fiat spider

Italian Car Day at Brooklands, Part 2

May 17, 2016 By pete

In a coral full of newer and rather too noisy modern Lamborghinis it was great to see this rather elegant Islero taking pride of place in front of the new 4D Theatre.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

VeloceToday is about Italian and French cars. Italian cars, we got. Jonathan Sharp went to Brooklands to find a huge variety of Italians, some as rare as honest politicians. The editor has not seen an Alfetta sedan since he sold his in 1983. And how about that Moretti, or the Quattroporte 3? Part 2 continues Sharp’s venture into the world of “haven’t seen one like that for years!”

Read Part 1

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Fiat’s New 124 Spider as seen by Wallace Wyss

December 1, 2015 By pete

Fiat and Pininfarina got it right back in 1965. But did the DNA transfer?

Fiat, Tom Tjaarda and Pininfarina got it right back in 1966 with the 124 Sport Spider. But did the DNA transfer?

By Wallace Wyss

New 2017 Fiat 124 Spider Announced at LA Auto Show: Time will tell if it’s better than the Mazda it sprang from…

Photos courtesy Fiat

Lately I have been straying from cars and messin’ with horses…thoroughbred horses, and the most important thing you can say about a thoroughbred is its pedigree…its DNA.

Now I know carmakers have a burning need to establish identity to pull in new customers but the big fat Fiat badge on the nose is a tad big for my taste, I could live with it being 1/4th smaller, because this one is so big, about the size of an apple, it makes the whole car look smaller.

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Fiat Dino, Body and Soul Part II, Body

January 18, 2012 By pete

Story by Michael Bayer
Photography by Ken Visser

The Body

As we have seen in Part 1 of the Fiat Dino Spider the stunning Pininfarina body was used for both the 2.0 Liter and the 2.4 Liter Fiat Dino Spiders. The overwhelming factor in either case is the body–prone to rust, as were most steel Italian bodies of the era, but no doubt one of the finest designs to have left the PF drawing boards in the 1960s. (ed.)

The coupe by Bertone worked, but not nearly as well as the Pininfarina Spider, which has to be on one Pininfarina’s finest designs ever.

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The Fiat Dino, Body and Soul

January 11, 2012 By pete

Story by Pete Vack
Photography by Ken Visser

The Chassis
Fiat’s Dino Spider has been a classic since it was introduced at the Turin Auto Show in 1966. Like most true classics, the passage of time only increases its appeal.

It was the first Fiat with an engine with four overhead camshafts. The engine was produced by Fiat and “inspired in its general architecture by the Ferrari engine of the same name”, according to Quattroruote’s massive 1970 work, All the Fiats. It was also the same engine used in the Ferrari-made (but never labeled as such) Dino 206 and 246. And for Fiat, variants of the V6 were used in the Fiat Dino Coupe and finally, the Lancia Stratos. It was a remarkable engine, however many fathers claimed it.

The hereditary link with Ferrari, by way of Vittorio Jano, Franco Rochi and “productionized” by Aurelio Lampredi for Fiat has been well detailed elsewhere (Graham Robson‘s Fiat Sports Cars, and Doug Nye’s Dino, the little Ferrari).

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