RE: SOTW: Fiat 126 BIS

[Piers917]

Are you taking the BIS?!?!

[R4PID]

They're great until you get to a hill.

[Ricky944s2]

Klass!!! One of these was my first 'unofficial' car (was 16 and had no license), it was white too!! Bought it off my sister for 60 quid, sold it for £200!!! Wish i'd of kept it now

Brilliant car to learn in, the clutch was a pig, so once I mastered it I thought I could drive anything!!! Plus its always nice to say your first car was rear engined, rear wheel drive, and italian!!!

[lonefurrow]

I remember my Dad dropping me off at a snowy Cub Scouts in about 1977 and doing multiple doughnuts in the car park in 'Chuggy', with me standing up with my head sticking out of the sunroof, as other parents looked on disapprovingly!

[G0ldfysh]

Why am I looking at this and wondering about motorbike engines?

[Frimley111R]

PH - Speed matters so SOTW is.....

[mark seeker]

My mum had one............all 26bhp if I remember.

It was slow and never looked quite as cool as this, those minilites really set it off.

[rockystarr]

Twincam16 said:

There's a guy who lives near me with an absolutely pristine red one he's had for as long as I can remember. Looks good as new.

I bet they're an absolute hoot to drive, and if the engine's basically the same as the 500, all the Abarth mods will work too.

Could end up with the most bonkers track day machine.

failing that, a turboed bike engine in the back.

[annodomini2]

rockystarr said:

Twincam16 said:

There's a guy who lives near me with an absolutely pristine red one he's had for as long as I can remember. Looks good as new.

I bet they're an absolute hoot to drive, and if the engine's basically the same as the 500, all the Abarth mods will work too.

Could end up with the most bonkers track day machine.

failing that, a turboed bike engine in the back.

Just what I was thinking, need to get the mini out of the garage.

[lonefurrow]

Then painted in Martini or Alitalia colours, of course!

[Robk]

A Cracking little car, 26HP standard but can easily be uprated with a host of tuning goodies from Abarth.

[pigeondave]

In Poland the kids do a Z-Cars type conversion.

I believe this one is a 1.1 turbo engine with MK1 golf running gear. Hence the width.
Either way it looks like fun.

http://www.futi.pl/filmy/zobacz,904.html

[the fury]

Ahh, an ex of mine had one of these and I always thought it was good fun to drive – got such a great reaction from passers by too!

Edited by the fury on Friday 6th March 13:46

[patmahe]

My parents used to have on of these. They still talk fondly of it. I saw one on the road near my house one day and said to my girlfriend, if I ever see a good one of those for sale I'm buying it. Unfortunately in this case its a little too far (I'm in Ireland) and I cannot affor another car at the moment. But I would dearly dearly love one.

[morgrp]

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

[KimZ]

@ G0ldfysh: You are on the right track there!

Hehe - I lived over in Italy for near 20 years - buddy of mine got 911T mill in the boot (and back seats).. fully road legal and it wheelied away from the lights!

Mind you, he was something of a nutter in the 80s - he put a turbo on a Z900 Kwak and a perkins diesel in a 124, although I can't for the life of me remember why he bothered with the 124!

Ah,they were the days!

Edit: Wasn't this one, but woth a look!!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiQDv4HgwLk

Edited by KimZ on Friday 6th March 13:57

[NoelWatson]

Parents used to have one. It was possible to tip over with bare hands so must've been made of paper.

[raharley]

Good shed. But that's what it is. A goddam Italian shed.

[raharley]

Good shed. But that's what it is. A goddam Italian shed.

[frodo_monkey]

Goddamn it, thats going to be the whole weekend wasted on eBay!

I have a spare 893cc Fireblade engine in my garage...