Geneva Motor Show: Abarth’s Rebirth A Beautiful Thing… Just Not For U.S.

peter g March 7th, 2007 5:44 AM Link

Nice…And so is the car…

smokeydog001 March 7th, 2007 7:42 AM Link

After all is said and done, it’s still a Fiat.

ghostly_1 March 7th, 2007 9:07 AM Link

Well, she seems to have recovered from our breakup. Good for her, while it didn’t work out, she’s a good person.

Best of luck love.

Don March 7th, 2007 2:16 PM Link

“After all is said and done, it’s still a Fiat.”

That’s just a totally ignorant statement.

The Grande Punto has been getting RAVES in Europe.

smokeydog001 March 7th, 2007 5:54 PM Link

So has everything ever built in Yurp, including the Yugo!

taratatira March 7th, 2007 10:09 PM Link

what are those black things on the hood for?

Ath. March 8th, 2007 3:39 AM Link

The return of the Abarth is here to kick some “backsides”

Alexander Lopez March 14th, 2007 4:56 PM Link

It’s still a FIAT? Thankfully so! FIAT’s have a long and sucessfull racing history, and their recent cars have gone a long way fron the old days. Of course, they can’t compete with America’s muscle cars in the quarter-mile, but these can’t chase a FIAT in a curvaceous road… yeah!

By the way, the black things on the hood are ventilation scoops, designed to extract hot air from the engine bay.

oregoncoaster July 21st, 2007 12:43 PM Link

FIAT (def):
1. Foolish Italian Attempt at Transportation
2. Fix It Again Tony

remembering a certain 1975 124 roadster…

paladino August 13th, 2007 4:33 PM Link

Never is a strong word but FIATs will never be sold in USA again. I owned 5 FIAT throughout the 70’s and 80’s and I know all about their faults. FIATs were not Datsuns but most people treated them the same. FIATs were very reliable provided they were serviced at a dealership exactly according to the factory service specifications. Most were not serviced properly and were abused like Toyotas and Datsuns of the day.

I also can tell you they were the funnest auto years of my life. Until you have driven an x1/9 at 75 mph on two lane, zero apron, mountain road with total control and zero drift for 1/12th the price of a Ferrari 308 of the same years you just cannot appreciate these little cars.

FIAT was not the problem, the Italian autoworkers unions kill NA Fiat. Unwillingness to work with management, work stoppages, strikes and an overall acidic and confrontational attitude from the communist controlled unions produced a poorly constructed car at times and the unwillingness of labor to allow changes i.e. improvements to the car production line to erradicate defective designs & components crippled the company in its efforts to improve quality. I also owned a car built after the introduction of the first robotic assembly lines were introduced and the quality of those components went thru the roof. Unfortunately it was too late for NA FIAT.

If you ask around you will find there was much less quality problems for the spider & x1/9 after Bertone took over as the cars were basically hand built at that point in a small factory.

Ciao

Winding Road » Archive » eBay Auction of the Day: 1969 Fiat 850 Jolly Shellete December 10th, 2007 3:31 PM Link

[…] rare, with the seller claiming a tiny 19 examples were produced in total. The car’s most distinguishing feature (which is saying quiet a lot) the wicker interior with teak wood accents, is either in good shape, […]

eBay Auction of the Day: 1969 Fiat 850 Jolly Shellete - Winding Road December 10th, 2007 3:47 PM Link

[…] rare, with the seller claiming a tiny 19 examples were produced in total. The car’s most distinguishing feature (which is saying quiet a lot) the wicker interior with teak wood accents, is either in good shape, […]

Ger Leahy December 28th, 2007 3:26 PM Link

I get the strange idea on this site that some people think American cars are better then european or jap stuff and as for the punto Abarth.
Give it 6 miles of a bad twisty road and it will have it covered before your muscle cars have gone 2 miles.Go to a rally some time see cars going very fast down small narrow roads actually come to Ireland and really enjoy a rally.