Well, I’m not going to go into a long diatribe since I just wrote about a pair of these, but I just wanted to make sure I featured this since it’s in remarkably good shape for the price. If you’re in the market for a Fiat 128, right now you’re spoiled for choice – this makes for a record 3 cars currently available. Being a southern car, this one should be pretty rust-free too. You can find it in Lancaster, CA, just outside of LA, for $1850.
So I was trying to name this in honor of Lunar New Year…. hmm, maybe I should write about a Sunbeam Tiger. If only they were still $3K…. so instead I’ll write about a Fiat 128. Hey, 8 is a lucky number, right?
I’m still fascinated by these cars, although experience is starting to tell me I should keep my fascination to rear-wheel drive cars. Access in the engine compartment is easier, thanks to nobody trying to squeeze in a transmission and drive shafts where engine stuff should be. That said, it’s pretty rare to find one of these, let alone in Kentucky, and apparently rust-free. So that brings us to our first car, whose seller has the same sense of irony (or resignation) in light of the Fiat takeover of Chrysler as the seller of last month’s 124 spider. Find our first example, a 1978 128 sedan, at Mann Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Richmond, KY for $1980.
Update 06/29/09: It’s baaack! The 1979 128 4-door is up on craigslist for $650 this time. I think you could pick this up in the low hundreds, put a few hundred into it and have a fun ride. There’s also a 1973 up in Susanville, CA for $1200, so for under $2000 you could have your own “fleet” of 128s.
Well, we’re back with one of my favorite car nationalities again – Italian! The thing I love about Italian cars is that even the dinkiest, most humble of models has a sporty feeling to it… and this isn’t just hyperbole, I’ve driven some pretty cheap Italian cars. Fiat 128s are a prime example of this. The great thing is, thanks to the much longer production lives of their brother and cousin, the X1/9 and Yugo, it should be easy enough to get parts and upgrade the powertrain if you so desire, and for not much scratch. What’s more is, this car featured a significant jump in technology: unequal-length driveshafts so the engine and transmission could be placed side-by-side. As usual, the earlier cars are preferable for their chrome-bumper aesthetics and smog-exempt status, but much like my beta, they’re so unusual that if you’re interested and you happen to find one, you should snatch it up before it, um, disappears into a pile of iron oxide. That’s the burden of being an inexpensive Italian car from that decade.
In a stunning turn of events, there are actually 2 (!!) listed, not including the pricey one over near Boston. What’s more is, we have a choice of 2 of the 3 bodystyles sold: 2-door or 4-door. Our first subject is a 1972 2-door in Denver, CO for $2500.
Rusty But Trusty 