Down On the Mile High Street: Fiat 124 Sport Spider

Murilee Martin
by Murilee Martin

After seeing the sad little yellow Fiat convertible in a Denver junkyard, let’s admire a happy little yellow Fiat convertible that’s still managing to evade the cruel jaws of The Crusher.

These things didn’t change much during the first few years of production, and I’m not a sufficiently maniacal devoted Fiat aficionado to spot the subtle model-year identifiers on this car, but I’m going to guess it’s a ’70 or ’71 model. I found it parked in front of a Denver church on a Sunday, so it may be one of those much-sought-after “little old lady only drove it to church on Sunday” cars. If so, I’m impressed by the little old lady’s choice of a 40-year-old Fiat over, say, a Buick LeSabre.

This car appears to be a super-original, rust-free example; probably not worth a ton of money (if we are to go by the Hemmings Motor News Classifieds), but a lot rarer nowadays than its British competitor, the MGB. The ’71 124 Sport Spider listed at $3,382 and boasted 90 horsepower, while the ’71 MGB sold for $2,875 and had 92 horsepower. Having driven both types, I’d say both are pretty poky, but the Fiat seems faster.






Murilee Martin
Murilee Martin

Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.

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  • Ciddyguy Ciddyguy on Oct 13, 2011

    One little factoid I found on the web is that these spiders were the ONLY iteration of the 124 that had the DOHC motor, the other versions of this model soldiered on with the OHV/pushrod motors. These were first introduced in 1966 and finally ceased production in 1985, a long run indeed. This one looks to be a very nice example indeed. I have spotted several of these around Seattle this spring/summer and recently saw a nice red one being driven about a month ago. I've also spotted several of the Alpha Romeo Spiders as well, mostly from the 1980's and spotted a nice light orange 850 spider that looked to be restored zoom up the street outside work over the summer.

    • CJinSD CJinSD on Oct 13, 2011

      The Fiat 124 Coupé and the 1974 FIAT 124 TC Sport Sedan shared variats of the Lampredi DOHC engine. I once used a 1974 124TC sport sedan as a parts car to source a turn signal housing for my Sport Spider, so I know they really did exist.

  • Akirachan Akirachan on Oct 16, 2011

    Nice. I was about to purchase a 73 back in 2000, but my inner-mechanic told me he was on strike, so I didn't. But my inner-stoner wishes he did. Now both of them agree on a pre-fiat Lancia Fulvia, but the inner-wallet doesn't think it can deliver the goods!

  • Master Baiter I don't know how anyone could answer this question without having access to hundreds of cars to test drive...
  • Jalop1991 The Trax looks great. Too bad it's from GM. Won't have one.I'm driving a rental Prius, a 2016 with 84K on the clock. I had forgotten how well Toyotas hold up. It drives great (for what it is), and still gets 60mpg. The current Prius looks great, like the Trax does, so it's the winner.You can't under-rate the Trax. That GM label kills everything in its path.
  • FreedMike Non-GLI VW Jetta. Even the base version is a good driver, there's a manual version, and the whole line is reasonably priced. The Sport model is a fine little driver's car for not a lot of bucks. And...NO CVTs.Also: Hyundai Sonata N-Line. It's a modern day GTO (think modest family car with a crud ton of performance), and it's reasonably priced. Yes, it's overpowered, but it's overpowered in a hilarious sort of way - like an old GTO. With the loss of the Honda Accord Sport 2.0T, it's also the last survivor in the midsize, mass-market performance market, which I mourn losing.
  • Bouzouki Under-rated? Wrong question? What is the LEAST over-rated new car? That is the question."With all the excitement of the NY Auto show". Really? Tell us about the fun to drive cars with manual transmissions that you saw, that aren't wired for automakers to sell our data, how were they?What's that? There were none. Thank you.Yes, the THREE-cylinder cars are not as over-rated as the automakers would like, like the new Encore. It's not much fun to drive, but it has a great touchscreen--woo-hoo!!!
  • ToolGuy you make it sound so exciting i really wish i could attend in perzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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