Nice But: ’69 Fiat 124
Readers, you can help a few of us out with this one. Look at this pretty nice Fiat 124. It has low miles for ’69, she says it is a 4-speed (but it is a 5-speed) and from the photos it looks like something one would consider. There are no exact production figures but some say the number of all Fiat 124 Coupes and Spiders produced exceed 150,000. The design by Pininfarina is very handsome and the Lampredi designed engine, at around 1500cc is pretty sweet. The seller is asking $12,500 for it and that might be high. You won’t know until you actually see it. But what we wonder about is why consider this when you can have an Alfa Romeo Spider 1750 or 2000 for the same or less money. Alfa doesn’t share production numbers but there will be fewer Alfas built than the Fiat. The Alfa seems like just more car for the money or potentially less money. And get this, you become a member of the Alfa Club with folks who own GTAs, Montreals and 8Cs. We like Fiats but the best you can move up to in a Fiat Club is a Dino. Nice people in both clubs, so the choice is yours. Click here to contact the seller.
I had a 72 124 Spider in this color combo. Just seeing the pictures of this car bring back a lot of great memories. Unfortunately, Issues were poor assembly quality and severe rust problems, particularly in the rocker panels and over the rear wheel arches. Later issue is why it is so hard to find good examples now which is probably true for Alfas as well. Fiat 124’s and Alfas from the late 60’s and early 70’s were better handling, more modern and more enjoyable that British cars of a similar age. Yet they don’t seem to be as desirable now. Good MGB’s are priced in the high teens and Triumphs are in the mid to high 20’s.
Trying to trust a seller’s description regarding “no apparent” rust and extremely low miles claimed to be accurate is difficult when they make statements like:
“4 SP MANUAL TRANNY. BRIGHT RED IN COLOR WITH BLACK LEATHER INTERIOR.”
These early spiders did not have leather but vinyl. It is also described as “her” car so how could she not know that it is a 5 speed(or maybe this one only has 4 forward gears(!)? No mention if it is still the original color. Shot of the engine bay would be helpful.
We were trying to start a discussion about Fiat Spider vs. Alfa Spider. There aren’t that many decent 124 Spiders out there to use as an example. This was the best we could find and we do share your observations…