What Fiat came over to the US? I can think on the 500, 600, 850, 128, X1/9 and Spiders. What am I missing?
What Fiat came over to the US? I can think on the 500, 600, 850, 128, X1/9 and Spiders. What am I missing?
124 Coupe
and ones badged Alfa Romeo.....
1100, Brava, Multipla, Topolino, Dino, the occasional Ritmo but I think they were greymarket.
The Brava comes to mind.
irish44j wrote: and ones badged Alfa Romeo.....
The 164 was more Lancia Thema (and Saab 9000) than fiat. Fwd spirit of fiat clearly there...
Oh and a friend has a 131. Not sure if official or not.
topolino, Dino(s) 500, 600, Multipla, 850, 1500, 2300, 124, 128, X 1/9, 131/Brava, and Strada/Ritmo. As far as I know.. I am not sure if the 8V made it over or not
There were 124 sedans and wagons, as well as the 124 coupe and spider. There was the 125 sedan.
I am not sure the 125 made it to the US. I know the 132 didn't
131s were official. My parents had one -- a little wagon with a twincam/5speed. Awesome little car.
i remember the 125 being road tested by C&D and wondering why Fiat sent 2 very similar cars to the U.S. But if I remember correctly, the difference was the engine with the 125 have a twin cam and the 124 sedan and wagon having a single cam engine.
Fiat was smart NOT to send the 132 to the U.S. When I was stationed in Sicily in the mid '70s I saw one or two 132s on base. They had THE thinnest (looking?) paint jobs I've ever seen on a car before or since and it looked like the paint was already wearing off on both cars, even tho they were only a year or two old.
Fiat did send Ritmos to the U.S., but they were the last "new designs" Fiat sent here. And while I had the chance to buy one in the late '80s, I passed because it had an automatic transmission and the switchgear for things like headlights and heat/ventilation on those cars was truly bizzarre.
yes.. the Ritmo was called the Strada here and all english speaking countries
Supposedly the name "ritmo" was too close to the name of a feminine product
The 125 had a different suspension than the 124. In the front the coilspring worked on the UPPER A arm.. in the 124 it worked on the lower
mad_machine wrote: topolino, Dino(s) 500, 600, Multipla, 850, 1500, 2300, 124, 128, X 1/9, 131/Brava, and Strada/Ritmo. As far as I know.. I am not sure if the 8V made it over or not
If we're talking official imports, then the above list is mostly right. The Fiat Dino was never sold here by Fiat. All were privately imported. Ditto the 8v.
Mad Machine is missing a few: 1100, 1200, 1800 (really rare). Fiats were originally imported by Roosevelt Motors starting in, oh, the mid 1950s I think. Fiat Motors North America bought them out in the late 1960s. Fiat left us in 1982 but the Spider and X1/9 were sold under their coachbuilder brands via Malcolm Bricklin until 1985 and 1988 respectively. Fiat Italy built a factory in Poughkeepsie, NY and built cars there from 1910-1917. The art deco building with it's wood tile floors was torn down 15 or so years ago. I have a few bricks of the flooring from an illicit visit a year or so prior to demolition. 
There were never any Alfas that were rebadged Fiats sold here.
alfadriver wrote:irish44j wrote: and ones badged Alfa Romeo.....The 164 was more Lancia Thema (and Saab 9000) than fiat. Fwd spirit of fiat clearly there...
the Saab 9000, Lancia Thema, Alfa 164, and Fiat Chroma were part of the "type 4" platform... the Saab was the most changed out of all of them. It was also the reason that GM bought Saab. GM originally wanted Alfa for the type 4 chassis.. but the Italian Government wanted Alfa to stay italian and awarded the bankrupt company to Fiat (even though their bid was lower than GMs)
Go the general turned around and bought Saab
mad_machine wrote: the Saab 9000, Lancia Thema, Alfa 164, and Fiat Chroma were part of the "type 4" platform... the Saab was the most changed out of all of them. It was also the reason that GM bought Saab. GM originally wanted Alfa for the type 4 chassis.. but the Italian Government wanted Alfa to stay italian and awarded the bankrupt company to Fiat (even though their bid was lower than GMs) Go the general turned around and bought Saab
Not that it matters, but you are mixing up Ford and GM. My friends who were Alfa people as well as Ford engineers were involved with the negotiations to buy Alfa. But the Fiat part was right- they did a nationalistic spin- which hasn't really done anything for Alfa since then.
GM may have done some negotiations, but I'm not aware of it- the Ford ones went deep. And when it failed, the $1B that was ready to hand to the Italian govenrment went to be wasted at Jaguar.
edit- it's possible that GM was rebuffed as well, but the Alfa community all know about the Ford part, but I don't know anyone who is aware of GM negotiations.
alfadriver is correct,it was Ford. From what I remember they bid a lot more money than Fiat, but like alfadriver stated, the Italian Govt and the owner of Alfa Romeo at the time wanted it to stay an Italian company.
There was a big uproar at the time because of it, but in the end it all turned out OK.
Back to the Fiat question, I believe the list is pretty complete, but there was also a Spider Turbo (USA modified), and the various Abarth versions if you want to include those.
Around here the 1100 was the most prevelent.
racerdave600 wrote: alfadriver is correct,it was Ford. From what I remember they bid a lot more money than Fiat, but like alfadriver stated, the Italian Govt WAS THE owner of Alfa Romeo at the time wanted it to stay an Italian company.
FYP.
Alfa had been run by the govenement for many decades by then.
alfadriver wrote:racerdave600 wrote: alfadriver is correct,it was Ford. From what I remember they bid a lot more money than Fiat, but like alfadriver stated, the Italian Govt WAS THE owner of Alfa Romeo at the time wanted it to stay an Italian company.FYP. Alfa had been run by the govenement for many decades by then.
That was what I meant, it just didn't read that way. It was also why they could turn out so many limited production cool cars during the '60's since they didn't have to turn a profit! 
racerdave600 wrote:alfadriver wrote:That was what I meant, it just didn't read that way. It was also why they could turn out so many limited production cool cars during the '60's since they didn't have to turn a profit!racerdave600 wrote: alfadriver is correct,it was Ford. From what I remember they bid a lot more money than Fiat, but like alfadriver stated, the Italian Govt WAS THE owner of Alfa Romeo at the time wanted it to stay an Italian company.FYP. Alfa had been run by the govenement for many decades by then.
Staying on the tanget- it also meant both the Arna ( a very bad joint effort with Nissan), and the Alfa Sud- whcih was a great car, but the social experiment to build the car in southern Italy (hence the name) didn't build very good cars.
Interestingly, there were some interesting things- on one hand, Alfa designed their own electronic controller pre 1982- I've got a copy of an SAE paper on it, OTOH, they couldn't update the motor originally designed in 1954 all the way through 1994, except for size and some rod knock issues on the 1750 which were fixed on the 2000. Strange how there's money and interesting things on one hand, but none on the other....
Back to the OP- IMHO, if Fiat supported themselves better (as in payed real attention to the result of selling cars here), they could have done reall well in the US. Same can be said for Alfa.
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