Why The 124 Spider Forced Fiat's Demise In The USA - 1969 Fiat 124 Sport Spider

Doesn’t look like a live axle in that drawing.

My girlfriend in college had a steel blue '79 spider. About a month into dating her, she asked me if I'd like to drive it. I sheepishly admitted I didn't know how to drive a stick. Instead of dumping me on the spot, she said "There's an empty parking lot over there. I'll teach you." So I married her. One day, in '88, I went out to the parking lot at work to climb into my Datsun but it wasn't there. In its place was a red '80 spider 2000 with a note from my wife saying "Now maybe you'll stop borrowing mine." I drove that car until 2004 when she suggested I might think about a new car since the old Fiat had about 200,000 miles on it. "Yeah, I guess I should get a sensible car finally, huh?" She said "You should get that Lotus Elise you're always talking about." So I did. I still have it and her.

I'm 72, I owned three 124s and a 131. First 124 was in college in 1972 after a horrible experience with a Triumph TR-3. Bought a Pontiac Trans Am for kicks and it was great until the gas crisis hit. Sold it and bought another 124 and it got me through the gas fiasco while enjoying the commutes. Sold that 124 to work in the Virgin Islands. When those jobs finished up I bought the next 124. Yet another good, reliable car. After a year or so boredom set in when I bought a used Corvette on impulse. It didn't take long before I got tired of fixing its problems, and it had already broken down once with a new girlfriend in it (can't have that). Falling back on experience, another 124 and it too was fun and reliable. Owned that car for two summers until I got another job in the Virgin Islands. When that job finished up I bought the 131 from a friend and it was fun as well, but in a different way especially during the winters. I owned that car for several years until the first unusual problem occurred. A small bundle of wires routed over the steering column rubbed through and caused several fuses to short out. That was the first time I had to leave ANY of my four Fiats in a shop for a few days. Other than routine maintenance for the most part, I enjoyed my Fiat experiences. I can't be the only one with good things to share!

Former owner here, of both the Spider and coupe versions. They were both great driving cars, as he says. One minor addition: the handle on the convertible top was visible behind him; you could literally just reach back (when stopped, of course) and pull the top up and latch it, a masterpiece of lightweight and easy-to-use design.

I could write a book on the 124 Spider, I have owned a slew of them and have a 1977 model in my garage waiting time for a restoration. Much of what you have said is spot on. In 1981 Fiat pulled out of the US, leaving Malcolm Bricklin to market the 124 spider and X1/9 under their builder's names. The 124 survived till the 1985.5 model as the Pininfarina Azzurra and the X as the Bertone X1/9 kept going till 1989. The engine, as you say, is quite brilliant. Revvy and "square" it has a sound that, when uncorked, is a heady combination of Ferrari shriek and Chevrolet V8 thump. This is due to the rod length and stroke in the later cars being very close the the Chevy 350 in size. The 5 speed is very light, but also quite fragile, 2nd gear porsche style syncros do not like to be manhandled. The biggest issues with the Spider though is America itself. Even today, there are no stand alone Fiat dealers. They were always tacked on to other more successful dealerships. Thus you might get a Cadillac dealer also selling Fiats as an "accessory". This would include those mechanics who were more at home wrenching on American Iron, than more tender Italian tin. While the rust issue can never be overstated, the rest was due to most American's ambivalence to Maintenance. The 124 engine used a dual point system to help start, the timing belt needed replacing every 2 years or 20,000 miles, and fiat did some odd things with grounds. Quite a few owners did not see the need to replace a "fan belt" every two years, killing many of those willing little engines. The electricals ran to "common grounds" that when disturbed, could cause hard starting and seemingly unrelated electrical failures. (playing with the taillights could disturb the ground for the fuel pump). One thing you did not touch on, the 124 had one of the best soft tops in the business until the MX5 Miata came along. It could be lowered from the driver's seat with just two clips and pushing it back. Raising was just as easily done over the shoulder, but could break the back of the seat. The seats are sublime. I am currently using one as an office chair, bolted to the base of a once uncomfortably cheap chair. I can only assume I have outed myself as quite the fan of these great little cars.

I love that the video length is 14:38 - it's the exact displacement of the original Fiat 124 motor 1438cc. I own a 1969 Fiat 124 Spider and I love it.

This was the car that allowed me to find out, as an American, what things like handling, maneuverability, braking and steering were all about as compared to the usual muscle cars back in the 70s. A friend had one for a while. As beautiful as the car was, it needed constant repairing. Suddenly, the distributor rotor would crack as well as a lot of other things. It stranded him on several occasions. He got rid of it later in the year he bought it. Replaced it with an RX-7...I think it was the long term reliability here that cost Fiat it's market share...

This is the very car that I enjoyed tossing into the scary two-lane roads in Italy and France back in the early '70's. "Power-to-weight" is where the real driving fun is in my experience. It was at least as much fun as a well sorted Mini Cooper S. But then I get great pleasure from getting this sort of engine 'up on the cam'. Your growing connoisseurship of the driving experience has put words to my memories of this absolutely classic machine. Great big 'well done' Jack!

This brings back memories. A friend of mine imported a Spider from the USA to Belgium, restored it, de-bumpered it, so it would even look more like a little Ferrari. He fitted a 2-litre injection version of this engine, out of a Fiat Argenta. It was a fun little car, even more fun when that engine was swapped for a Delta Integrale engine. That was quite the mad ride!

I moved to Italy in 2010 and bought a 1968 124 Spider in green in 2013. There was nothing like zooming along the country roads of NE Italy in this light, nippy little softtop. But my wife wouldn't get into it because there were no seat belts, and I couldn't justify owning a car that got so little use. I sold it two years later for more than I'd paid for it, the only car I've ever had that I can say that about.

Sorry, Jack, but with those beautiful clean lines and thin pillars of its glasshouse, the 124 Sport Coupe was one of the most stunning cars of its time. IMO it still is.

Great Video! I still have the 1978 that my parents bought new in San Diego. It was handed down to me in 1992. Looks and drives like new. Just yesterday I had it out and about enjoying the drive. It's been a fun car. I agree with you comments regarding the ride height and one of these days I am going to drop it 2 inches to put it down where it was originally intended. There are two companies here in Texas that supply every part you would ever need for the classic spider, so getting the parts is just a day or two wait for the postman. A major culprit with no-starts was the dual point system. They constantly required adjusting and there was a trick to doing it right. You see, one set of points was the "starting" set, and the other was the "running" set. You had to jumper a relay under the glove-box to properly adjust each set. Reliability has been quite impressive since I deleted the dual point system and added a magnetic pickup in the distributor. I would not hesitate to take the car on a 1000+ mile trip, which I have done. Thanks again!

Many times a small car and power make for a great deal of fun. Without having to go dangerously fast. And I love going fast, but a combo of a little power and nice handling is difficult to beat.

I had a '71 124 Coupe in 1977. 1608cc engine. Absolutely loved it! Rust was a big problem but Fiat also made the mistake of partnering with Chrysler dealerships in a lot of cases, and they mistreated customers. Truly a shame.

My father had the red 1972 124 Spider and this was the first car I drove, legally, when I turned 15 a few years later. What a great car during that time. My first car was used Fiat 128 sedan. That 124 was fantastic. Say what you want, I drive a 991.2 turbo in Germany currently, but that 124 was great. I would still by one today.... Thanks for posting this guys!

So, so happy, Jack, that you did this review. Between my father and I we had six to eight of these...I can't actually remember now. It's the only car I drove for the first 11 years that I had a license. I didn't want anything else. Compared to British sports cars of the time, it had four wheel discs, 5-speed trans, decent rear seat room (for a small sports car), decent trunk ("boot", if you must), aluminum (really...aluminium?"), head, belt-driven, twin cam, high-revving, pretty bulletproof engine, and a great top (sigh..."hood"), that really did not leak and could be raised an lowered in seconds, from the driver's seat, with one hand...and they were cheap! I do not think it was reliability that killed off Fiat here so much as the rust problem...and it was a big problem. But 124 Spiders taught me about car control and car repair. As far as the chassis integrity and stiffness, I can assure you that it is possible to swerve to avoid a car facing you in your lane, correct into a huge, buried boulder on the verge, reset the entire, left, front wheel assembly back 18", pop the car up into a 30º angle, hit a telephone pole, move the pole back from its location two feet, then put said pole in the middle of the engine bay...and walk out of the car with just a teeny scratch on your left knee. Quite the strong, little thing. Oh, and it is possible to turn them over. Ask Dear Old about that one.

Being an American who lived through the 70's -- and even once drove a US version of the Spyder -- it didn't cause Fiat to leave the US. In fact the Spyder (and the X-1/9) both contined to be sold in the US for a few more years under the Bertone and Peninfarina name. It was Fiat's other cars which torpedoed the brand. Fiat couldn't maintain their sales network on just the sports cars. It also was getting very expensive to meet the US pollution and crash safety requirements. The costs of these certifications was being spread over a shrinking fleet of models. They could be sold as Bertones/Peninfarinas because they could operate under the reduced requirements of a "specialist" manufacturer. These required fewer cars to be crashed for study and shorter emissions tests. So rest assured, the pretty Spyder didn't kill Fiat in the US, the government bureaucrats did! We can take shallow solace in the fact that it was done for our own good. 😢

Had to watch this again. The sound of the engine through the shift ratios was ingrained in me, so deeply, that when I went out of my last 124 and into an Alfa GTV-6, I had trouble shifting at the right time. My brain was programmed for the 124 and the sound of an inline four. It's so nice to hear that again. BTW, you can rev past redline with no harm. The engine's ancillary stuff breaks but the engine proper really does not. Tuner and racer Al Cosentino, who ran the parts supplier, FAZA, I think from Florida, would run the 1600 to 8000rpm with no problems. If I remember, the comment was, "...can take a steady diet of 8000rpm without fail..." With an ANSA on them, they sounded wonderful. There is no rev limiter so the occasional errant foot did wind them up to lofty levels at times. I would love to drive one again (actually, of several recurring dream themes, driving my 124's pops up often). The most modifications I ever managed was on one of my 1972 1600's. A set of Konis, springs, an ANSA exhaust, and SUPER WIDE rear tires...185's. I was cool.

I don't respond to videos that often, but this time I have to. Awesome to see 'my' car on this channel. Been watching every video for years now as the Italian models get much love and appreciation from you. This particular video shows exactly why I've bought my red '79 Fiat 124 Spider 2.0! Keep it up Giacomo (Jack)! Really enjoying your content!

Had one of these in the 90s. Loved it. Sure, got all the "Fix It Again Tony" jokes from my friends, but I never really had any problems. Was going to restore it properly, but life got in the way. Wish I still had it. Thanks for the memories.