I have a soft spot for everything Fiat, especially the Fiat 131 Mirafiori. This was because the car was one which I had my earliest motoring memories. My father owned one of these and we travelled distances throughout the Malaysian Peninsular before the days of the North-South Highways. I was a good car to own, but it had the dreaded Italian car rust problem of the 1970s. Made from cheap Russian steel they rusted even before leaving the factory in Italy. But today, rust aside, we're talking about the special version - the Fiat 131 Abarth.
Fiat never really recovered from this fiasco over in these parts of the world. So much so there has not been a proper Fiat dealership in Malaysia over the last five or so years. Sad and slightly pathetic isn't it? Anyway, the Fiat 131 was a heck of a car. Fiat won three World Rally Championships in them and made 500 or so homologation versions of it called the 131 Abarth Rallye (above), all in left hand drive and all from the 2 door 131 variant. It was powered by a 140ps twin cam 2.0liter 4 cylinder engine via a LSD equipped 5 speed manual transmission. The car basically had a different bodykit that was designed by Bertone and looked wonderful in all of its square boxed glory.
After this run Fiat produced the 2.0liter DOHC 115hp 131 Racing (pictured right below). I remember a few RHD Racings are in Malaysian but I don't remember any of them being roadworthy at this moment. One even had a full Abarth bodykit and looked awesome. It however ended up with a Nissan Sylvia SR20 engine and to me that is quite a sad thing. The twin cam 2.0liter 4 cylinder with its single downdraught Weber Carb sounded all gurgly and throaty. It may have had only 115 horses, but it must have been fun to drive. The 75hp my dad's 131 1600 ohv engine had was actually enough for Yours Truly to oversteer the rear wheel drive family car in the wet, complete with white knuckles and that nearly pee-in-your-pants feeling.
One exactly like my dad's
Wikipedia says that “In 1976, 500 examples of Fiat 131 Abarth Rallye were built for homologation purposes. This car included many technical modifications such as 16-valve DOHC engine producing 140PS (103kW; 138hp),Kugelfischer mechanical fuel injection and independent rear suspension. In race specifications, the engine produced around 215PS by the 1977 rally season."
Markku Alen - 1978 1000 Lakes Rally
"The Fiat 131 Abarth was a very successful rally car, winning the World Rally Championship three times: in 1977, 1978, and in 1980 with Markku Alen, Timo Salonen and Walter Röhrl, among many others, at the wheel. The official "works" cars were sponsored by Italian airline Alitalia and bore their distinctive red, white and green livery. Between 1976 and 1981 the Fiat 131 won 18 WRC events.”
A memorable car. But one that has rusted away into history with only a handful remaining over in the UK and in Europe. It will be only in photographs for those of us in these parts of the world to reminisce about its glory days.
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