Fiats were quite rare in Sweden already in the 80's. They had a terrible reputation, mostly due to rust, but they had all kinds of quality issues. Kind of the same as brittish cars. One of my teachers at school had an early 80's white Ritmo. It looked like she never washed it. Perhaps part of Fiats reputation actually was caused by owners not looking after their cars... Keep the channel going please! I'm ooking forward to more car brochures!
The channel is growing, and youre building it nicely, especially with videos like this. We have a nice community here that loves looking at these cars so its good and one day, you will have a bigger channel. I do remember these, there used to be one at Amersham College when I went there back in 1987, it was a beige one, always parked in the same area near the front of the car park so I would walk past it each day going to college thinking I quite liked the style of them and maybe one day I should get one. I never did though as they all disappeared due to rust. Shame as I do like the look of that dashboard and interior. I would compare this to an Alfa Romeo Alfasud, again another car I would have loved but disappeared due to rust.
When you first showed this car, I remember commenting, saying that I well remember the car, though this first generation was known as a Ritmo (as you said it was known, in some markets), though, when the 2nd generation launched, the "Ritmo" name was dropped, in favour of Strada (as it was more commonly known, I'm guessing, in most markets)
Thanks for this interesting broucher review. I've always thought of the fiat Strada, as odd looking. However I remember buying several" die cast dinky toy fiat strada/ Ritmo's ,in the early 1980's ) in red or orange in colour) they were produced, by majorette in the early 1980's) majorette seemed to produce many toy, cars that were current at that time, they produced some particularly nice" die cast dinky toys car's, my favourites being simca 1100 & 1307 alpine & Renault range they had very good attention to detail!
Certainly interesting looking car, built by robots so very modern manufacturing technology at the time. Nice to see in the brochure pics how dark those big plastic bumpers were when they were new, as they faded into almost white colour when they aged.
I don't remember ever seeing a Strada/Ritmo on the road in Australia. I guess because most of the Aussie population lives on the coast, rust would have been a problem. If you wanted a hatchback in Australia in the eighties, it was almost inevitably going to be Japanese. I owned two Daihatsu Charades, and a Mazda 121 in the eighties. None of them rusted. You are right about that weird car brochure thing of parking the cars on the beach. I suppose the seaside is something that is always quite attractive.
Another one of those cars that looked far more revolutionary than it actually was. The looks were certainly devisive and personally I prefer the styling of '70s models like the 127, 128 and 131 which, I think it's fair to say, stood the test of time rather better. My dad chose the 128 over the Strada in late 1980, not just because it was cheaper but also because it had some of the appeal of the older Fiats. The Strada did look pretty cool and space age when it launched though, a shame Fiat did not sort out the quality and reliability issues. I can even remember some of the early UK cars on dealer forecourts sporting Ritmo badges!
Here in the US we had the Strada as well. 1.5 litre engine first, then came with fuel injection. Very, very rare, these did not sell well as the Fiat reputation preceded it.
Back in the day the Fiat dealer in Barbados sold the Ritmos in decent quantites. I recollect the 60, 65, 70 and 75 models running around with a few Stradas thrown in as well. As usual beings Fiats, they did not last too long because the tin worm did them in. By 1990 most were gone and if any are left now I have not seen one on the road in the last 20 years. Then it all restarted again in the 90s with the Punto models, those went through the same process as the Ritmos, rusting was a built in feature.
I had two Fiat Ritmo when I was young a 105tc and later a 130tc Abarth funny cars but the heater and rust protection wasn't really up to the condition in Finland
Built by robots Lol. Who could forget that abvert. Those flimsy plastic storks were very much a Fiat thing. The Strata was an excellent example of Italian design, but akin to Alfa Romeo, they tended to get shabby before their time. Great value on the used car market.
I liked both the original and the facelift. But quality was always variable with these and rust killed many prematurely. By the time the Uno was released, Fiat had made some steps forward with reliability and rust, though not completely sorted. When the Punto and Bravo came around, things were much better.
I'm surprised the looks are not admired as fondly as other contemporary hatches. It's funky and characterful. Cheap plastic interior looks fragile and disappointing though most likely it was the poor quality reputation that made people prefer to forget it. Curiously the Honda Today of the 80s has a similar front end.
Fiats were quite rare in Sweden already in the 80's. They had a terrible reputation, mostly due to rust, but they had all kinds of quality issues. Kind of the same as brittish cars. One of my teachers at school had an early 80's white Ritmo. It looked like she never washed it. Perhaps part of Fiats reputation actually was caused by owners not looking after their cars... Keep the channel going please! I'm ooking forward to more car brochures!
This is real trip back 1982/3 as my dad had a new Strada as a company car
The channel is growing, and youre building it nicely, especially with videos like this. We have a nice community here that loves looking at these cars so its good and one day, you will have a bigger channel. I do remember these, there used to be one at Amersham College when I went there back in 1987, it was a beige one, always parked in the same area near the front of the car park so I would walk past it each day going to college thinking I quite liked the style of them and maybe one day I should get one. I never did though as they all disappeared due to rust. Shame as I do like the look of that dashboard and interior. I would compare this to an Alfa Romeo Alfasud, again another car I would have loved but disappeared due to rust.
I completely agree with you - there was something about the design it’s really sad they had rust issues.
I always liked the look of them
Strada there. Ritmo here. I remember the bumpers fading quickly and looking worn.
Love the Strada, The 130TC was a real beast and a joy to drive.
When you first showed this car, I remember commenting, saying that I well remember the car, though this first generation was known as a Ritmo (as you said it was known, in some markets), though, when the 2nd generation launched, the "Ritmo" name was dropped, in favour of Strada (as it was more commonly known, I'm guessing, in most markets)
Thanks for this interesting broucher review. I've always thought of the fiat Strada, as odd looking. However I remember buying several" die cast dinky toy fiat strada/ Ritmo's ,in the early 1980's ) in red or orange in colour) they were produced, by majorette in the early 1980's) majorette seemed to produce many toy, cars that were current at that time, they produced some particularly nice" die cast dinky toys car's, my favourites being simca 1100 & 1307 alpine & Renault range they had very good attention to detail!
Certainly interesting looking car, built by robots so very modern manufacturing technology at the time. Nice to see in the brochure pics how dark those big plastic bumpers were when they were new, as they faded into almost white colour when they aged.
I don't remember ever seeing a Strada/Ritmo on the road in Australia. I guess because most of the Aussie population lives on the coast, rust would have been a problem. If you wanted a hatchback in Australia in the eighties, it was almost inevitably going to be Japanese. I owned two Daihatsu Charades, and a Mazda 121 in the eighties. None of them rusted. You are right about that weird car brochure thing of parking the cars on the beach. I suppose the seaside is something that is always quite attractive.
Noel Edmond’s slagged this off on top gear and fiat went mad about it if I remember correctly
Ha - That did amuse me
Another one of those cars that looked far more revolutionary than it actually was. The looks were certainly devisive and personally I prefer the styling of '70s models like the 127, 128 and 131 which, I think it's fair to say, stood the test of time rather better. My dad chose the 128 over the Strada in late 1980, not just because it was cheaper but also because it had some of the appeal of the older Fiats. The Strada did look pretty cool and space age when it launched though, a shame Fiat did not sort out the quality and reliability issues. I can even remember some of the early UK cars on dealer forecourts sporting Ritmo badges!
Here in the US we had the Strada as well. 1.5 litre engine first, then came with fuel injection.
Very, very rare, these did not sell well as the Fiat reputation preceded it.
Aw interesting I didn’t know they sold in the US
The front tyre looks flat on the red Strada bottom right! 15:33
Back in the day the Fiat dealer in Barbados sold the Ritmos in decent quantites. I recollect the 60, 65, 70 and 75 models running around with a few Stradas thrown in as well. As usual beings Fiats, they did not last too long because the tin worm did them in. By 1990 most were gone and if any are left now I have not seen one on the road in the last 20 years. Then it all restarted again in the 90s with the Punto models, those went through the same process as the Ritmos, rusting was a built in feature.
I had two Fiat Ritmo when I was young a 105tc and later a 130tc Abarth funny cars but the heater and rust protection wasn't really up to the condition in Finland
Designed by computers, built by robots, dissolved by nature.😄 Interesting looking cars, you wouldn't mistake them for anything else.
Built by robots Lol. Who could forget that abvert. Those flimsy plastic storks were very much a Fiat thing. The Strata was an excellent example of Italian design, but akin to Alfa Romeo, they tended to get shabby before their time. Great value on the used car market.
Always thought its strange with the wipers that far up on the windscreen, the short people would have them right in the field of wiev😁
I think if the wipers were blocking your field of view you should not be driving one 😂
I liked both the original and the facelift. But quality was always variable with these and rust killed many prematurely. By the time the Uno was released, Fiat had made some steps forward with reliability and rust, though not completely sorted. When the Punto and Bravo came around, things were much better.
I'm surprised the looks are not admired as fondly as other contemporary hatches. It's funky and characterful. Cheap plastic interior looks fragile and disappointing though most likely it was the poor quality reputation that made people prefer to forget it.
Curiously the Honda Today of the 80s has a similar front end.
Ritmo was already rusting on the production line
You couldnt fault them driving,was dreaded tin worm actually liked them
Absolutely awful car , we brought an ex demonstrator and had nothing but problems with it .