More on Fiat 124 Sport Models

Both of today's featured cars are Fiat 124s of the same generation.  Both are sporty.  But they were designed by different men and their bodies were built by separate firms.  The convertible Sport Spider (pronounced "speeder" in Italy) was designed by Tom Tjaarda and built by Pininfarina.  The Sport Coupé was designed by Felice Mario Boano at Centro Stile Fiat, bodies were built by Fiat.  Both initial versions can be considered 1967 model year cars.

I previous wrote about these sporty Fiats here.  Background on the Spider is here, and for the Coupé here.  In my post I mentioned that I was (finally!!) in the market for a sports car in 1971 and test-drove a 124 Sport Coupé.  I liked the styling of the Sport Spider much better, but its price was a bit higher than I wanted to spend.  As for the Sport Coupé, I hated the driving position -- steering wheel too far from me and the floor pedals too near for comfort.  So I bought an entry-level Porsche 914 -- having a removable solid top more appropriate for Upstate New York driving than the Sport Coupé's ragtop's would have been.

The main non-styling structural difference between the two models was their wheelbases.  The Sport Spider's was 89.75 inches (2280 mm) and that of the Coupé was 95.3 inches (2420 mm) -- fairly significant.  The additional length was needed because the Coupé featured a small bench seat behind the driver's seat, something lacking in the Spider.  Of course, that and the fixed top affected the package Boano had to deal with.

In the Gallery below a Spider and a Coupé are compared.  The blue car is a 1971 Fiat 124 Sport Spider, the red car is a 1969 Fiat 124 Sport Coupé.  All photos are from Bring a Trailer Auctions.

Gallery

Headlight assemblies are slightly sunken, and the grille opening is sculpted to conform the that feature.  Overall, an appropriate composition.

An even simpler front end, though the turn indicator lights are somewhat arbitrarily wedged in.

This shows the headlight assembly area more clearly.  Subtly flowing fenderline.

The windshield appears to be carried over from the Fiat 124 sedan, though it is raked more steeply.

Wheel openings are similar.  The extra length of the Coupé is hard to establish given the two differently shaped bodies.  But note the Coupé's rear seatback lies above the car's axle line -- not a comfortable location when on bumpy roads.

Same Spider as in the other images, but auctioned again two years later.

Boano's  rear design is more spartan than Tjaarda's.  The aft panel here is similar to those found on Fiat 124 sedans (berlinas).

Interesting wedge effect on the fender interior sculpting.

Instrumentation is the same, but differently laid out.  Forward part of the central console seem the same.