Laura Gharazeddine wrote:
> What is all the ill will people have towards Fiats? Fiats are to Italians
>(and other Europeans) what Chevys and Fords once were to us Yanks-good
>transportation, easy to repair (back when repairing meant something more than
>just changing a part) that came in cheap entry level models up to more luxe
>models.
The ill-will began, I think, in the early `70s, particularly. If you'll
accept that there was and is life east of California, that's where much
of the trouble began--in the salt- and silt-covered roads of the East
and Midwest. The 131s and the 128s (the family sedan equivalents of the
Fords and Chevys you mention) survived in those conditions for virtually
no time at all. Many rusted out in only two years, to the point where
they were unsafe.
I believe, in fact, that there was a class-action suit against Fiat for
defective bodywork (both of those designs had dozens of places which
trapped salt and dirt, encouraging the very quick onset of terminal
rust). The gearbox and linkage on the 128 was pretty much a nightmare,
and it was a marvel if one managed to get a cylinder head off without
cracking the flange on one side. Remember that this was the car on which
the infamous Yugo was based.
Dealers, even well into the `70s, did not care much about either
presentation or repairs, and the cost of parts, as compared to domestic
cars, was quite high.
I still remember walking into the showroom of a Fiat/Lancia dealership
in Michigan around 1977, which unfortunately had a nicely-polished black
and white checkerboard tile floor, the better to show up the oil and
coolant leaks of a brand-new Lancia Scorpion parked on it. When I
pointed out those leaks to the sales manager, and suggested that it
wasn't particularly good advertising, he shrugged and said, "they all do
that." I was in the dealership to price a connecting rod I needed for a
Fiat 1608cc engine. $112, in 1978.
As well, the general public in the `70s, used to domestic engines,
wasn't prepared for the considerable costs of replacing timing belts
every 30,000 miles, and so they didn't, and then threw the cars away
when it was going to cost them $1500-2000 to rebuild the engine after
the belt broke and shoved all the valves through the pistons.
Lancia fared little better in the rust belt with its upscale cars based
on Fiat components. I ended up with an engine out of a `76 Lancia Beta
Coupe owned by a co-worker because the engine and its sub-frame fell out
of the car on the guy's way home from work--all the attachment points
had rotted away.
And, precisely at the time that Fiat was foisting these overpriced
econoboxes on the unsuspecting public, the Japanese, particularly Toyota
and Datsun, were starting to sell them cars and light trucks which ran
and ran and ran, and were building brand loyalty in bushel baskets.
That said, I rebuilt the Lancia engine, made an adapter and flywheel for
it, made a manifold for it to take a couple of 40DCOE Webers, put it in
my VW bus and ran it for another twelve years. Of course, I did first
have to have a brand-new Fiat head repaired because a core shift allowed
the front water jacket hole to intrude into the cylinder by an 1/8"....
I also inherited, in 1978, a `69 124 Coupe with a blown bottom end,
which I thought was one of the prettiest four-passenger cars on the
road. But, by that time, rust had started to get to it, too, and it
required much more than just engine work to make it charming again.
Having actually worked on Fiats of this time period for a living, I
didn't think they were particularly easy to repair (a timing belt
replacement on a 131 was a time-consuming chore).
But, generally, rust, head design and the 128 killed the Fiat name in
this country. If Fiat/Lancia had been inclined to redesign and meet the
market, had been determined to fill the quality of manufacturing void
left by the domestic makers and had gotten their dealerships under
control, they would probably still be here, selling cars, and people
would probably be speaking better of them.
Cheers.
--
Michael D. Porter
Roswell, NM
[mailto: mporter@zianet.com]
`70 GT6+ (being refurbished, slowly)
`71 GT6 Mk. III (organ donor)
`72 GT6 Mk. III (daily driver)
`64 TR4 (awaiting intensive care)
`80 TR7 (3.8 liter Buick-powered)
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