A modest automobile

[azasadny]

A Modest Automobile

The society we live in today is hurried, complex, and alienating. People need time to stop and smell the roses, time to savor the finer things in life. So, for the good of the nation, I propose that everyone drive a Fiat.

The benefits are as follows.
1. Community Bonding. Driving a Fiat would promote increased community bonding and awareness. When all the Fiats unexpectedly break down at the same time, people will be forced to reach out to each other for help and encouragement and to trade useful tidbits of information.

2. Economic Growth. This is inevitable, with the whole society spending money on hourly transportation repair. Mechanics' incomes will rise, industry will expand, and unemployment will decrease. Foreign alliances will also be made, due to the widespread need for specialized, hard-to-get auto parts.

3. Personal Growth. Each person's character and integrity will grow every time his Fiat baffles, confuses, and angers him.

4. Ethnic Diversity. The Fiat will help expand the nation's knowledge of Italian rhetoric, as each owner pores over the poorly translated Italian-to-English service manuals. An appreciation for Italian design will also contribute to this cultural diversity as Americans explore the Italian way of taking a simple engine and making it into a masterpiece of confusing complexity.

5. National Health. Medicare will no longer be needed. The health of our nation will be improved by the amount of exercise needed for day-to-day survival. Walking for help in the clean, fresh air and building muscle tone struggling with Fiat bolts and screws are two small examples. The air will be cleaner because we will be rid of all those pesky SUVs. The small four-cylinder Fiat engines will cut down on harmful exhaust and save precious fossil fuels. And the fact that they will so seldom be running will be an added benefit.

6. The Joy of Not Knowing. Exhilaration without acceleration will be enjoyed by all who drive a Fiat. They will receive hours of thrills from their inability to know where or when they will break down next.

The promotion of the Fiat is for the public good and for the health and well-being of a strong nation.

Ben Bomer (as posted on cartalk.com)

[Overpaid Slacker]

I had a couple of Fiat 124 "Sport" Spiders... right around the time I was using a 1967 Spitfire as a daily driver... b/c it was the reliable vehicle I owned.

These cars will quickly cure you of the hubris of thinking you're in control of your own schedule/destiny/time... You make much more vague, indeterminate appointments. No longer was it "I'll be there at 3", but "I'll be there tomorrow afternoon/evening. Probably."

JP

[gaijindabe]

Originally posted by azasadny
I propose that everyone drive a Fiat.

My Dad always said you had to be second-generation Italian to drive a Fiat. Off the boat, you were too wise, by third generation you were too detached.

I thought this was a joke of his, but as I got older I found this to be true!

[azasadny]

I always thought FIAT stood for "foolish Italian attempt at transportation". Now I'm going to be flamed by all of the FIAT fans, I can just feel it coming!

[widebody911]

Failed Italian Automotive Technology

Fix it again, Tony

[dd74]

I'll drive a Fiat, only if I can drive one like this...

[Rick V]

Being a wrench I would like to see more Fiats on the road.............job security!

[teenerted1]

fix it AGAIN Tony

i was just cruising along in the slow lane to day in the teener and passed one like it was standing still. not sure what year/model it was.

almost looked into buying one a few years ago, glad i got into P-cars. engineering/design is more logical.

[Jeff Higgins]

[Tobra]

Originally posted by dd74
I'll drive a Fiat, only if I can drive one like this...

There was a guy on the Alpine 500 with a full on Fiat/Abarth like that. Sweet little car, but I just about ran him over on the straight and windy bits in the 914. He was sliding all over the place, even with the really wide small diameter wheels.

[MichiganMat]

Guy around the corner races an X1/9 in the SCCA. I dropped in to chat for a few and was awestruck that he was able to keep it running. He told me the X1/9 is a really reliable car _only_ if the dealer had torqued down the head properly upon delivery. Don't torque the head and all sorts of stuff blows up. His X1/9 racecar had 120K miles on it and was still going strong. I told him to buy a lottery ticket while he still had time.

[dd74]

Originally posted by Tobra
There was a guy on the Alpine 500 with a full on Fiat/Abarth like that. Sweet little car, but I just about ran him over on the straight and windy bits in the 914. He was sliding all over the place, even with the really wide small diameter wheels.

Not surprising you almost trounced him, Toby. I think these cars came with about 100 hp. max. Their target was the Mini Cooper S. They're out of the 914 league, particulary the 914-6.

But you have to give it up for the car's uniqueness...

[Tobra]

Dude, there was no almost involved, I was all over him, if he had 100 hp, which I seriously doubt, we would have been even on power 'cause I have a 4 pot 2 liter. But it was rear engine and he did not have the suspension sorted out yet. T

hat thing could not weigh more than 1500 lbs with him in it. Very cool little car, sounded like a tricked out 2 stroke bike. Full cage, fuel cell, big ass oil cooler that he had air going to from a duct on the passenger side back window. I know I have pic at the house, and I am out of here right now so I will go look.

[dd74]

Originally posted by MichiganMat
Guy around the corner races an X1/9 in the SCCA. I dropped in to chat for a few and was awestruck that he was able to keep it running. He told me the X1/9 is a really reliable car _only_ if the dealer had torqued down the head properly upon delivery. Don't torque the head and all sorts of stuff blows up. His X1/9 racecar had 120K miles on it and was still going strong. I told him to buy a lottery ticket while he still had time.

I've always had a soft spot for X1/9s - another car with a Napoleon complex. I've seen a couple of X1/9s with fully tricked motors w/Webers, cams, high compression. Somewhere there's a Grassroots Motorsports article that showed a guy with a suspension-modded X1/9 with a tiny 75hp engine, that did loads of damage on the autocross circuit.

[dd74]

Originally posted by Tobra
That thing could not weigh more than 1500 lbs with him in it. Very cool little car, sounded like a tricked out 2 stroke bike. Full cage, fuel cell, big ass oil cooler that he had air going to from a duct on the passenger side back window. I know I have pic at the house, and I am out of here right now so I will go look.

Yeah, but would you trade cars?

[Tobra]

Originally posted by dd74
Yeah, but would you trade cars?

Not just no but HELL NO, cool car though, nice rich fella who was way into cars owned it



sort of a crappy pic

[cashflyer]

I love my Fiat 124 Spider.
The original engine has over 100k miles on it, and it still runs great. Currently the car is awaiting installation of a race engine - that I will happily put it up against your 914.


IIRC, a true Fiat Abarth 500 would have been equipped with a 594cc, two cylinder engine producing about 125hp. (Not bad for only 2 cylinders!)