I made a post a few days ago about buying a $400 1978 Fiat 131s.  I brought it home this morning.  The title says it's a 1976 and the original warranty cards are dated February 1977.  The engine is a twin cam though, aside from the 1976 Abarth I thought every 131 came with an SOHC.  The owner I bought it from bought it in 1980.  What the hell is going on here?  Is there a way I can figure out the manufacture dates of the body and the engine?  I guess all said and done it doesn't really matter, but I would like to get know her a little better.

After 30+ years the only thing you could take from that is the wheel was stamped on that day!

No Sean, the 1,756cc twin cam 132 series engine (fitted to many a 124 Sport) is correct for the USA spec Series 1 131 - the car that you have. Only 131's built after 1981 had a single overhead cam engine and they were not sold in the North American market. European 131s at the lower part of the range had over head valve (i.e. pushrod) engines from 1974 until 1981, and Europe also had 1300 TC and 1600 TC units available for our (1978 to 1981 series 2 131) Supermirafiori.

To the best of my knowledge all North American spec 131s were fitted with either the 1800 TC (from 1974 until 1978 - the series 1) or the 2000 TC carb or 2000 TC with Fuel Injection (from 1978 until 1980-ish when Fiat pulled the plug on 131 sales on the North American continent). This was principally due to the fact that the strict US emission regulations could not be met with Fiat's OHV engine, coupled also to the fact that the US spec (unleaded and often fitted with a cat) TC with injection still only just pushed out enough horse power to 'pull the skin off a rice pudding'!

The only sure way of telling the age of your car is by the chassis number, as every other component could have been replaced or swapped, particularly lights and wheels, but for sure it is pre-1978 range update, therefore a series 1.

For further details of the difference in each of the three series' of 131 please refer to the '131 Story' pages of this site, which are available via the front page. There is lots of useful detail and photos, although the series 1 (part 1) is written (by me as it happens ) around the European spec cars only, although the only real difference between the US and Euro cars (other than bumpers and trim combinations) was the engine. Please note that the series 3 131 was not available in the US.

Hope the above clears things up a bit.

Simon.