Hi, all- Having owned my 400i for over a year, I've really fallen for the basic shape of the car and for Pininfarina design of its period. Last fall I started looking for a stable mate for it and decided on the car in these photos. It's a 1972 Fiat 130 Coupe built by Fiat in Turin, and it spent most of its life there until purchased by a classic car sales company outside of London this year. The shape of the 130 Coupe is from Pininfarina, and you can see some similarities between it and the 400i. Its sedan sibling started production in the late 60's, and the coupe was introduced with numerous improvements in 1972, about the time that the Ferrari 365 GT4 2+2 took the stage. There's a bit of parts sharing between them too, as it appears the ash trays, some seat pieces and a few other odds and ends are common between it and the Ferrari. I've ordered parts catalogs and can't wait to see where the Fiat and Ferrari guys shared parts. The chassis and suspension are related to the design used for Fiat Dinos, and the 2-valve engine appears to be a loose derivation of a 4-valve Ferrari motor built by Fiat in the late 60's, used in both the Fiat and Ferrari Dinos. My understanding of these ties is sketchy at best, as the 130 Coupe was never sold in the US and I suspect the best info has been written in another language. At 4842mm, it's actually longer than a 400i by an inch or so, so the term "little brother" applies neither in age nor in size. Although when people think of Fiat, they don't typically think of bigger cars, and that may explain the small production volume of this model (about 4,500 units between 1972 and 1977). It's on a slow boat to the US, scheduled to arrive here sometime in January. The importation of cars over 25 years old is fairly simple, and the folks at Fiat in Turin were very helpful in providing what build info they had on this particular car. I'll get some photos of the 2 cars together when it arrives... wish me luck! Bret Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Good luck w/her. Can't believe it's 1" longer than the 400...very deceiving. Kind of has some similarities of the Maserati Q-ports of the era (front & rear angles). Was going to mention an Alfa (GTV of the mid 60's or so) as a mate until I got to the part of the 'slow boat ride'. A # of owners tend to go the 308 2+2 route. Anyways, will be interesting what parts the 2 share.
Good luck and have fun with the new addition to your stable! Thought that you might be thinking of a Bitter because the styling is similar. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Bret, funny...one of these was just featured on BAT. Can't be too many in the U.S. Shipping from CA--one would think--should be cheaper. Maybe you can corner the U.S. market and start a small family! See link below. http://bringatrailer.com/2009/11/30/racy-italian-sophisticate-1974-fiat-130-coupe/
Bret The rear window and rear side windows like awfully familiar including the frames. Check them when it arrives. Also, everyone look at the interior pics on the BAT site. Look at the shift bezel!! It is "ours", and I have hunted all kinds of American cars trying to find that same surrounding piece for the shift lever. I wonder how many more parts Brett will find. And how many are available at Fiat part dealers in Europe? Ken
i really like the model...and seriously considered one i saw on Ebay a few years ago. it was automatic in California, was a nice grey/silver but over a full red velour... and that was the deal breaker, not the tranny... and i still kinda regret not getting it. but i'm keeping my eye out for a stick...pretty tough to find in good nick, though. i hope you enjoy it...and by all means, make sure you post your impressions of it.
"Tranny"? "keeping my eye out for a stick"? "in good Nick"? You had better be careful how you phrase things when you're out looking for cars in California. People might mistake your wishlist for something else!
Same here and your's is a beauty. In fact, while in Europe during the mid 80's I was trying to decide between a Fiat and Peugeot's 504 Coupé. Image Unavailable, Please Login
yep total ripoff The Fiat is a 1972 model. Way ahead of its time. twin cam motor and the 5 speed transmission were bulletproof. It had an anti-dive system on it that worked good to compensate for the nose diving in hard breaking. power 4 wheel disc brakes were excellent! The electrical system was a nightmare!
Agreed 100% I love the 400i, the Fiat, the Peugeot, Bitter SC, etc. Something about the lines that work for me.
The FIAT 130 Coupe is a sweet looking ride. It shares a lot of suspension parts with the FIAT Dinos-so there is some interchange but the parts are expensive still-both were small production runs. One of the foibles of these cars as I recall from a Brit car mag-Classic and Sports Car or the other thick British classic car mag you find at bookstores, was a power stearing pump run off the timing gear on one of the over head cams-which if the pump seized then trashed the valve timing running valves in to pistons. I think I saw the red one referenced in the posts above at the best of France and Italy show in LA. Clean car, but red was a really bad choice for such an elegant understated design. Dark blues, silvers etc yes-rosso coursa NO! IIRC, the red one was fairly hard to start as well, I remeber listening to it trying to leave the show. Probably just needs some proper tuning. Hope you have a lot of fun with yours!
