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Date Posted: 15:06:02 10/16/08 Thu
Author: MDenil
Author Host/IP: 151.200.238.16
Subject: Fiat 124
In reply to: Fred 's message, "Citroën Dyane...." on 03:10:26 10/16/08 Thu

My dad had a 124 Special he bought when I was in High School and kept through and past my Franconia years. My grandfather was a Fiat dealer back then. (once, one of my uncles traveled to NY to pick up one of the first Fiat X1/9's to be imported. He parked it in my dad's driveway in the spot where I usually parked... I almost skewered it with my Corvair Monza when I got home late that night)

The 124 was a very nice car in many respects. Of course, the heater smelled like salami, but that car cornered like it was on rails. I never could get it to slide, unlike the Ladas I drove later. Although the Lada was a licensed copy of the 124 (as was the similar model Spanish Seat), everything on the Lada was bigger, heaver, clunkier, and just didn't work as well.

The biggest problem the 124 had was the (electric) fuel pump. If you ever needed a real burst of speed (say, to get out of the way of a truck), and stomped on the gas pedal, the carburetor would go dry and the engine would stall. In fact, it would do that sitting still if you goosed the engine really hard. We put a clear fuel filter in the gas line so you could see it happen: race the engine and the line went dry. My dad bought a huge American built aftermarket fuel pump, but even that didn't help. He is a former Cadillac engineer (specializing in engines and drive trains) and this weakness the Fiat really annoyed him.

My dad also had an old 850 Spyder. Rodger Bingler had an 850 at Franconia for awhile too: I had talked him into buying it. Of course, Rodger's desperately needed front end work so it steered like a log truck. The roof frame was also somewhat sprung after he tried dropping the top while driving down the hill to town, so it whistled...

Rodger sold that to the Bahi fellow on the maintenance staff, did he not? What was his name?

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