Today, we’re back at Techno Classica Essen 2014, with the pretty little Fiat 850 Coupé, which was based on the Fiat 600. The 850 Coupé was designed by Fiat itself, and was first introduced at the Geneva Motor Show in 1965.
Today, we’re looking at Fiat’s mid-engined X1/9. I should logically have done this one after I covered the Fiat 128 as it uses the 128’s engine and gearbox shifted to the rear - rather in the manner of the later Metro/MGF ‘flip’ I also featured recently. The X1/9, introduced in 1972, was designed, and later manufactured, by Bertone. It carried that company’s badge, rather than Fiat’s, from 1982. I saw this one at Techno Classica Essen in 2014.
More sporty Fiats today with these two quite similar Fiat 500s that have been given the Abarth treatment. On the left, a 500 “upgraded with the Abarth Classiche 595 Engine Tuning Kit” and on the right, one “with Abarth ‘record’ tuning”. Both cars were on display at Techno Classica in Essen in 2019.
In 2016, Fiat introduced the 124 Spider, which was designed to capture something of the character of the 1966 124 Sport Spider I featured yesterday. This car was based on Mazda’s MX-5/Miata and manufactured by Mazda as well. But the appearance was modified quite a bit, and the engines came from Fiat too. Geek point - the cooperation with Mazda was initially aimed at producing an Alfa, not a Fiat. Snapped at the Geneva Motor Show in 2016.
Most Autobianchis sold in small volumes. The exception was the 1969 A112 hatch, which was seen in significant numbers all over Europe in the 1970s. It stayed in production until 1986. Under the skin, it borrowed much from the larger Fiat 128, and also provided the basis for Fiat’s own pioneering super-mini, the 127. Always really liked these. This one was at Automotoretro in Turin in 2016.
Just in case anyone is interested, I’ve managed to find another photo of an #Autobianchi A112, this one from Techno Classica in Essen in 2013. Like the colour scheme.
Today, the most important car most people have never heard of, the 1964 Autobianchi Primula. Fiat often used Autobianchi as a test-bed for new ideas - one of those was the end-on gearbox set-up later used in the Fiat 128. You’ll read a lot of stuff this year about how ‘innovative’ the Volkswagen Golf is as it celebrates its fiftieth anniversary - but the Primula, also available as a hatch, had it all ten years before. Pic details: see alt txt
Now we’re on the subject, I thought I’d do a few more sporty Fiats. This is the 128 3P Coupé, which I snapped at Automotoretro in Turin in 2016. The ‘3P’ is a reference to the three-door hatchback body. The original 128 coupé was launched in 1971 as a two-door fastback, with the 3P hatch being introduced later on. Based on the Fiat 128 saloon/sedan, but with a shorter wheelbase. Orange.
One last car from the illustrious history of MG. I somehow missed the MGA in my recent broadly chronological sequence, so here it is. Produced between 1955 and 1972, the sleek MGA marked a complete break from its more traditionally styled predecessors. This one, in Old English White, was snapped at the NEC Classic Car Show last year, and has a few choice under-the-skin upgrades such as a five-speed gearbox.
As well as introducing MG versions of its Rover saloons and hatches, in 2002 MG Rover also revamped the MGF sports car, which was rebadged as the TF. The most visible change was a slightly more aggressive frontal treatment. But under the skin, there was a stiffer body shell and the replacement of the previous hydragas suspension with coil springs. Snapped at the 2023 NEC Classic Car Show.
Today, we’re stepping away from the current sequence on MG with the most dramatic Jaguar ever made, the XJ220 - although there is an interesting MG connection. This is the XJ220 prototype which had 4WD and a Jag V12 engine. The production version instead got rear-wheel drive and a development of the V6 engine used in yesterday’s MG Metro 6R4. Those fancy scissor doors were dropped for production too. Snapped at the British Motor Museum at Gaydon.
After yesterday’s ADO 34, here’s a slightly later attempt to come up with a Mini-based MG sports car, the Targa-style ADO 70. This was designed in the UK but the prototype was actually built by Michelotti in Italy. They seem to have used the left-over green paint from the ADO 34. This one didn’t make it into production either. Pics taken: British Motor Museum, Gaydon.
Today, probably the best known of all MGs, the MGB. Over its eighteen year life between 1962 and 1980, over half a million roadsters were made, and more than 100,000 MGB GT fixed-head lift-backs. This particular car at the British Motor Museum Gaydon was restored at the 1988 NEC Classic Car Show, using the first brand new ‘heritage’ MGB body shell manufactured by British Motor Holdings, and mechanical parts from a 1969 donor car.
After a couple of early MG Midgets from the thirties and fifties, today we’re looking at the last of the line, which was produced between 1961 and 1979. This final Midget wasn’t, perhaps, quite the purebred MG it appeared. It started as a rebadged Austin-Healey Sprite, and later cars like this one, with its US-spec bumpers, got a 1500cc Triumph Spitfire engine to compensate for power-sapping emissions kit. Pic taken at the British Motor Museum, Gaydon.
Over the last few days, I’ve posted several of MG’s super-streamlined record breaking cars used in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. If you were wondering how these creations influenced the design of MG’s road cars, the answer appears to be ‘not at all’. This is the 1954 MG TF Midget, which very much sticks with the traditional British sports car look. Note the MG-typical octagonal instrument surrounds. Pics taken at the British Motor Museum, Gaydon.
One last MG speed record car from the British Motor Museum collection at Gaydon. This is the 1957 EX181, which was powered by a supercharged MGA twin cam engine. In 1957, Stirling Moss took it to 245.6 mph on the Utah Salt Flats. With a slightly enlarged engine, Phil Hill was able to improve on this with a speed of 254.9 mph in 1959.
Yesterday, I explained how Austin’s 1969 Zanda concept was designed to take a mid-mounted version of the Maxi’s engine and gearbox. In 1995, the mid-engined MGF followed the same principle: mechanically it was based on a 180 degree flip of the Metro’s front subframe, engine and gearbox. Another link to the Maxi/Metro - the MGF had Hydragas suspension, although this was replaced by steel springs when the F became the TF. Pic taken at the British Motor Museum
The same year Austin launched yesterday’s rather dowdy Maxi, 1969, the company also released the much more go-ahead Zanda concept. The Zanda was designed to be powered by a mid-mounted Maxi engine/gearbox combination. The wedge shape later influenced the Princess and TR7, while the idea of flipping around a transverse FWD powertrain to make a mid-engined car was later seen with the Metro and MGF. Snapped at the British Motor Museum at Gaydon.
Today, in celebration of World Marbles Day (thanks for the reminder @MarSolRivas) we are featuring the Austin Maxi, snapped here at Techno Classica Essen in 2014.The Maxi was brilliant in concept but let down by patchy execution. One reviewer famously compared the action of early cars’ cable operated gear shift to stirring a bag of marbles with a knitting needle. The Maxi deserved better and I shall return to this story of what might have been soon.
Today, we’re back on the Minis. This is a 1965 Mini Traveller, a small estate version of the Mini with a similar silhouette to the Mini van. Note the wooden pillar treatment, which is visually similar to that previously seen on the Morris Minor Traveller. I believe the wood is structural on the Minor but purely decorative on the Mini. Snapped at The Great British Car Journey in Derbyshire.
Today we’re marking the recent loss of one of the leading car designers of our times, Marcello Gandini. One of his most famous works, the Lamborghini Miura, dates right back to the very beginning of his career. This particular example, seen at Techno Classica in 2013, is a late P 400 SV from 1971/2, and lacks the distinctive headlamp ‘eyelashes’ of earlier versions.
One last special edition celebrating the birth of the original Mini in 1959. This is the BMW Mini 60 Years Edition from 2019, seen here at Techno Classica in Essen that year. UK market sixtieth anniversary cars, of which there were 500, were finished in British Racing Green, but other colour schemes such as this black/silver combination were available in Germany.
Today, after yesterday’s Mini 25, a further trio of luxuriously equipped commemorative ‘milestone Minis’ from Techno Classica Essen, 2019. The Mini Thirty (maroon car), Mini 35 (car with bumper over-riders) and Mini 40 were released in 1989, 1994 and 1999 respectively to celebrate the launch of the original Mini in 1959.
These old Minis seem to be popular so here’s another one. I can’t find much information on this particular one but it seems to have been created by a company called L&H in Germany for the 25th anniversary of the original Mini in 1984. Snapped at Techno Classica Essen in 2019.
Production of the ‘classic’ Mini ended in 2000 but you can still buy an effectively brand new super-luxurious version - if you have the cash. This is the Mini Remastered by David Brown Automotive, captured here on the first press day at the Geneva Motor Show in 2018. Available with every conceivable luxury, although the price can creep over £100,000. An electric version (Mini eMastered) is also available.