Saturday, February 21, 2026

1971 Fiat 124 Sport Spider


The Fiat Spider is a hard car to date at a glance. Barring detail changes like side marker lights and bumpers it was sold in the US with its appearance largely unchanged from 1968 through 1985.

How do I know this is a '71? Via the clever detective technique of yelling "Nice car! What year is it?"

These older ones were imported with a 1.6L DOHC and a five-speed manual gearbox which was still pretty exotic stuff in the late Sixties. With twin carbs it put out a bit over a hundred horsepower and could manage a zero-to-sixty time a few ticks under ten seconds, before emissions and the weight of post-'73 bumpers took their toll.

This one was photographed in May of 2017 using a Leica D-LUX 3.

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1971 Fiat 124 Sport Spider

The Fiat Spider is a hard car to date at a glance. Barring detail changes like side marker lights and bumpers it was sold in the US with its...