New Zealand Classic Car – September 2019

44 New Zealand Classic Car | themotorhood.com

the almost 4,000,000 manufactured over the model’s

life, more than 5000 were assembled and sold here.

Other iconic Fiat models in our market were the Fiat

1500, which, locally, had the now very un-PC name of

‘Crusader’. The very pretty 124 had its own single-make

race series. There was also the 128 and the good-

looking 128 coupé. The 850 Sports coupé was also very

attractive, but you must believe the writer when he says

that they were much better to look at than own. At that

stage, I thought ‘FIAT’ stood for, ‘fix it again tomorrow’.

Design and build

Fiat has specialized, it seems, in producing attractive

coupé versions of some of its better-known saloon

models. However, it seems that this feature car, designed

by famed car designer Chris Bangle, isn’t one of them.

Bangle also designed the Alfa Romeo 145 — a car that

looked like the child of a small Alfa and a Honda Civic

— and redesigned the complete BMW range between

1992 and 2009. At that time, he was also in charge of

Rolls-Royce design and the new BMW Mini.

Bangle’s design of the Fiat coupé is different; whether

it could be described as ‘pretty’ probably depends

on who’s talking. It is not a car that suits all tastes.

Fiat had already turned down Pininfarina’s proposed

design (that one went on to become the very good-

looking Peugeot 406 coupé) and decided to create this

coupé in-house.

A car is born

The resulting car was produced in one series, but

with various engine and other options, from 1993

until 2001. Bangle’s design was as eye-catching as it

was debatable at the time. From low down, the front

is exquisite. The shark-like snout and the slightly

raised bubble ‘eyes’ look as aggressive as they do well

proportioned. Similarly, the rear end view is of a very

pretty Italian — remember, Fiat’s home town of Turin

is also one of the centres of Italy’s fashion industry.

It’s really only side-on that one wonders a little about

the look. It sort of retreats from the catwalk of the

fashion industry and becomes a little more Italian

village peasant in its stockiness. The slashes that grace

both the front and rear quarters look as if the designer

took to his model with a machete — a look that never

really caught on, and that’s probably a good thing.

Similarly, the rear end view is of a very pretty Italian