A few weeks ago we featured one of the most desirable small coupés to come out of Italy, the Lancia Fulvia, as our Prime Find. Pretty, nimble and a joy to drive, the Fulvia was a demonstration of how the Italians could create a small diamond out of a boxy saloon and this week’s Prime Find is another example of a similar transformation.
In 1966 FIAT introduced the 124 saloon to the world, and the following year it was voted European Car of the Year. It was a very capable small family saloon – my father ran one for a couple of years – and was a success for FIAT. To look at, however, it was as conventional as it’s possible to be – a square three-box saloon that looked much like an Italian Vauxhall Viva HA.
However, not one but two exceptionally pretty models were spun off from the saloon – the FIAT 124 Spyder, courtesy of Pininfarina, and it’s sibling, the 124 Sport Coupé, designed in-house by a team led by Mario Boano and it’s an example of the latter that we will be focusing on as our Prime Find this week.
The 124 Sport Coupé first appeared in 1967; known internally as the Type 124 AC, it featured a Lampredi-designed 1438cc four-cylinder twin-cam engine that pushed out 89bhp, endowing this small but spacious car (allegedly a four-seater) pretty acceptable performance. It topped out – according to FIAT – at 106mph (somewhat optimistically) and 60mph from a standing start was reached in a little under 13 seconds.
A three-box notchback, it featured single headlamps either side of a narrow grille at the front, and shared it’s tail-lights with the Lamborghini Espada and Iso Rivolta. The interior was particularly neat, sporty but not basic, with a fair amount of wood trim.
In a test in May 1969, Bill Boddy at Motor Sport magazine called it “genuinely good fun to drive” and summed it up thus: “It is a car which should cause many discerning drivers… to crumple up their short-list and throw it away”, glowing terms indeed. He wasn’t alone – Autocar magazine tested the FIAT in September 1968 and showered high praise on it. They wrote that “judged absolutely and objectively, it is outstanding if not exceptional, not so much in what it does but in the way it does it”, and apparently the magazine staff all wanted to drive it more. The car’s “fantastic roadholding” was especially singled out for praise.
FIAT built 113,000 of the Type AC before introducing a facelifted and more powerful model. The Type BC came out in in 1970 and could be bought with either the original 1438cc power unit or a 1608cc engine from the 125S that delivered 108bhp and a maximum speed of almost 110mph. It was also quicker to 60mph, reaching that speed a full 1.5 seconds more quickly than the smaller-engined version.
External differences were twin headlamps, a different grille and tail-lights shared this time with another Lamborghini, the Jarama, while internally, the wood trim disappeared and was replaced by black plastic.
After building 98,000 BC’s, FIAT brought out the Type CC in 1972, with a further revised front end and a new squarer tail, this time without tail-lights shared with any exotic Italian sports cars. It was also offered with a still-more powerful engine sourced from the FIAT 132, with capacity increased to 1756cc, while reducing the 1608cc to 1592cc for tax reasons. The more powerful car now produced 118bhp and could reach 115mph/180kmh.
A further 75,000 Type CC’s were made before FIAT ended the model’s run in 1975, replacing it with the 131 coupé, which was really just a two-door saloon.
As always seems to be the way, each iteration of the 124 Sport Coupé was slightly bigger and fussier, and to my mind, less handsome, even though all versions are good-looking cars, but the Type AC is that bit more finely drawn in every respect, and it’s one of these that is our Prime Find this week.
Now while we generally observe a budget ceiling of £20,000, we reserve the right to break through it occasionally, and this is one of those times, although we haven’t breached it by a massive amount.
There’s no shortage of alternatives to this delightful FIAT, and they’re not necessarily Italian
Our car is for sale with a dealer in Whitchurch in the county of Hampshire, southern England, and is one of four 124 Sport Coupés they have on offer currently, and they have also recently sold another three, so are very familiar with the small coupés. Of the ones they have for sale at the moment, our car is the most expensive, with an asking price of £25,000, but the colour alone – Giallo Positano – would make it the one I would choose if I were in the market, but there is more to this car than that. It’s a LHD 1968 car and comes with the optional 5-speed gearbox, which is a good thing, and a set of – presumably Cromadora – alloys is available at extra cost.
It has lain undiscovered for the vast majority of it’s 54-year lifetime, hidden away in a garage in Italy and only came to light as the result of a probate sale at the beginning of this year. As such, it’s covered a mere 23,000km (15,500 miles), and just as remarkably, seems to have been almost perfectly preserved in said garage, with – according to the selling dealer – no signs of rust. The dealer states that it is “beautiful and totally original”, having never been repainted.
In the intervening months the car has been fully recommissioned, with considerable mechanical work – some of which is detailed in the advert, which you can see here – as well as being given refurbished steel wheels and new tyres.
Based on the photographs we have borrowed from the dealer’s website, this lovely little car looks really great. The solid yellow paint looks almost unblemished, the chrome appears to be good bar what looks like a small dent in the front bumper and the bodywork seems good and straight.
The engine bay looks very clean, as does the interior, which unsurprisingly given it’s low mileage shows virtually no signs of wear. The black vinyl seats and door cards are free of damage, the wood trim hasn’t faded at all – again, unsurprising given it’s lengthy period in storage. Everything looks just as it should be, so while it’s expensive for a 124 Sports Coupé – the others on sale with this dealer and elsewhere are significantly less expensive – I would nevertheless be seriously tempted if I had space in my garage; I really like this FIAT.
Obviously some of it’s value is in it’s low mileage and originality, but hopefully whoever buys it doesn’t stick it back in storage but takes it out as much as possible. If that buyer might be you, dear reader, we recommend as always that you arrange a prior inspection if possible.
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