RE: SOTW: Fiat 126 BIS
Discussion
magic77 said:
if I recall correctly this originally would have been the 127 back in Poland where it was made.
The 126 was earlier model and did not have a hatchback but a engine back like the fiat 500.
THey use to be called the "safest cars in country" as they had great crumple zones like modern cars.
ie between front the bumper and the engine bay.
Problem was with the posisitioning of the driver seat which kind a got in the way between the two
The last version - the 700cc Bis had a rear hatch instead of the fixed window and small rear bonnet.The 126 was earlier model and did not have a hatchback but a engine back like the fiat 500.
THey use to be called the "safest cars in country" as they had great crumple zones like modern cars.
ie between front the bumper and the engine bay.
Problem was with the posisitioning of the driver seat which kind a got in the way between the two
-Lummox- said:
SimonV8ster said:
morgrp said:
I know its not a BIS model but you've gotta love the originallity of this one: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fiat-126-De-Ville-Air-cooled...
better colour IMHO and that sunroof will be a good laugh in the summer
Thats in really good nick !! Got to be a better deal than the other one better colour IMHO and that sunroof will be a good laugh in the summer
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...
I remember the 126 with the Lancia engine and the RR gearbox... it was in Car and Car Conversions.
The gearbox was so huge, it filled the cabin, leaving no space for proper seats.
The mag reported that the guy that built it also had a chopped down RR for track days....
As for the SOTW, I had air cooled and water cooled ones, the latter bought new! Top little cars, but hairy on the motorway near lorries!
The gearbox was so huge, it filled the cabin, leaving no space for proper seats.
The mag reported that the guy that built it also had a chopped down RR for track days....
As for the SOTW, I had air cooled and water cooled ones, the latter bought new! Top little cars, but hairy on the motorway near lorries!
A mate at school back in about '88 had one of these. He was 6'2" and lived on top of a Welsh mountain, so it was perfectly suited for his needs. The engine, which was about as big as a pair of baked bean cans, seemed to be held in place by a large elastic band. The car broke reversing after me on a push bike. I have always hankered after one. If I ever get to have a shed, amongst all the other crap I fill it with, there will be a space for a 126.
Had a 128 some years ago. It got me stuck on bridges and in tunnels, highways and byways, in forward and reverse, and of course in my own driveway many, many times. Yet it was, undeniably, in some inexplicable way, fun to drive, when it could be coaxed into motion. After only 19,000 miles, the timing belt broke, and then not too long afterward, another belt broke and got tangled in the timing belt... and on and on. Rust broke out like a teenager's pimples after all of two years. It had great road clearance which was much appreciated when, as often happened, I had to coast to the side of the road and crawl under to make a temporary, and if I may say so, ingenious, repair. I would consider buying another Fiat with the same enthusiasm as I would contemplate contracting leprosy, or some other loathsome disease. Cute car? Sort of. Fun to drive? Oddly, yes. Worth owning? Not if you want to drive it.
I spent a summer in the mid 80s paying of my student overdraft by driving loads of Fiats around Soton docks.
1st point to remember about the Polish made 126s - the maroon 1s are way faster than the blue or white 1s.
2nd point, we used to do formation handbrake turns in these when parking them in the lines.
Nearly as much fun as a Abarth 130 TC if the truth be told.
1st point to remember about the Polish made 126s - the maroon 1s are way faster than the blue or white 1s.
2nd point, we used to do formation handbrake turns in these when parking them in the lines.
Nearly as much fun as a Abarth 130 TC if the truth be told.
The air coooled 650 cc engine was seriously tough, unlike the latter 700 cc water cooled lancia unit, no use for tuning at all. Fun while it lasted until DEFRA stopped us using the set aside for racing on !
www.blitzracing.co.uk.
www.blitzracing.co.uk.
dandarez said:
Oli S said:
dandarez said:
they are NOT Minilites.
How do you know they are not? 
This is a Minilight (about 45 quid for a 10inch)
This is a Superlight (about 60 quid)
This is the real mcoy, a MiniLITE magnesium alloy - price? on application! 
Edited by dandarez on Saturday 7th March 21:46
AL V8 said:
I can't believe no one has commented on this clip - I haven't laughed so much all week. - Good work!
Two of my mates dads had one of these (at different times). The first was in NHS disability blue, with one of those fabric sunroof things. Rather illegally, he used to pick us up from school in it. I say illegally because there were 5 of us. Plus driver. In >that<. The holier-than-thou TV traffic cop shows would have had a field day. 2 people on a passenger seat isn't frightfully safe I suppose.
One day he was hoofing it down the fairly moderate but long hill from school to their house and WHOMPH the fabric sunroof decided to partially detach itself, flailing around like a Bobby Charlton comb-over. Scary but absolutely hillarious! When the car finally died of tinworm, my other mate blagged it off him. The plan was for us to convert his dad's 126 to a twin engine 4x4. Along with some scrapped Mini bits it sort-of worked. Gear change was tricky. We were blissfully unaware at the time that 2 engined cars were utterly illegal.
One day he was hoofing it down the fairly moderate but long hill from school to their house and WHOMPH the fabric sunroof decided to partially detach itself, flailing around like a Bobby Charlton comb-over. Scary but absolutely hillarious! When the car finally died of tinworm, my other mate blagged it off him. The plan was for us to convert his dad's 126 to a twin engine 4x4. Along with some scrapped Mini bits it sort-of worked. Gear change was tricky. We were blissfully unaware at the time that 2 engined cars were utterly illegal.
dinkel said:
Original Panda: now that is something else.
That comment and this car have got me thinking - I actually reckon the 126, original Panda (especially if it's the early one with the offset radiator grille) and Cinquecento are cooler than the traditional 500/600 and the 'nuova' 500 (yes, I know the Cinquecento was marketed in Italy as the 'Nuova 500' but I'm just going off what's written on the back - you all know which car I mean).The original 500 has a lot of charm but it's all a bit cliched - yes, so it conjures up images of Audrey Hepburn and Brigette Bardot driving them around without any shoes on in the dusty streets of San Remo in the late '50s whilst Richard Burton fires up a Riva Aquarama and stubs out a Capstan, but they've picked up this godawful 'Hoxton' image since. The people most likely to drive them nowadays are urban 'trendy' media types who say their favourite film is La Dolce Vita because they've got a framed original foyer poster in the hallway of their 'looks scruffy and smells of baby-sick but it's worth £2mill' Notting Hill flat. People who say 'dahhlink' a lot and do that air-kissing thing when they meet anyone they're even vaguely acquainted with.
The new one looks like an oochie-coochie-coo attempt to emulate it. I think it's a good car and I praise Fiat for making it properly small, but it's a bit cartoonish and self-consciously cute. The four-wheeled equivalent of batted eyelashes and a 'baby-voice'.
But the 126, Panda and Cinquecento have a more minimalist, industrial feel to them, nothing superfluous about their design. They go well with minimalist interiors and modern art and suggest that the owner appreciates the design concepts behind them rather than their film-garnished image. Also, the Cinquecento Sporting is the only '90s hot hatch you don't readily associate with blaring drum 'n' bass.
Also works for Vespas. Original Vespas looking like some rip-off of Jimmy's from Quadrophrenia, festooned with Who logos, targets and mirrors, look a bit desperate these days, like some beer-gutted bloke in an Elvis costume chatting up a twentysomething barmaid. The 're-launch' Vespas seem to be ridden by hatchet-faced, power-suited 'modern business' types trying to convince the world they have a personality.
But the square-headlight '70s/'80s models - they're actually cooler in my eyes:
People associate Italy with all this flowing, classically-inspired organic design and bang on and on about inheriting the Rennaissance values of truth and beauty etc, but there's another side to Italy, with a vast chemical industry, that produces starkly man-made-looking objects, using lots of plastic in deliberately artificial-looking colours. The Italy that gave us the Lancia Stratos, Lamborghini Countach and Ferrari 348, the output of Luigi Colani and Marco Zanuso. The origins of Kartell furniture, Artimide lighting and Brionvega 'cube' TVs and record players - and I love it.
Although the 126 is a great little car, a better option would be a Renault R8.
Cheap to buy, Road Tax free and with a lot more room inside, the basic R8 is cheap and easy to modify and costs a fraction of the amount demanded for a Gordini.
A 126 owner can only dream of the performance and superb ride provided by the frenchman but you can still drive round with the engine cover propped open.............
Cheap to buy, Road Tax free and with a lot more room inside, the basic R8 is cheap and easy to modify and costs a fraction of the amount demanded for a Gordini.
A 126 owner can only dream of the performance and superb ride provided by the frenchman but you can still drive round with the engine cover propped open.............
german tony said:
dandarez said:
If you want the 'ultimate' rear-engine small Fiat, then only one car fits the bill...
Had to look twice. However I can confirm that this is utterly barmy.The first of these cars went on sale in the late 60s fitted with a Ford Cortina GT engine (you got the Fiat engine as part of a warranty should the Ford engine fail!). Only 4 were ever sold but they were bloody quick!
After that came one that was fitted with a Loti twin cam - it was well-known at the time, and touched 130 mph at the end of Madeira Drive in the Brighton Speed Trials.
The red one has been built recently using parts from one of the original cars.
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