FIAT’S LEGENDARY ABARTH-TINKERED 131
THE Fiat 131 is one of those cars that defined an era; in my mind, it lived at the peak of the large Italian family car era and everything since has had its work cut out trying to live up to the legend, and what an unlikely legend it was.
Since the success of the unbelievably cute Cinquecento, Fiat under the rule of Giovanni Agnelli in the late 1960s and 1970s gained prominence as the leader in automotive design as well as engineering.
Not surprising because Agnelli himself is always so sharply dressed that often, he could cut it as a model for Italian fashion. In fact, some people did consider him as sort of the Godfather of upper crust style sensibility.
Agnelli’s control of Fiat made him more important than the prime minister and he might have even held an edge over the Pope in terms of popularity. I mean, the Pope might have taller hats but when it came to suits and shoes and shades, Gianni held sway.
The age of bell bottoms and oversized collars was when Marcello Gandini’s Lamborghini Countach exploded onto the automotive scene in 1974. Like that meteor over Tunguska, it blew everyone into the weeds and dated every supercar up that time by a decade or three.
Even the impossibly beautiful Miura simply faded away.
That same year, Giorgetto Giugiaro discovered origami and suddenly, ironed creases were de rigeur. Even a Volkswagen called Rabbit became popular because it wore properly creased shirt.
Nearly everything was given straight lines and sharp creases.
Fiat’s popular family car up to that time was the 124, a design that deserved a spot in automotive Valhalla for its wonderful simplicity and elegance. Essentially it was the first three-box design, in the true sense of the word.
It had three different volumes in front, cabin and rear and all three were in the form of simple boxes.
This car came out in 1966 when European and Japanese and American manufacturers were still in love with swooshes and curves.
Fiat took a bold move and used simple combination of boxes and simple triangles for front and rear quarter lights to design their cars. It was a hit.
It was such a hit that even the Soviet Union wanted copies of it and they are still cranking out some version of those Fiat babies to this day.
When it came time to replace the 124, Fiat took out the straight edge and cleaned up the car and presented the 131 to the world.
It was really, one of the most beautiful family sedans of the time, right behind the Alfa Romeo Alfetta, which had a few more sharp creases than the 131.
But then Fiat decided that its baby should be a world rally champion and they wanted it to win the championship while wearing the most fantastic custom Italian suit money could buy.
Pininfarina cuts a very nice figure if you want something elegant and timeless but if you want special bodywork that is designed to make jaws drop, you have to go to either Bertone or Zagato.
Perhaps it was Gandini’s work on the Countach that swayed their decision, but it certainly was the right decision.
Today, those extra wide fenders, outrageous bonnets with various scoops and intakes and bootlid with huge spoiler would be made of carbon fibre, the miracle material at the time was plastic.
Bertone was also told to do some surgery on the rear axle area so that it would take independent suspension in place of the standard live axle.
The modified body was then sent to Fiat’s favoured mechanical modifier Abarth to receive uprated engine, gearbox and suspension.
Abarth lowered the engine onto a dry sump, fitted it with Kugelfischer mechanical fuel injectors and the result was nearly 100hp more than the production version. In competition trim, this engine would whip out 237 brake horsepower, significantly less than most warm hatch these days.
Once the car was ready Fiat found a properly cold-blooded German to drive it to within an inch of its life along some of the most twisty bits of road in the World Rally Championship - his name must be whispered in awe as the names of our heroes should be, Walter Rohrl.
You can search Youtube for videos of Rohrl swinging the 131 Abarth into corners, not so much with abandon but a very deliberate application of handbrake and right foot.
Those 237 horses were not really enough to unstick the rear with just a flex of the ankle. In the videos, you can hear Rohrl wringing the engine to start the slide and then blipping the throttle to keep it sideways throughout the corner.
A replica of the 131 Abarth Rally in red and green Alitalia livery is something any car fan would be proud to have in their garage. But sadly most 131s have been whittled back to dust by the mere mention of moisture.
Oh well, that makes it an even greater legend in our minds.