Fiat 128
The Fiat 128 is a small family car which was manufactured and marketed by Fiat from 1969 to 1985. The bodystyles were a two- or four-door sedan, three- or five-door station wagon as well as two- or three-door coupé.
With engineering by Dante Giacosa and engine design by Aurelio Lampredi, the 128 was noted for its relatively roomy passenger and cargo volume — enabled by a breakthrough innovation to the transversely-mounted front-engine, front-drive layout which became the layout "adopted by virtually every other manufacturer in the world" for front-wheel drive. Fiat promoted in its advertising that mechanical features consumed only 20% of the vehicle's volume. The 128 running gear and engine, reconfigured for a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, were used in the Fiat X1/9 sports car.
Named European Car of the Year in 1970, over three million were ultimately manufactured.
In 2012 automotive journalist Jamie Kitman called the 128 a "pioneer of the small cars we drive today."
Development
With engineering by Dante Giacosa and engine design by Aurelio Lampredi, the 128 was noted for its relatively roomy passenger and cargo volume — enabled by a breakthrough innovation to the front-engine, front-drive layout which became the layout "adopted by virtually every other manufacturer in the world" for front-wheel drive. Giorgetto Giugiaro noted that in 1970, Volkswagen completely dismantled a Fiat 128, recognizing it as the reference for their forthcoming Golf.Fiat promoted in its advertising that Enzo Ferrari drove a 128 as his personal vehicle."
Fiat built an entirely new plant in Rivalta di Torino, north-west of Turin, specifically to manufacture the new 128. In all, 2,776,000 sedans and wagons were built in Italy, plus 330,800 coupés and 3Ps.
Front drive innovation
Front-wheel drive had previously been introduced to small, inexpensive cars by BMC, firstly with the Mini in 1959 and then with the larger 1100/1300 series in 1962. During the mid-1960s, Fiat set about designing a new car to compete with the latter. The BMC design of Alec Issigonis had the transmission and engine sharing a single oil sump — despite disparate lubricating requirements — and located the engine's radiator at the side of the engine, away from the flow of fresh air and drawing heated rather than cool air over the engine. The layout often required the engine to be removed to service the clutch.The Fiat 128's arrangement had numerous differences. As engineered by Dante Giacosa, it featured a transverse-mounted engine with unequal-length drive shafts and an innovative compact clutch release mechanism — an arrangement which Fiat had strategically tested on a previous production model for a full five years, the Primula from its less market-critical subsidiary, Autobianchi. The layout enabled the engine and gearbox to be located side by side without sharing lubricating fluid while orienting an electrically controlled cooling fan toward fresh air flow. By using the Primula as a test-bed, Fiat was able to sufficiently resolve the layout's disadvantages, including uneven side-to-side power transmission, uneven tire wear and potential torque steer, the tendency for the power of the engine alone to steer the car under heavy acceleration.
The compact and efficient layout — a transversely-mounted engine with transmission mounted beside the engine driving the front wheels through an offset final-drive and unequal-length driveshafts — subsequently became common with competitors and arguably an industry standard.
The layout was sufficiently flexible that Fiat reconfigured the 128 drive-train as a mid-engined layout for the Fiat X1/9.
Design
The all new 1.1 litre Fiat SOHC engine, engineered by noted engine designer Aurelio Lampredi, featured an iron block mated to an aluminum head along with a belt-driven single overhead camshaft.The 128 was styled similarly to the 124 and 125 and featured rack-and-pinion steering, Pirelli 145R13 Cinturato or 145R13 Michelin ZX radial tyres, front disc brakes, independent rear suspension with a transverse leaf spring, and a strut-type front suspension with integral anti-roll bar.
Initially, the 128 was available as a two-door or four-door sedan. At the 1970 Turin Motor Show a three-door station wagon model called "Familiare" was added to the line-up. On launch, the car was only available with a 1116 cc engine with, or in USA.
The 128 sedan and estate underwent a small refresh in 1972, featuring revisions on the grille, bumpers, dashboard and steering wheel plus addition of a brake servo. 1974 saw the launch of the 128 Special, with rectangular headlights, chrome accents, extra equipment, better seats and upholstery, plus availability of a 1290 cc engine, producing.
In 1976, the sedan and stationwagon received a proper facelift with a new front and rectangular headlights for all versions, new bumpers with incorporated indicators, redesigned tail lights for the sedan and a new dashboard, as well as modifications to the engines and gearbox in order to reduce the fuel consumption. At this time, the wagon was renamed "Panorama" and received a single rear side window of a somewhat smaller area than the earlier split unit.
Production of all 128s except that of the base 1,100 cc powered model ended in 1979 after the introduction of the Fiat Ritmo/Strada in 1978. In 1980 production of the small three-door station wagon Panorama was dropped from the range and 128 production finally ended in 1985.
Road test
The British "Motor" magazine tested a Fiat 128 in April 1970, shortly after its UK launch. The car had a top speed of and accelerated from 0- in 15.5 seconds. An "overall" fuel consumption of was recorded. This put it fractionally behind the contemporary Morris 1300 on maximum speed but usefully ahead on acceleration. The two were closely matched on fuel economy, where both were outrun by the Ford Escort 1300 Super also included in the comparison, here in its four-door version. The Fiat's £876 manufacturer's recommended price was not too far above the Morris 1300's £830 and the Escort's £838. The testers commended the Fiat's interior space and excellent performance. Wind and road noise were low, but engine noise was not. The 128 went on sale on the UK market around the same time as the Rootes Group's Hillman Avenger, and shortly before the Vauxhall Viva was transformed from its second generation to its third generation. The market leader in this sector at the time was British Leyland's 1100 and 1300 range. Sales of imported cars in the UK were in the first stages of a sharp rise in their market share at the beginning of the 1970s, with Fiat and likes of Datsun, Renault and Volkswagen being particularly successful.Variants
128 Rally
The Fiat 128 Rally was a sporty, 1.3-litre-engined version of the 128 two-door saloon, introduced at the 41st Geneva Motor Show in March 1971 and produced up to 1974. However, the model, uniquely in the 4-door body style, was introduced to the South African market alongside the 2-door coupé from 1974 onward, as a locally-built model until its replacement in 1978 with the updated "South Africa-only" Rally model based on the 128 second series sedan. The 1978 South African update was based on the 4-door "Comfort" model but equipped with a twin choke carburettor and a redesigned inlet manifold to give it more power than the standard models, recording 53.4 KW power. In the interior, the model featured "sporty" bucket front seats with head restraints. Color-coordinated stripping accentuated the front seats as part of the "sporty" flair. Externally, the model came with three-color "waistline" stripes on either side of the vehicle, rectangular halogen spotlights fitted on the front bumper, front and boot spoilers, wider tires, and in three body colors, namely, bright red, yellow, and white.Compared to the regular 128's 1,116 cc four-cylinder engine, the Rally's type 128 AR engine had been bored out 6 mm to 86 mm—while keeping the 55.5 mm stroke—for a total displacement of. There was also a twin-choke Weber 32 DMTR carburettor, revised valve timing and a slightly higher 8.9:1 compression ratio. Engine output was now at 6,200 rpm and of torque at 4,000 rpm.
Other mechanical improvements were the addition of a vacuum servo, an engine protection plate, better tyres, new gear ratios for the 4-speed transmission, a higher capacity battery and an alternator in place of the dynamo.
Several exterior features set the Rally apart from other 128s. At the front, there was a black radiator grille, carrying the round Fiat emblem typical of the marque's sports cars; split bumpers joined by a tubular steel bar; and halogen headlamps and bumper-mounted auxiliary lamps. A curious feature of the South African-specific 128 Rally was that it was based on the four-door sedan rather than the two-door. Otherwise, it was identical in appearance to the overseas model. At the rear of the 128 Rally, dual round tail lamps replaced the square ones found on the regular two-door 128. As part of the sporty look, stripes adorned the side sills, while "Rally" badging ornamented the front bonnet and boot lid.
The interior was upholstered in black leatherette, and the dashboard housed upgraded instrumentation: a tachometer was standard equipment, and water temperature and oil pressure gauges took the place of the ashtray, relocated to the centre console. Front sports seats with headrests and a two-spoke sports steering wheel replaced the standard items.
At the October 1972 update of the 128 model range, the Rally received new upholstery and a black plastic protection to the front bumper tube.
128 Coupé and 3P Berlinetta
At the 53rd Turin Motor Show of November 1971 Fiat introduced the 128 Coupé, also called 128 Sport, a 2-door, 4-seat coupé designed in-house. Compared with the 128 saloon, the coupé had a shorter wheelbase, and tracks 20 mm wider at the front and 45 mm narrower at the rear.The Coupé version was available with two different engines and in two different trim levels for a total of four variants. In its base "S" trim, the coupé had single rectangular front headlamps, and wheels and hubcaps from the saloon. The pricier "SL" was distinguished by quadruple round headlamps, a specific grille, steel sport wheels without hubcaps, chromed window surround trim, door handles and fuel cap, and black decorative striping along the sills and across the tail panel. Inside it gained a leatherette-wrapped steering wheels, perforated leatherette upholstery, extended four-gauge instrumentation, loop pile carpeting and black headlining.
Suspension was the familiar all-independent 128 layout—save for the front anti-roll bar, which had been replaced by radius rods. The braking system consisted of discs at the front and drums at the rear; it was made more efficient by fitting smaller diameter front discs and the front and the vacuum servo first used on the 128 Rally.
The two engines were developed from the units found in the 128 saloon and 128 Rally respectively, and both were fitted with twin-choke carburettors and a two-piece exhaust manifold. The 1100 produces at 6,000 rpm and at 3,800 rpm, while the 1300 produces at 6,600 rpm and at 3,800 rpm. Top speed was over respectively.
The 128 Coupé was produced until 1975, but in latter years sales were dropping off considerably in favor of the mid-engined X1/9. Since Fiat had to pay a commission to Bertone for every X1/9, it was decided to provide some internal competition in the form of the updated hatchback coupé 128 3P Berlinetta. "3P" stands for Tre Porte, or "Three Doors" in Italian; it appeared in June 1975 and remained in production until 1980. Designed by Paolo Boano of Fiat Centro Stile, the 128 3P used the existing design back to the B-pillar, with some detail modifications to the grille and headlights.
Because of emissions regulations that became valid in October 1975, the 128 3P engines were changed. The 1100 engine now offered at 6,000 rpm and at 4,100 rpm. For the 1300 engine, output was now at 6,600 rpm and at 3,900 rpm.
The 128 3P was also assembled by SEAT in Spain as the SEAT 128 – Spanish cars were fitted with engines from the 124.