What kind of 131 Station Wagon is this?

[pintopower]

I was on the internet at work, not working, and came across these two photos. They are 131 Wagons (Panorama correct? What is a Station Wagon called in England?) but the roof lines and the windows in the rear are different. Is this a delivery version? I think the shots are from eastern europe. Maybe turkish? Just wondering guys.

[pintopower]

Heres a good side shot of a regular one.

[mirafioriman]

Interesting! As you say it looks the same except that the roof line is different. I've never seen one of these before!

[simon131]

Anoraks on again Gentlemen.

The cars shown are Turkish built TOFAS 131 Estates. Whether they are known locally as Panoramas or Familiaires I don't know, as later cars (saloons) were called Murats, something that the 131 was not known as in the rest of the World (although to be fair, Fiat had stopped producing the 131 years before the 131 was called Murat in Turkey).

Most people know the estate cars (station wagons) as Panorama, and indeed the Italian built series 2 and 3 cars were badged as such. However, it is interesting to note that the sales literature for the series 1 cars in the UK called the cars "Fiat 131 mirafiori 1300 & 1600 Estate" (document ref 20M 1 76). It is also interesting to note that all 131 'estates' were given the chassis reference "131 AF ....." which would imply that perhaps Fiat themselves wanted the model to be known as 'Familiaire' (Family) as they did with the 128

Having just checked the rest of my UK brochure collection, again the series 2 131 'estate' was marketed as the 'Fiat Mirafiori 1600CL Estate' (latterly a 1600TC Supermirafiori Estate was also available) with no reference to either '131' or 'Panorama', even though the rear photo of the car clearly shows the car badged as both (document ref 35M 2 79).

Series 3 'estates' were again marketed in the UK without reference to the 131 model number. The sales literature of the day (document ref 11.15M.FEB.84.) called the car 'The Fiat Panorama Super Estate' - which covers all of the bases

So, to re-cap (if anyone has bothered to read this far ) for Europe at least (Italian Built cars) the series 1 cars are generally known as 'Familiaire', with all others being known (and badged) as Panorama.

Hope this helps

[mirafioriman]

My anorak is not as big as yours obviously! I knew about the Tofas saloon cars through our fellow member Yagmur, however, I was unaware they also made an estate version. I wonder why they changed the roofline?

[scelikkaleli]

They are Murat 131 Kartal Model year 1986-1987.1600 cc

[Blue850]

I just got a old copy of CAR magazine of ebay showing a long wheelbase 131 estate!
I'll try and scan it 2 nite

[pintopower]

Very nice post simon131. An yes, I did read the whole thing,  . I wonder why they went to the trouble of changing the roof of the car?

Thanks scelikkaleli  for the specific model info!

Blue850, can't wait to see a picture! (do you have a blue FIAT 850?  Both of my friend do!)

[TreviDash]

Taking a look at the back of the Kartal might hint why: