Rare Rides: A 1994 Fiat Coupe, as Legal Immigrant

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen an imported two-door Fiat on these pages which required some paperwork to get into the country. But it is the first time it’s all been done above board.

Let’s check out this 25-year-old Italian.

Fiat’s Coupé entered production in 1993 and was the first time the company offered a coupe since 1979. The new model took a very different approach to the most excellent 130 coupes of the 1970s and opted for front-drive and sporty handling over rear-drive and opulence.

The thoroughly Italian two-door was designed by native Ohioan Chris Bangle, a few short years before he went to work at BMW. There was a little Coupé competition between Fiat’s own design team and Pininfarina, and both presented exterior designs to Fiat brass for the new car. Fiat chose the Bangle option, but still gave the interior design nod to Pininfarina. Pininfarina’s exterior design didn’t go to waste though: in 1996 it debuted as the Peugeot 406 Coupe. Fiat’s Coupé came into existence thanks in small part to General Motors. When Cadillac Allanté production was canceled, the factory at Pininfarina suddenly had available capacity. Fiat was ready to fill the space with a car of their own.

Though it was an all-new body, the Type Two platform underneath the Coupé dated to the late Eighties. It was used for many Fiat and Alfa Romeo vehicles, as well as the Lancia Delta. All Coupes used Fiat family engines which ranged in size from 1.8 to 2.0 liters. Cylinder arrangements were of inline-four or inline-five varieties. Top tier engines were the twin cam 2.0-liter I4 and the 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-five. All Coupés were equipped with manuals of either five or six speeds.

Over the years, Fiat made some trim and performance improvements to the Coupé, and eventually updated the interior to look darker and more serious than early run examples. The car hit its peak sales early, with 17,619 in 1994. Sales fell off afterward, and by 1999 it sold just over 6,000 copies a year. 2000 was the Coupé’s last year, and it was cancelled without replacement.

Today’s Rare Ride was listed recently in San Francisco for $13,000, but the listing recently expired. This one in particular has a bit of an identity crisis, with a Pininfarina badge in its grille that doesn’t belong and an Abarth badge on its rear it doesn’t deserve.

[Images: seller]