Fiats in the family

[131R]

Hi, I introduced myself the other day and posted some pic's of my yellow racing car.  I also have a Fiat 130TC Abarth in excellent condition with 36840 miles.  Then I have a 131 2000 Racing witch need a full restoration.  My son also have one that he just completed a full restoration on.  The Racings in South Africa is very different from the cars in Europe and elsewhere.  They are from the series 1 type and came standard with twin 40 IDF carb's, Abarth 068 cams, high compression 10.2 pistons, uprated front and rear suspension, Abarth leather steering wheel, limited slip diff and Abarth mag wheels.  Most of them the bonnet was fibreglass painted in black. These cars were very quick and could outsprint a 530 BMW according to road tests.  Fiat SA entered them in Group One races for standard production cars and they win just about ALL their races.  To quote a local motoring magazine from the time: "they were so quick that they were eventually banned from racing!"  Only 16 were produced but Fiat SA planned to build 100 but the ship with the rest of the Abarth parts sank of the coast of Kenya and that was the end of the production.  We know of about 8 cars to still exist and they are highly collectable in SA. Current owners just don't sell them.  My other son owns a 124ST in lovely condition never being restored.   Pics of the 131 Racings in action and my son's car just after restoration.   

[kev131]

She looks a beaut 131R and that's a fascinating if brief story of a 131 variant about which very little is known in our part of the world.

Do you know what the production dates for the car were (I'd love to know how closely in time they were produced compared with the later S2 Racing version)? Also do you have any publicity material eg brochures from Fiat SA to share with us. If not, any more pics of what the car looked like as standard would be very much appreciated.

Regarding the ship sinking, it looks like there is bountiful supply of fibreglass bonnets available to any enterprising diver!  

[bellamacchina]

Very interesting and a beautiful car!

I am looking forward to other pictures!!

Greetings from Holland

[131R]

Hi, these cars were produced in 1978 and some in '79.  I have more pic's on the racing cars as well as on the brochures.  Will scan and post them.  What would live be without a 131?  BORING!!

[djape1977]

but the ship with the rest of the Abarth parts sank of the coast of Kenya   

is the exact locaton of that shipwreck known?
with the abarth parts prices these days... 

by the way, south africa seems to have gotten more than it's fair share of tuned up fiats thanks to it's inventive dealers



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[Sev131]

131R- Interesting info. Beautiful car.

My family history of Fiats started from Nairobi, Kenya. My grandad use to run and maintain 2 1500c's which one of them, he then bought with him to Leicester in 1970/1. My dad and his 5 brothers all learnt to drive Fiats in Kenya.  I think they were Fiat 1100's

[Robert]

Here some info on the SA model, details somewhere here on the forum - couldn't find it now, but had copied the pic to my notebook:

[mirko131]

You're Welcome , i am from France , and i know this same model name is "Coach" , the Civil model of the sport car  name "Racing" , very nice car and interessting wheels .

[131R]

Yes the 125 Scorpion was a very quick Fiat in 1969.  Could match the performance on Much BIGGER cars.  I hace some good pic's on this Fiats that I will post.  I spoke to John Conchie from Alpine Develpments who develped these Scorpions and raced them earlier this week.  I post some of the Racings press releases here.  Also a pic of John Conchie racing a Fiat 124 OTS Scorpion at Kyalami.

[131R]

Hi,  I promised more pic,s of the Racing's in action.  Taken at Kyalami in 1978.

[stathe174]

Nice crush behind the mirafiori... Are these celicas?

[italianxrays]

  Could they be Mazda RX3 OR 4 or perhaps a Toyota not sure model though.

[131R]

No V3 is a Mazda Capella RX2 and the car crashing into it is a Cortina XR6.

[FiatRally]

Hi All,

Just to clarify something here.

The picture from the article that Robert posted was an incorrect picture used by the publishers at the time.

Thanks for the pic Robert.

The car in the picture is what the Fiat 131 Rally S looked like in South Africa.  The spats around the wheel arches and the spoilers were standard.

These cars are also very scares nowadays.

I own a 1978 Rally, not the S version.

It is in the process of total stripdown and rebuild.

Cheers,

Ernst