Benvenuti amici!
The title of this blog entry tells you everything you need to know about the content therein. We follow-up our short history of the legendary X1/9 with an abbreviated look at the evolution of the FIAT Spider… specifically, the infamous 1966 124 Sport Spider.
Drawing from his [Pininfarina] designs of the Corvette Rondine & Ferrari 275 GTS, Tom Tjaarda helped FIAT birth a never-to-be-repeated ultimate sunny day driver. Correction. The inventor of the city car recently revealed their plan to deliver a new 124 Spider for 2017 (from a former Pininfarina designer). So, it is due time we revisit what was hinted about here and in our X Marks the Spot entry.
The idea of the original 124 [Sport] Spider took firmly planted root long ago. Like the original 500, she branches from the 508/508C Balilla family tree.
Drawing from his [Pininfarina] designs of the Corvette Rondine & Ferrari 275 GTS, Tom Tjaarda helped FIAT birth a never-to-be-repeated ultimate sunny day driver. Correction. The inventor of the city car recently revealed their plan to deliver a new 124 Spider for 2017 (from a former Pininfarina designer). So, it is due time we revisit what was hinted about here and in our X Marks the Spot entry.
The idea of the original 124 [Sport] Spider took firmly planted root long ago. Like the original 500, she branches from the 508/508C Balilla family tree.
FIAT 508 Balilla Sport
FIAT 508S Bailla Spider
The idea of sporty, or as is truly the case sporting, versions of successful production models is as old as automobile history. The 508 Balilla, itself, earned that very honor. Spider variations of these sport cars had the distinction of competing in Grand Touring. Manufacturers would match their power engineering and body design for homeland and continental supremacy. This is still practiced, today, in closed and open-wheeled endurance Motorsport (following the path paved by FIAT's purpose-built 24hp Corsa). But there was also a burgeoning production niche for these open-aired variants.
FIAT 1100 TV Transformabile
FIAT 1200 Spider
Like many other automakers, FIAT seized the opportunity to capitalize on the increasingly expensive to manufacture sporting coaches. (We owe the very existence of street legal Ferraris to the high cost of racing.) Sport, Sport Spider and… eventually… GIANNINI or ABARTH versions were quickly added to the range or "family" of the most important models. With transformabile, cabrio or spider (Also; spyder and roadster outside of Italy) variants of the 1100 and 1200, the groundwork was laid for the cross-continetal pleasing 124.
The FIAT 124 made good use of the DNA developed in its predecessors and the size-to-power ratio challenge sorted by its older cousins, the iconic 600 and 500. Putting to work all that had been discovered, under the leadership of don Dante Giacosa, countless engineers toiled and finally created a fine 4-door family sedan that worked well in the city and was ripe for range building.
FIAT 124 Sport Famiglia
The 124 family of runabouts was a crucial variable in the success equation of FIAT in the mid-to-late '60s and '70s... complete with the sedan, coupè, wagon and sport models. As the automaker did with so many sales hits before it, the [Oscar Montabone] simple and affordable city sedan was handed to "amici di famiglia" for a fresh look and a quick spin. This time, the task was entrusted to the House of Farina. Of course, the Pininfarina-penned open cockpit version -- of the in-house designed Sport -- was nothing short of elegance on wheels. This further cemented FIAT S.p.A. as the premier producer of the working stiff's sport car… in/outside of Italy.
The coach builder reports 80% of all 124 Sport Spiders ever built were sold in North America, specifically the US of A. So, when rumors of a second coming began circulation the internet was alight with artist renderings and other speculative fodder. I, myself, have seen/read/heard more musings than I can recall in this entry. Rather than add to what you can already find elsewhere, I choose to offer a bit of the past that got us to where we are today. I also offer you comparative photos of vintage 124s and their contemporary counterparts.
As I leave you to your critiquing, I encourage an attention to the details… bonnets, grilles, head/tail lights and forward/rear "overhang". Look to the stance and attitude of what has been built upon the Mazda chassis. Determine, for yourself, whether the modern 124 Spider has retained the soul the Sports and Sport Spiders that came and went before it without aping what their designers delivered to showroom floors. More importantly, post-research and/or investigation, I beseech you to answer two questions.
Does the spirit of the 124 Sport Spider and FIAT Dino Spider burn in the heart of these images? Is there something worth celebrating in this new halo car?
The coach builder reports 80% of all 124 Sport Spiders ever built were sold in North America, specifically the US of A. So, when rumors of a second coming began circulation the internet was alight with artist renderings and other speculative fodder. I, myself, have seen/read/heard more musings than I can recall in this entry. Rather than add to what you can already find elsewhere, I choose to offer a bit of the past that got us to where we are today. I also offer you comparative photos of vintage 124s and their contemporary counterparts.
As I leave you to your critiquing, I encourage an attention to the details… bonnets, grilles, head/tail lights and forward/rear "overhang". Look to the stance and attitude of what has been built upon the Mazda chassis. Determine, for yourself, whether the modern 124 Spider has retained the soul the Sports and Sport Spiders that came and went before it without aping what their designers delivered to showroom floors. More importantly, post-research and/or investigation, I beseech you to answer two questions.
Does the spirit of the 124 Sport Spider and FIAT Dino Spider burn in the heart of these images? Is there something worth celebrating in this new halo car?
Lines & Curves Do Not Lie
Whether or not FIAT hit the mark with the coming of the ABARTH 500-powered 124 Sport Spider remains to be seen (next summer). Now, for the sake of this fan of hardtops & targas, bring on an Alfa Romeo-powered 124 ABARTH Rally variation. Can you hear all iterations of these wonderful runabouts roaring through backroads, streets and highways now? Heed their call...
Vivere.Amare.Guidare.
Ciao!
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