classic fiat or not?

[Henk]

I think we gave our daughter the right education....
As soon as she spots a classic fiat in front of our door she takes a shot.
But is it a fiat?
As far as I can see it is not a 131, maybe a 132?
Any suggestions?

Henk

[david]

It's a  Triumph Dolomite .........

[Henk]

back to school for my daugther (and for me as well, I am affraid)

[Henk]

this car drove by in a splt second
my daugther studies international design and live style
,She must have seen similar design lines....
I howeverer, will probably get suspended as  hero member, not regonzing this as an UK in stead of an italian

[Che]

That's a triumph Dolly

[Yves]

You're excused Henk, but only once :-)

[Che]

this car drove by in a splt second
my daugther studies international design and live style
,She must have seen similar design lines....
I howeverer, will probably get suspended as  hero member, not regonzing this as an UK in stead of an italian

Your daughter spotted it was a classic, if not Italian, still worth 10 points

[Thotos]

It's OK Henk, you can keep your Hero status as that car was designed by Giovanni Michelotti, an Italian born in Turin    So while the car might have been built in England, the Italian lines are unmistakeable and your daughter with her international design eyes obviously spotted the Italian lineage 

[Henk]

Thanks Theo

Giovanni Michelotti is somebody we know in the Netherlands as well..
He designed the DAF 44 / 46 / 55

[Yves]

I had a DAF 55 coup? in orange!

Still have fond memories of it.

[Sev131]

Dolomite...wasn't the Sprint a 2 litre 16v and very fast in it's day?

[simon131]

The Dolomite was the first car I wrote off!  My Dad owned a sand-brown 1850HL Automatic which was (probably still is) the most tail-happy car I have ever driven. Pretty powerful though. Lost it on a damp roundabout one Friday night and put it into a wall. Dad wasn't too pleased.

Yes Bobby, the Sprint was 2 litre 16v which pushed out 127bhp. The 16 valves were actuated from a single overhead cam too. I wonder what sort of bhp they'd have achieved with twin-cams? 

A solid car the Dolomite. Was quite heavy to drive but very comfortable and well appointed for the time.

[Thotos]

The 16V Dolomite Sprint is famous for being the first mass-produced 16V car. It was very quick for its time.

Have you ever driven a Triumph Spitfire Simon? That's the most tail happy car I've ever driven. Useless independent rear suspension (wheels tilted so much you were driving on the inside edge of the tyres!) rear wheel drive and no weight over the rear wheels. Mind you the original 3-Series BMWs were quite diabolical too!

Giovanni Michelotti is one of the best car designers of the 20th century in my opinion having designed many mainstream but great looking cars. But he wasn't given full credit for many of the cars he designed while at Vignale so I think he doesn't get the recognition he deserves. He's also my kinda guy as the only thing other than cars that he's designed is a coffee machine!

[simon131]

Ah, you and your coffee Theo!

No, I have never driven a Triumph Spitfire Theo - they always looked particularly dodgy to me - which from your writing, clearly they were. I did drive a 1300 Toledo for a few weeks back in the late 1980's though - loaned to me by my Uncle who was in the trade whilst I was waiting for my insurance to pay out for my fire damaged 131 Sport (NPF952W) 

Memories......... back before I had a mortgage.......and wife 

[Henk]

Daf was the inventor of the CVT transmission back it 60's (variomatic or Continue Variabel Transmission)
The car had a very dull image here (only old people, disabled or students like me drove one....)
Thats why they hired mr. michelotti in a last attemp to change this image (with no result)
Because of the variomatic transmission the cars top speed in reverse gear was the same as its topspeed in foreward gear
Some bright mind came up with the idea to organize Backwards driving races with DAFS for television in the late 80's
95 % of all excisting Dafs were wrecked during these events....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoh8i0jfpTo

Volvo took over the DAF passenger car company and produced the latest version (66) for a few more years.
the other division, Daf trucks (and the former Leyland trucks) are nowowned by paccar (USA)