I had the 1.6 estate back in the late eighties.
The chassis turned into paper and I part exchanged it and got £100.
I received a phone call two months later asking if I was still the owner as it had been nicked and abandoned in Stafford. The brakes were awful. I had to pump them to get the thing to stop but it was a brilliant car to drive.
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This was replaced by the Regata in about 83 I think. They didn't improve the rust problems on that car either.
You will find the running gear from these in a variety of kit cars. A colleague had a fibreglass kit car with the twin cam 1600 in it very recently.
H
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Ah the joys
Had one brand new in 79, white estate. URV649T. It arrived with 12 miles on the clock and rust blooming around the tailgate.
The brakes were great, found out 6k miles later when the brake pads wore away and chewed the disks..
It had, without exception, the worse lights of any car I ever knew, including a 6 volt beetle.
Great engine tho.
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Weren't they just fun to drive with that two foot gear stick!!??
Mine just felt so luxurious compared with the Escorts and Vivas that I'd previously owned.
I remember getting into it each morning and noticing that the rust hole in the door was getting bigger each time.
Mine had twin headlights (a novelty to me) so I thought that I was something special.I also remember the rear struts on the hatch failing without notice and which nearly knocked me out.
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I had a w plate Supermirafiori in metallic blue. Superb engine. Bodywork made of recycled cig. packet liner. It was an ex-demo I bought for my first job. Sold it after six months and bought my first three. It was a spirited motor with a soul and heart, dynamically far superior to any Brit iron of the day.
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My Dad bought one new in '79 (131 Mirafiori) and shipped it to Sri Lanka when he(we) moved back there. Due to the import restrictions and duty he could only get a permit for the 1.3 model - used to get overtaken by bullock carts, elephants and all sorts :-)
He had it up until '98 and used it as a daily runner - it had done 180K miles - not bad in an island that only around 200miles wide by 300 miles long! Almost all of the body must have been replaced seversal times over - he used to have it "tinkered" every couple of years or so and resprayed.
The engine used to have to have de-coke quite often too, mainly due to poor petrol and lack of any opportunity to do an "Italian tune-up" - the roads are just too conjested or poor or both, you'd be lucky to get up to 40mph for a few seconds.
I learnt to drive in that car went I could reach the pedals (as a 14 year old!!) and I have some very fond memories and some not so - I did had my first accident!
I also remember it had very poor headlamps - my dad was always complaining about them too and I remember they used to fill up with rain water. Can't comment on the brakes, the only other car I was allowed to drive was my dad's (very) old Land Rover so that really isn't a comparison!
It had some nice touches though - the wheel nuts with the hub cover made to look like pseudo alloys etc. the interior was fairly quirky, especially the gear lever coming out almost horizontally and the big single spoke steering, the boss of which was probably the biggest horn button in motoring history!
In those conditions though, it was no match for my Grandad's Pug 404 or my Uncle's 504, both of which simply felt ideal.
Chad.
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After 180k the bullock must have been towing it. I had a Miafiori in the early 80's. I drove it thousands of miles all over Europe. When I bought it, it had a thumb print on the speedo glass. I gave it a rub and found it was on the inside. The car only broke down on me about a squillion times. I did the head gasket about 20 times - once on the side of the road just outside Paris - and by rights should have been given a place on the board of the Radweld company with the amount of money I spent on the stuff.
I eventually sold it to an Italian bloke who seemed to think it was just fabulous. I used to think it was odd that to drive the thing I had to lean a long way forward to reach the steering wheel yet with the seat as far back as it would go I could rest my chin on my knees. The Italian bloke immediately adjusted the seat as far forward as it would go yet was leaning back. I still can't work that out.
I can't remember the reg number but it was white. What a pile of rubbish! Although I have since owned a French car so I'm obviously not that fast a learner when it comes to cars.
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I must admit I'm struggling to recall the look of the interior apart from the gear knob length and seats that wore out very quickly.
I learnt a lot about keeping cars on the road with my Fiat, I had to! I remember that I used to take the front brake calipers off as regularly as checking the washer bottle on mine. They used to seize causing the car to wander all over the place. Its funny when you look around now at cars 15 - 20 year old; its as plain as the nose on your face which are the more robust. Plenty of Golfs about for example but very few Tipos, Regatas, Stradas, Alfas.
Do they rot because of poor quality metal? poor quality production techniques? thickness of the metal? quality of paint?
Anyway I haven't seen a Mirafiori for years. Remember the orange twin cam one? Superb. Always wanted one for some strange reason.
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>>Do they rot because of poor quality metal? poor quality production techniques? thickness of the metal? quality of paint?
Yes! though probably not the thickness of the metal.
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Do they rot because of poor quality metal? poor quality production techniques? thickness of the metal? quality of paint?
Probably all the above - I especially remember* there was a lip, about an inch wide on the inside of the front wing about 2-3 inches above the wheel level. This used to collect mud and never dry out - constant source of rot, not to mention the around the rear lights and boot, rear wings, around the windscreen, door sills - I suppose pretty much the whole car!!
Chad.
*Why I remember so well is that as a young boy I used to wash the car every weekend and "jet-wash" the mud and debris out of all the nooks and crannys.
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Plenty of Golfs about for example but very few Tipos, Regatas, Stradas, Alfas.
I can assure you that Tipo and Tempra do not have the normal Fiat rust problems! We have a 10yo 1.6 Tipo with no rust whatsoever! This was due to it being built with thicker than normal steel and the shell and doors were hot-dip gavanised - plus using a plastic tailgate (always a rust problem for Fiat) all in an attempt by them to try to dispel the "Rust myth" (which of course it wasn't!). Still, the high production costs of the Tipo mean't that galvanising and thicker steel was dropped on intro of the Bravo/Brava Tipo replacements, and yep, they rust!
Anyway - back to the thread - we had three Mirafiori - 1.3 two door BS (Bog Standard), a 1.6 SuperMirafiori manual (a total dog sold by a main dealer - ended-up getting a full refund from Fiat who took it off the road)and then a 1.6 SuperMirafiori Auto. We loved the 1.3 and Auto - the 1.3 was gutless though. I remember the Auto had fat Pirelli P7's - it really looked good. Sold the 1.3 to my Mum who ran it 'til it rusted to bits after being on the road for 8 years. Sold the auto for a Peugeot 604 - fab luxury car, but terrible rust bucket as well! That was sold for an Argenta (Fiats' biggest dud, awful car in every way - and rust bucket to boot!). Missus first car was a 127 (rusted away) then a Panda (went the same way as the 127 after six years) and finally the Tipo - which is still great - reliable, economic and real fun to drive hard.
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Isn't it funny how masochism tinged with the roseate hue of the past brings out fond memories of cars which were, if viewed now in the cold light of today spiced with a shot of reality and the cobwebs of self-delusion and rationalisation for purchase blown aside by some wallet-related objectivity, be seen for what they truly were, total and utter junk? You hear comments like well it had a super engine but the body was held together by paint but never mind I actually quite liked it. I mean you could have been driving a Golf.......
I know this because I once drove a Renault 9TS in Spain for a fortnight. Everyone said what a good holiday they'd had and somehow a broken down rental on the expressway near Barcelona resulting in a missed flight and hotel expenses didn't seem to bother anyone except me and my relationship with American Express.
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Num, I'm impressed. Talk about brand loyalty! There can't be many who go through that number of a firm's product getting the same (or similar) problems until they find one that works!
I have to say I regularly drove a Punto for a while albiet only a 1.1(?) and the powertrain was impressive.
Tim{P}
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Halmer:
I think they rotted because of poor quality recycled Russian steel. IIRC, Fiat supplied the 127? design to Russia, which then became that horrible Lada whatever it was.
In exchange Fiat received a lot of steel, which decomposed very rapidly when made into the bodyshells for all its late seventies cars.
Andy
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ISTR it was the 124 which became the Lada.
Car of the year 1967! ( as the 124 )
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Which doesn't answer the original question . Has anyone seen one lately ?
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Still a good many running around Turkey on my last visit to Istanbul in '01.
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I think the closest relative you'll ever see in the UK is the Regata. If I am right, the regata is the Front wheel drive son of the 131/Mirafiori.
They were rust buckets as well.
H
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