Magazine Articles

[kev131]

This is a short review of the 131 Sport from the motoring magazine "Auto Ireland" dated September 1980, some time after the car had been launched and apparently delayed because of the limited numbers of cars in Ireland. You might need to magnify the image to read it.

I'm not aware that the article won any journalistic awards
The writer (anon and obviously partially deaf) also claims that the car is not unduly noisy! I remember another article where the 131 Sport won first prize for being the noisiest car to ride in on the market at the time!?

[Thotos]

Seats in very soft rust? What was this deaf writer drinking at the time?

I remember reading a WhatCar review of the 131 Sport and they claimed "the noise is unbearable in the back"

[kev131]

Here is a photo of the front cover of C&CC dated Aug 1980. The 131 in the shot cant have been very old at the time it was converted to a rally car.

[maxi.man]

think ive seen that rebuilt car at goodwood i remember reading that article (not to long ago)

[kev131]

This is a mid term running report on the 131 Sport from Oct 1979 which was being run by the Autocar magazine team. They were quite "into" Fiats at the time because they were also running a Fiat 132 2000 and a Fiat Strada 75.



The same guy (Peter Winsdor) wrote a 4 page long term running report the following April entitled "Handling & Grip" which I'll post later - It's probably the most complimentary magazine article I've read on the car?

[kev131]

Here is the long term running report referred to earlier - It's good reading for any 131 Sport fans....

[Thotos]

Forum member Yagmur has sent in this article from a Belgian magazine:

[kev131]

Ah terrific advert - That looks like a special edition model towards the end of the series 2 life cycle - Stripes and dual spoilers as per the German Walter Rohrl version but of particular interest to me is that this is the first promotional material that I have seen showing the Cromadora alloy wheels as fitted as standard on the Irish Market since 1979 - Strangely though the advert states wheel size as 14 inch but I have only ever seen this style in 13inch sizes

[Fiat131Sport]

I think that the Mirafiori Sport was Launched onto the Irish Market in January '79 Kev the 127 Sport was launched in Oct / Nov'78, both the 131 Sport and the 2.0 CL Diesel were supposed to be launched for Jan '79 but the Diesel was delayed until April'80

[Fiat131Sport]

Ah terrific advert - That looks like a special edition model towards the end of the series 2 life cycle - Stripes and dual spoilers as per the German Walter Rohrl version but of particular interest to me is that this is the first promotional material that I have seen showing the Cromadora alloy wheels as fitted as standard on the Irish Market since 1979 - Strangely though the advert states wheel size as 14 inch but I have only ever seen this style in 13inch sizes

Can you upload some Irish adverts on the Fiat 131 2.0 TC Sport from Auto Ireland or Motoring Life Kevin

[Irish Mike]

I can remember that edition of Car and car Conversions well as it was covering the road rally championship in the UK. On the cover was John Bloxham in his 131 who had some success with it. Another regular contender in those days was Terry Kaby in a mini BOO911F who ended up driving for a works team. Great days indeed.