A SOFT SPOT FOR AN ITALIAN GRANDMA CAR

Veteran Fiat “Nonna” gets plenty of smiles per mile

Fiat’s 124 sedan of the mid-1960s to mid1970s wasn’t blessed with hot-blooded performance, handcrafted Italian luxury or even the cuteness of the maker’s earlier, much-loved Bambino.

What it has, just like the 500, is simplicity and automotive significance.

Take into account the 124 sedan’s subsequent 42 years of production in Russia — as the VAZ Lada, which reached almost 18 million examples — and it’s the industry’s second biggest-selling fundamentally unchanged model after the Volkswagen Beetle.

Fiat captivated the world’s motoring press in 1966 by launching the 124 from a cargo plane, to return to earth beneath a parachute. Five burly skydivers followed it down and, on landing, climbed into the car and drove away.

Half a century later, the impact was nearly as great on photographer Angie Summa, when the headlight of this 1967 example peeked at her from a classic car dealer’s shed last year.

Summa, 42, was with partner David, who was looking for a car to complement his Fiat X1/9 sportster.

“We’d been there for more than an hour, looked at all these cars,” she says.

“We were about to leave — and suddenly we’re led to this derelict-looking warehouse nearby to see more cars. I was over it but then

I looked across and saw this round headlight staring straight at me and said, ‘What’s that?’ “It felt like the car found me.”

The 1.2-litre, four-speed manual Fiat changed hands on the spot for $18,000.

Summa says that while she’s “no motorhead”, she likes and appreciates cars. “I think it’s more of a guy thing to love cars and classic cars, because there’s usually some strong links from childhood.”

She developed a soft spot for Fiats after hiring a (modern) 500 for a solo trip around Italy about nine years ago.

She routinely swaps the Fiat, nicknamed

“Nonna”, every few days with her Volvo XC40.

“It straight away made me think of my grandparents,” she says. “My granddad drove a Datsun Stanza that was white with a brown vinyl interior, just like the Fiat.

“But I really pictured my grandma — that if she were Italian, which she wasn’t, this would be the car she’d drive.”

Summa says driving the Fiat is a breath of fresh air … its four ashtrays notwithstanding.

“What’s really quaint is that you have to pull out the choke, and sometimes have to pop the bonnet and play with the plugs when it doesn’t want to start, which is not often.

“The brakes are kind of spongy, the steering wanders a bit and the fuel gauge is always on half-full. But I’m so much more aware, I realise

I drive a lot better when I’m in the Fiat than in the Volvo. With all the quirks, it just puts a smile on my face the whole time — I feel real joy when I’m driving it.”