No 27 reviews Fiat 124 Spider

He doesn't mention the actual reason for the poor reliability reputation is that there was a complete lack of competent service vendors who knew how to work on the more complex dohc engine when the typical U.S. car was still pushrod based... Lack of attention to things like timing belts, critical maintenance, etc....
Vid made me miss my Spider though! Still my favorite 2 seat convertible...
 
Lowtechprime said:
He doesn't mention the actual reason for the poor reliability reputation is that there was a complete lack of competent service vendors who knew how to work on the more complex dohc engine when the typical U.S. car was still pushrod based... Lack of attention to things like timing belts, critical maintenance, etc....
Vid made me miss my Spider though! Still my favorite 2 seat convertible...
Click to expand...
I agree. I was surprised that he mentioned the reliability issues and just left it at that. He's usually pretty accurate about the history of the cars he reviews and often digs into the lesser known details. All that aside, he was clearly impressed with the car. Even going so far as to say that he feels it handles better than the Alfa Duetto. Still a good video.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 86X
In truth there was more political influence on Fiats "decision" to withdraw from the US market than what most people realise or care to admit to ...

you need to remember that around 1985/86 Italy was largely out of favour with the US government over Libya (Gaddafi) and a rather strong socialist faction in the Italian Parliament ... it had been brewing for quite some time and was front page news in Italy during the mid 1980's.

When you know the circumstances, it raises the question "did they jump, or were they pushed?"

SteveC
 
fiatfactory said:
but still sold cars under the Betone / Pininfarina rebrands until 1985/86... and then "chose" not to fedaralise other models that could have sold well, like the Barchetta, Coupe 20V , Delta etc etc....
Click to expand...

By the early 80's, Fiat's US dealership network was weakening and Fiat had developed a poor reputation for parts and service. Occam's Razor tells us that Fiat left the US in 82/83 because they could no longer sell enough cars here to be profitable. It's just business.

Fiat wasn't selling cars in the US after it exited the market. Fiat was selling parts to Bertone and Pininfarina who were producing the cars for International Automobile Importers. Malcom Bricklin formed IAI to import and sell the rebranded X and Spider in the US.
 
My dad bought a new 131 in 78. I learned to work on cars partly because of that car. The dealer in Oakland California had no idea how keep the car running smoothly. It had a lot do with that dual points distributor. The third time it came back from the dealer bucking and popping I dove into it, removed one set of points and adjusted the timing. Ran fine and never failed smog. When my mom got a new Honda in 86 I bought the car with about 70k miles, it was still running fine when I sold with 132k. The only time it failed me was when I preemptively replaced the fuel pump with a Beck Arnley unit. It failed three weeks later only a block from my house.
Poor dealer service had a lot to do with the poor quality reputation Fiat had in the USA.
 
JimD said:
By the early 80's, Fiat's US dealership network was weakening and Fiat had developed a poor reputation for parts and service. Occam's Razor tells us that Fiat left the US in 82/83 because they could no longer sell enough cars here to be profitable. It's just business.

Fiat wasn't selling cars in the US after it exited the market. Fiat was selling parts to Bertone and Pininfarina who were producing the cars for International Automobile Importers. Malcom Bricklin formed IAI to import and sell the rebranded X and Spider in the US.
Click to expand...
Fiat and Fiat dealers had a bad reputation in the US by the 60s. That was one of my reservations about buying an X. However, most all the other sports cars at the time had the same issue so it was just a matter of picking my poison. I originally got interested in Fiats when my parents went on vacation in Europe and rented a 128. They liked it so much that they bought one when they got home. That worked out well for me as they stopped using their Cadillac and gave it to me. Years later, my brother ended up with the 128 and I did a major desmog on it when he was living in Portland, OR. That is where I learned how breaking the end of the clutch cable on a 128 can result in the bolt on the end going through the radiator core. Did someone go out of their way to design ot like that?
 
Had a 1978 124 drove thousands and thousands of miles without a single issue or replacement except tires and brake pads once. Very reliable.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top