in 1984, its brand image in tatters.11 See Consumer Reports Frequency of Repair12 scores for Fiat below.
This rust-through in a structural area did indeed put the car on the other side of safety for me. The car had only gone about 75,000 miles at that point and the outside looked fine, like this one.
I let my mechanic Tony know I was selling it and he arranged for his college age nephew to buy it. I think for about $600! All things in life must pass. But in every loss a gain.
My remorse on selling the 124 Sport Coupe must have shown through at work. On returning to my desk one afternoon from the TSO13 room, I found an envelope and a sympathy card, a "sorry for your loss" Grief Card with a handwritten message. !!
It really hit me because that is how I felt. But who had written and dropped off the card? I am a sleuth and through a process of elimination I figured out it was Pat Meehan, a programmer in the On Line group. I wrote in code back to her.
Pat Meehan, also called Tricia, and I began dating and as of this year we have been married 45 years!
Pretty wonderful.
She struck a chord.
Morals of the Story
Durability wins. As great as a car’s aesthetics, style, and handling may be it’s quality must last for its maker to last.
“End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price; instead minimize total cost. Move toward a single supplier for any one item, on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust” - W. Edwards Deming’s 4th of his “14 Points for Management” cf. Fiat and Steel
Two weak do not make one strong. Fiat and Chrysler joined (2014); then French PSA Group joined becoming Stellantis (2021); ~ AMC /Renault and then Nissan.
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Notes:
Fiat twin cam engine. (2022, December 26). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved January 7, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_Twin_Cam_engine
Engine used in the 1967 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe
Zal, P. (n.d.). Ford Mustang Hardtop Six Cruise-O-Matic (aut. 3) (1967) detailed performance and fuel economy data; factory claim and ProfessCars™ estimation. Automobile-Catalog the Catalog of Cars, Car Specs Database. https://www.automobile-catalog.com/auta_perf1.php#gsc.tab=0
Performance data reports 286 miles per tank on average; Fuel tank carries 16.9 gals; calculating miles(286) by tank capacity (16.9) yields 16.82 MPG
Niedermeyer, P. (2022, November 30). Vintage July 1969 Road & Track Road Test: The new Fiat 124 Sport Coupe and Spider – “Outstanding”. Curbside Classic.
Car and Driver Road Tests - Fiat 124 Sports Coupe "enter the grander touring car". (1969, July). Autocar.substack.com. https://tinyurl.com/mryx3m87
A trailing rod is one of two horizontal arms (or "links"), perpendicular to and forward of the axle, connecting the axle or wheels with pivot joint(s) ahead of them, on the structure (unibody or chassis) of a motor vehicle.
Siegel, R. (2022, March 1). Find it again, Tony: Regretting passing on a 1970 fiat 124 sport coupe. Hagerty Media. - This article explains Rob's interest in a 1970 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe until he found structural rust through... in the exact same spot as my own, found back in 1975. The rust through picture is Rob Siegel’s. Rob is the Hagerty Media’s Maintenance and Tech, The Hack Mechanic
Williams, D. (2020). The fiat 124 story. The Fiat story. Retrieved January 7, 2023, from https://www.thefiatstory.co.uk/124.html
Using Soviet Steel
Niedermeyer, P. (2022, October 13). CC video: Rusty Italian cars and the myth of Russian steel – Nyet. Curbside Classic. Retrieved January 7, 2023, from https://www.curbsideclassic.com/uncategorized/cc-video-rusty-italian-cars-and-the-myth-of-russian-steel/
Lund, M. (2019, March 20). A Mish mash of FIAT Ritmo, a dead politician, Soviet Russian steel, plastic and a few other subjects…. ViaRETRO. Retrieved January 7, 2023, from https://viaretro.com/2019/03/a-mish-mash-of-fiat-ritmo-a-dead-politician-soviet-russian-steel-plastic-and-a-few-other-subjects/
Story of Soviet Steel and Fiat
Cabianca. (2002, November 23). Italian cars and Soviet steel. The Autosport Forums. Retrieved January 7, 2023, from https://forums.autosport.com/topic/50790-italian-cars-and-soviet-steel/?p=1082398
Onikoyi, O. (2021, November 20). The second time coming: Fiat’s failure to impress the American market. Medium. https://olaonikoyi.medium.com/the-second-time-coming-fiats-failure-to-impress-the-american-market-8d58f00a2ac5
Consumer Reports Annual Auto Issue, Frequency-of-Repair Records 1974 - 1979. (1980, April). autocar.substack.com. https://tinyurl.com/mr29749e
The initials TSO stand for Time Sharing Option. TSO is an interactive system that allows multiple users to access a mainframe computer at the same time. It was developed by IBM and is used in IBM's mainframe operating systems, such as z/OS and z/VSE. TSO provides a command-line interface for users to enter and execute commands, as well as to create, edit, and run programs. - Source: ChatGPT response
Fiats of that era were NOT built for North American conditions for the most part. This was especially evident in northern climates, where the heater was very inadequate, and never had the durability to withstand harsh winters. It must be noted, Fiat was not the only European car manufacturer with this issue at the time, though.
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