A poor man's Alfa Romeo, and better than some Alfas. I bought a 1974(?) 128 in 1981 while living in San Francisco. It was the perfect car for zipping around the city. Great handling, a fantastic free-revving engine, great visibility and very roomy and comfortable. Wish I still had it.
The first "foreign" car I ever rode in, at age 4 or 5, was a white 2-door 128 with tan interior that belonged to one of my dad's friends. It made an impression on me, much easier to see out of and less carsick-inducing than the fluffy Detroit broughams I was used to being hauled around in. Much later on when I was looking for my own first car I would've toyed with the idea of one but there were none to be had, they had all rusted away.
" I arrive in Germany. Volkswagen Research Centre. It was January 1970. In the center of a huge room was a 128 completely disassembled and sectioned, piece by piece. I ask for explanations and they candidly answer that they will never be able to make a car with such refined mechanics at such a low price. For this the Golf will have to be smaller. In short, the 128 was their reference car " Giorgetto Giugiaro
I used to run mine without the air filter cover on snow days ... my Earl Scheib $100 paint job (Toronado Red) 4-door with the the 1.3L sounded like a mini-Ferrari (at least to me). The intake is so close the the firewall, you could hear every sound coming through the Webber. It was very controllable on ice and snow - I just wish it had a 5th gear, since in fourth it would top out at ~95mph, but it definitely had room for more. Very under-rated little car, although thanks to my abuse, I broke the clutch fork and didn't have the means to fix it at the time, so had to sell. Probably a good thing - it might have ki||ed me in the end. I broke the rear strut in a hard turn, and somehow, after doing two 360s and ending up in the ditch - I wound up driving it home without a scratch on me or the car. Ahhhh memories....
This superiority and state of the art engineering and design made Fiat the biggest selling foreign car in North America in the 60's. Japan would begin to copy Fiat and subsidize the cost with government money in order to sell at lower prices and begin a strong hold in USA & Europe.
Back in the day when italian cars were considered ahead from european competitors. Nowadays, we don't even have an italian car manufacturer. -- Ai tempi in cui le auto italiane erano considerate avanti dai concorrenti europei. Oggi non abbiamo neanche un produttore di auto italiano
The last sentence is exemplar of what we (italians) have made of our industry. Once envied. Nowdays full of envy towards german cars. Germans worked hard and VW nowdays can boast a complex and complete range of models. What happened to us here in Italy? no one knows..
Prodi's entry into the Euro triggered a selloff of Italian mastery & know how to the Germans. Even the common rail invention of Magneti Marelli is now Bosch. Ducati & Lamborghini's drawings and patents all gone now to VW group. Bring back the Lira and trigger Italy's 3rd renaissance.
Image being back then and have to chose between an aircooled Beetle with 1940 technology that would kill you if the road was not straight and the fiat. For the same price. I know what I would choose
Yes amazing car, what a pity the right hand version for Australia, had such poor quality control. I remember I bought one in 1970 new to Australia, because it had won 7 car of the year awards from 7 different countries around the world.
@@gertvanderhorst2890 Der Rostkönig war der Alfasud. Die Ursache lag an den über 300 Streiktagen pro Jahr im neuen Alfa Werk in Pomigliano d Arco. Der damalige Staatskonzern war gezwungen dort ein Werk zu bauen um etwas gegen die massive Arbeitslosigkeitsrate in der Region um Neapel zu tun. Beide Autos ob FIAT 128 oder Alfasud waren technisch ihrer Zeit voraus.
A poor man's Alfa Romeo, and better than some Alfas. I bought a 1974(?) 128 in 1981 while living in San Francisco. It was the perfect car for zipping around the city. Great handling, a fantastic free-revving engine, great visibility and very roomy and comfortable. Wish I still had it.
The first "foreign" car I ever rode in, at age 4 or 5, was a white 2-door 128 with tan interior that belonged to one of my dad's friends. It made an impression on me, much easier to see out of and less carsick-inducing than the fluffy Detroit broughams I was used to being hauled around in. Much later on when I was looking for my own first car I would've toyed with the idea of one but there were none to be had, they had all rusted away.
" I arrive in Germany. Volkswagen Research Centre. It was January 1970. In the center of a huge room was a 128 completely disassembled and sectioned, piece by piece. I ask for explanations and they candidly answer that they will never be able to make a car with such refined mechanics at such a low price. For this the Golf will have to be smaller.
In short, the 128 was their reference car "
Giorgetto Giugiaro
I used to run mine without the air filter cover on snow days ... my Earl Scheib $100 paint job (Toronado Red) 4-door with the the 1.3L sounded like a mini-Ferrari (at least to me). The intake is so close the the firewall, you could hear every sound coming through the Webber. It was very controllable on ice and snow - I just wish it had a 5th gear, since in fourth it would top out at ~95mph, but it definitely had room for more. Very under-rated little car, although thanks to my abuse, I broke the clutch fork and didn't have the means to fix it at the time, so had to sell. Probably a good thing - it might have ki||ed me in the end. I broke the rear strut in a hard turn, and somehow, after doing two 360s and ending up in the ditch - I wound up driving it home without a scratch on me or the car. Ahhhh memories....
i certainly drove my 1100 like a sports car, went very well for what it was, always wished i could have found the 1300 3p
This superiority and state of the art engineering and design made Fiat the biggest selling foreign car in North America in the 60's. Japan would begin to copy Fiat and subsidize the cost with government money in order to sell at lower prices and begin a strong hold in USA & Europe.
Nope, the biggest selling foreign car maker in North America in the 60's was the VW.
Fiat 128 e Fiat 130.....che auto.....belle ed eleganti anche se di classe diversa!!!!
Even in germany Italian cars were the best... Nowadays FIAT and Alfa Romeo make me cry...
The 128 had a seismic change on car design yet goes unnoticed
Millions were sold and it had a very long production run. Germans and Frenchmen wouldn't buy Fiat period.
Simple and elegant. The true marks of a great design
Back in the day when italian cars were considered ahead from european competitors. Nowadays, we don't even have an italian car manufacturer.
-- Ai tempi in cui le auto italiane erano considerate avanti dai concorrenti europei. Oggi non abbiamo neanche un produttore di auto italiano
The last sentence is exemplar of what we (italians) have made of our industry. Once envied. Nowdays full of envy towards german cars. Germans worked hard and VW nowdays can boast a complex and complete range of models. What happened to us here in Italy? no one knows..
Prodi's entry into the Euro triggered a selloff of Italian mastery & know how to the Germans. Even the common rail invention of Magneti Marelli is now Bosch. Ducati & Lamborghini's drawings and patents all gone now to VW group. Bring back the Lira and trigger Italy's 3rd renaissance.
Image being back then and have to chose between an aircooled Beetle with 1940 technology that would kill you if the road was not straight and the fiat. For the same price. I know what I would choose
No wonder that volkswagen actually reverse-engineered a 128, in order to develop the Golf mk1.
Bellissima!!!!
Yes amazing car, what a pity the right hand version for Australia, had such poor quality control.
I remember I bought one in 1970 new to Australia, because it had won 7 car of the year awards from 7 different countries around the world.
Der 128 ist ein unglaubliches sportliches Auto. Nur schade, dass sie so gerostet haben.....
Wie die uebrigen Autos auch damals.
@@gertvanderhorst2890 Der Rostkönig war der Alfasud. Die Ursache lag an den über 300 Streiktagen pro Jahr im neuen Alfa Werk in Pomigliano d Arco. Der damalige Staatskonzern war gezwungen dort ein Werk zu bauen um etwas gegen die massive Arbeitslosigkeitsrate in der Region um Neapel zu tun.
Beide Autos ob FIAT 128 oder Alfasud waren technisch ihrer Zeit voraus.
@@gertvanderhorst2890Fiat war schon Weltmeister, was Rost betrifft!
Toller drehfreudiger Motor 👍👍👍💪
bella ed elegante..
wow