As the COVID-19 lockdown continues to restrict movement around most of Europe and other parts of the globe, one’s thoughts turn frequently to the day when such limitations are lifted and we can all drive around in our treasured classics, just for the fun of it, rather than just using the weekly (or twice-weekly) supermarket shop as the excuse to take said classic out of the garage – that’s what I do, anyway.
On top of this, here in the South East corner of England we have been enjoying (until this week, at least) one of the sunniest and warmest Aprils for some years, making the yearning to just go out for a drive stronger still.
Despite our generally unreliable weather, the UK is one of the world’s biggest markets for soft-top cars, and top-down motoring in the sun is traditionally the dream of many a man, young and old, preferably with an attractive partner sitting in the passenger seat, the sun on their backs and the wind in the hair (if they still have it). So goes the cliché, at least – and yet, clichés are clichés because they contain at least an element of truth, sometimes more.
This desire for fresh-air motoring is strong, and for decades motor manufacturers have created either purpose-built convertibles, or made cabrio versions of their saloons and coupes, and in a variety of ways such as full targa top panels as most famously in Porsche’s 911, with targa panels such as those in the original Toyota MR2 and the Triumph Stag, or retractable hard-tops as originally offered to show-stopping effect by Peugeot on their 402 Éclipse – in 1935!
However, the most popular way to enjoy the sensations of open-air motoring is with a soft-top convertible, preferably in a stylish and sporty two-seater, and this week’s Prime Find is precisely that.
It should have been Auto Italia Day at Brooklands this weekend – one of the highlights of my classic calender, and surely at least a handful of these delightful convertibles would have made an appearance – perhaps even this very one, for sale as it is in London. To compensate just a tiny bit, we thought we’d bring a touch of the Italian Riviera to our Prime Find slot this weekend.
Open-air motoring sometimes has a hefty price tag attached to it, but in this case, a relatively modest outlay will get you not just a sporty two-seater, but one designed by one of Italy’s most famous names. Our Prime Find this week is a lovely looking FIAT 124 Sport Spider, which in my biased opinion is one of the prettiest small convertibles you can buy. A friend of mine used to own one in Portugal, and when I visited him there we took several joyful drives out in that beautiful country.
While the carrosserie of the Spider comes with the reflected glamour of the Pininfarina badge on its side, its underpinnings are relatively modest, coming as they do from FIAT’s 1967 European Car of the Year, the FIAT 124 four-door saloon (a car my father once owned), introduced to the world in 1966 by being dropped from a plane (true!). Indeed, FIAT made the most of this small family saloon, spinning out an estate car, a very smart coupe as well as the Spider and a slightly larger saloon, the 125.
Sitting on a slightly shorter wheelbase than its saloon sister car, the 124 Sport Spider is one of Tom Tjaarda’s most famous designs and so successful was it, that it outlived it’s source car by many years – FIAT built the Spider from 1966 until 1981, after which Pininfarina took it on themselves and built it as a Pininfarina Spider Europa (or Spider Azzura in North America, where it was a considerable success, with about 75% of the almost 200,000 cars produced sold there. Manufacture finally ended in 1985, an almost two-decade run, which speaks volumes for the timelessness of the car’s simple but elegant shape – it looks good from every angle, though I particularly like the shape of the boot, with it’s subtle wide “fins” above the rear light assemblies.
There were, and remain, a few alternatives to the FIAT – we’ve already mentioned the MGB, to which you can add the Triumph Spitfire and Sunbeam Alpine, VW’s Karmann Ghia, the Renault Floride, and not forgetting it’s home country rival, the equally pretty, and also from Pininfarina, Alfa Romeo Spider. Unlike some of its competitors – the MGB Roadster being the most obvious – the FIAT had an easy to raise hood, operable by the driver alone while sitting behind the wheel, provided his or her arms are long enough.
Would you choose one of these over the FIAT?
It was made available with a variety of four-cylinder twin-cam engines, starting with 1438 cc then progressively increasing to 1608 cc in 1970 (although this was reduced to 1,592 cc in 1973), 1,756 cc in 1974 and finally 1,995 cc in 1979. The most potent of these was the 1995cc Volumex version, available in the last two years of the Spider’s lifespan, pumping out 133bhp – quite an increase on the original’s 89bhp. Bosch fuel injection was introduced in 1980, replacing the original twin-Webers. Lightweight Abarth versions of the Spider – the 124 Rally – were also available and were successfully campaigned in European rallying, with a series of wins and high placings between 1972 and 1975, giving credence to the car’s sporting pretensions.
Our car is a mid-period model – built in 1977, and features the more unobtrusive, and therefore prettier, slim chrome bumpers that were presumably added to the car as by 1977 all Spiders came with the larger over-rider bumper that were introduced to meet US safety regulations. In any case, the appearance of this little sports car is improved considerably by them. Personally, I think it would look even better with the side protection strips removed, though that might be more trouble than it’s worth.
This being a FIAT (or actually, practically any 1970’s classic), one of the best things about this particular one is that it is rust-free. It’s had a lot of work done to it, mostly mechanical – invoices totalling over £6,000 come with the car, and it sits on the lovely original Cromodora magnesium alloys. The original handbook, tools, spare wheel and keys are still with the car, and the odometer shows 85,000 miles – though this is not warranted.
There is a but, however… the main potential downside to this car is that with the vast majority of Spiders having been sold in the US, it most likely has the performance-strangling US emissions controls, unless these have been removed; the advert doesn’t say. This does make quite a difference to the way it drives – in Europe, the 1.8-litre engine pushed out 116 bhp, endowing this small light car with pretty decent performance; with a top speed of 185 km/h, and a 0-100 km/h time of 9.2 seconds.
By comparison, North American market cars were suffocated, producing just 86 bhp, and therefore significantly slower, with 0-100 km/h taking over three seconds longer at 12.7 seconds, and top speed limited to 167 km/h. I don’t know how difficult it is, or how much it would cost to bring the car back to European specification, but if this matters to you, it would be worth checking out.
Otherwise the car looks very smart indeed – I know red (or perhaps in this case, more orange than red?) is a bit of a clichéd colour for a sports car but nevertheless, it suits the colour well, and the tan upholstery and hood make a nice contrast. As is our usual practice, we’ve borrowed photographs of the car – unfortunately they’re not great, and there aren’t many – and you can see the advert here. It’s available for what seems a not unreasonable £15,500 – as always, inspection is highly recommended before purchase. Tempted for those summer days?
With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us be inspired by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same.
Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro.co.uk