131mirafiori forum

Hello,

While I was surfing and looking for missing bits for my restoration project I saw post  at another forum which 131 owner mentioned that

"He has 131 Racing and not Sport"

What is the differences between Racing and Sport ?

Cheers


Ali

Hi Ali,

In fact it's just the name. In Britain , Ireland and Germany for example the car was called mirafiori Sport, whilst here in my country Holland and Italy the car was called Racing.

When Fiat was introducing the 131 Racing the UK DVLA/Goverment would not allow Fiat to name it (RACING) as they thought the name encouraged people to speed or drive recklessly so Fiat renamed the UK version (SPORT)
and that is a true story !

Yes, 106, that's the story for britain. But why they called it Sport in other countries may be another question. I personally prefer Racing over Sport. Never again did any manufacturer call a car Racing. So it's a unique name  :) :o

I was led to believe at the time I purchased mine that it was easier for the insurance companies to accept 'Sport' rather than 'Racing' in the name.

I've heard the insurance story somewhere too but I don't know if it's true or not.

I always call them "Racing"  :) The last of them sold in Ireland were called Racing.

(http://i739.photobucket.com/albums/xx34/minicacj/img0531_zps9fbdc477.jpg)

Dont mind the 131 being called Racing but from the back end the badge on the driver side rear light looks better with the words Mirafiori Sport rather than just Racing.

I think there is something to say for both names/badges. On my car i have the mirafiori Sport badge, but that's only because the car is from Germany and has the Walter Rohrl look. All my previous "Racings" :D had the Racing badge. Like i said, it's so more special because there is no other car ever made with the name "Racing".

Both are great, and I take the point about the 'Racing' name being unique.

However the words 'Mirafiori Sport' written in white on the black background plate gets the pulses 'Racing' ;D ;D 

Sorry Mike, that's not true. There have been several other cars called "Racing" including one of my all time favourites the Maserati Racing  ;) The only car I know that has an added  spoiler at the bottom of the front screen to eliminate turbulence at the wiper arms  ;D

(http://www.autoviva.com/img/photos/803/maserati_racing_large_11803.jpg)

And here's a picture I took of a Dutch car showing the badge at the back  ;)

Sorry Theo, i didn't know that...all my dreams shattered  :'( :'( :'(
 :D :D :D
Is this really true? Did they call this model Racing?

Spoiler on the bonnet? Why not just design it properly like Mercedes did with the W126 and hide the wipers behind the bonnet.

Sadly the current Mercedes design ethic doesn't seem to include such quality ergonomics and efficency ::)

Yes with a lovely chrome "Racing" badge on the boot lid. It was the first of the Biturbo Maseratis to use the V6-4AC-24 quad-cam 24 valve 2 litre engine developing 306bhp. Even the cam covers had "Racing" on them  ;)

(http://www.maserati-alfieri.co.uk/enthusiastf/maserati-racing-05a.jpg)

Because Mercedes have money but Maserati didn't! Seems very silly but the whole car was a Biturbo with bits added where deemed necessary and that included the front spoiler. Strangely, I like that sort of thing ....

Theo, what do you think? After all the Maserati wasn't a three times world rally champion... Did it deserve this name "Racing"? I think our beloved wonderflower does, for many reasons.

Of course it did!  ;) Being 3 times world rally champion would entitle our beloved wonderflower to be called "Rally" (as in the 128). The Maserati Racing was a development model for the Maserati Ghibli II which lead to the one-make Racing series so it certainly deserves the name :D

I'm sure there are other Italian cars with the name "Racing" but my memory is failing me at the moment. I think the Italians used "Racing" in a similar way to the Brits using "Sport".

But there already was a 131 Rally. The homogolation version to participate in rallying. I think it's easy to upgrade any model and call it "Sport". But to call it "Racing", that's something different. Personally if ind a car needs to earn this name, earn respect to wear the name. But that's me. :)

Although being a Mercedes man and the proud owner of one said W126, I must add that "the properly designed bonnet that hid the wipers" was introduced 10 years before Mercedes unveiled the W126 by Opel, who had this feature on their then flagship cars Kapit?n/Admiral and Diplomat (introduced in 1969, phased out in 1977):

Picture shows my 1976 Opel Diplomat B V8 5.4

(http://www.oelprinz-online.de/images/cars/25_diplo2.jpg)

here is a picture of South African 131 Racing, This was not just a name put on to sell cars.
These cars were born to go racing in the Group One Championship.
They one every race they entered until they were banned.
Only 16 cars were built and am lucky enough to own car number 16 pictured below.
Here is the full story http://www.131mirafiori.com/131storySA.htm