First-Generation Fiat 124 Sport Models

Fiat introduced its model 124 line in 1966, variants of a basic sedan.  One variant was the Sport Spider (pronounced "speeder") designed and bodied by Pininfarina.  Another was the Sport Coupé styled by Mario Boano at Centro Stile Fiat.

Both Sport models were imported to the USA beginning in the late 1960s.  When I finally completed my grad school coursework and exams and had a job that paid well enough for me to consider buying a serious (more than a toy) sports car, I looked at those Fiat 124s.  The Spider, thanks to its Pininfarina coachwork, was too expensive for me.  So I never even took one for a test drive.

I did try the more affordable Coupé, but it had too many flaws.  For one thing, I didn't find it very attractive, especially compared to the Spider.  Further, and more important, I didn't like the driving position due to the pedals being so near that I had to bend my knees in an uncomfortable position.  In the end, I bought an entry-level Porsche 914.

Gallery

The Fiat 124 sedan / saloon.

Frontal view of the Sport Spider.

Seen from above, top down.

Seen from above, top raised.

Rear view.  All-in-all, a simple, attractive design.  The front and rear ends have somewhat different characters.  I suppose the ends of the rear fenders can be considered the inverse of the sculpting around the headlights -- but such a thought is really a stretch.

Now for the Coupé.  Its front bumper and the hood downslope are similar to the Spider's, but the rest of the design is different.  A major difference is that the Coupé can theoretically seat four, whereas the Spider is a two-place job.  The result is the Coupé's fashionably high (and proportionally long) greenhouse that eliminates the possibility of a graceful design.  Note how, in this view, it clashes with the more delicate front of the car.

Rear 3/4 view of a later Coupé (note the heavier mid-1970s bumpers and the larger wedge at the aft end of the rear side window).  The problem with the design is that the greenhouse is not compatible with the rest of the car.  Besides seeming too large (or the lower body seeming too small), its character is angular whereas the hood and most of the fender areas are softer.  The tight radius curve on the trunk does fit with the severe greenhouse, creating yet another clash with the rest of the car.

Fiat's Aerodynamic 1500 of 1935

I don't know much about the subject of this post, the Fiat 1500 version built 1935-1939.  The English Wikipedia entry for it is here, and it, in turn, has links to entries in others languages that might have additional information.

The claim to fame for the 1500 introduced 9 November 1935 at the Salone dell'automobile di Milano is that its shape was wind tunnel tested, apparently the first for a European sedan.  The first comparable American car was the 1934 Airflow from Chrysler Corporation.

Mid-1930s streamlining was half-hearted in that separate fenders, running boards and other non-aerodynamically efficient details were usually retained.

Gallery

This image puzzles me.  The caption associated with it on the Internet has this as a 1936 Fiat 1500 Berlina Speciale.  However, this car has details not found on Web images of other Fiat 1500s from that era.  Example items include the lack of ventipanes in the forward side window assemblies, presence of rear wheel covers, differently shaped headlight assemblies, the C-pillar position of the turn indicator wand, exposed door hinges, and the horizontal alignment of the door handles.  Might this have been a prototype rather than a production model?

This is said to be a Fiat 1500 B from 1938 or 1939.  Compare it to the car shown in the previous image.

Frontal view of a Fiat 1500.  The shape of the grille is essentially the same as that of the aerodynamic Peugeot 402 introduced for 1936 on 13 October 1935 at the Paris salon -- interesting case of simultaneous development, though I have seen no reference of wind tunnel testing for the 402.  This is a wartime photo: note the blackout headlight covers.  I'm not sure if this was taken in liberated or occupied Italy.  That's because of the man's uniform.  The general cut of his jacket (the lower pockets, especially) is Italian, but the collar and details around the upper chest seem German.

This is a 1937 Peugeot 402 Éclipse, a car with a retractible metal top.   Compare its grille to the Fiat 1500's.  (1936 402s had the same grille design, so this camparison of 1935-36 vintage grilles is legitimate.)

A Fiat 1500 competing in the 1937 Bartolomeo hill-climb.  This photo has a better view of the headlight assemblies.  Note that the bumper is in one piece.  Apparently only 1936 1500s had divided front bumpers.

Comments from sharp-eyed readers are welcome regarding both the car in the top image and the uniform seen in the wartime photo.

Return of the Three-Piece Windshield

Wraparound or panoramic windshields (both terms refer to the same thing) reached mass-production in the USA in the form of 1954 Oldsmobiles, Buicks and Cadillacs.  (However, a few expensive, low-production Oldsmobile and Cadillac convertibles with such windshields were marketed during the 1953 model year.)  Such windshields became practical once glass-forming technology reduced breakage rates to an acceptably low level.

But such windshields turned out to be a fad.  By the 1961 model year, wraparounds where the A-pillar was either vertical or leaned forwards were gone.  Some European brands followed the same pattern, but lagged slightly behind the Americans.

Before those 1954 one-piece wraparounds appeared, a few companies marketed cars with what amounted to three pieces of glass grouped in a panoramic manner.  Large center sections used flat glass and were flanked by small glass panels that were within the state of glass forming art.  In one case, the flanking panels had flat glass, and in the other, the glass was curved.

What I find interesting is that a car was recently introduced with what amounts to a three-piece windshield in the spirit of 1930s forebears.

Gallery

1934 Hupmobile
Hupps had three-piece windshields only for the 1934 model year.  All the panels had flat glass.

Tatra 77 from 1934 or 1935.  Only the center panel is flat.

1937 Panhard Dynamic - sales photo
Panhard introduced three-piece windshields on its 1935 line and continued the practice on its redesigned 1937s.

2015 Fiat 500L
The concept returned on the Fiat 500L, perhaps due to packaging considerations (note how close the front door forward cut line is to the wheel opening and how far forward the windshield extends).