Anniversary of the miracle
Fiat 131 Mirafiori: world car, champion, bore
This Turin model embodied the conservative revolution in the mid-size class. With its angular shapes and staid technology, the Fiat 131 countered progressive bestsellers such as the VW Passat. As the 131 Abarth, the Italian also dominated the rally tracks for years.
How desirable can boredom be? When Fiat introduced the 131 Mirafiori model 50 years ago, even experts were amazed at the conservative technology of this angular mid-range vehicle from the Mirafiori plant in Turin. While Wolfsburg switched to advanced front-wheel drive and fashionable fastback design for the VW Passat, Italy's largest industrial group insisted on notchback and rear-wheel drive for the successor to the Fiat 124, which had sold millions of units since 1966.
In the middle of Italy's Waterloo
A tried-and-tested drive combination that was to make the new 131 Mirafiori a reliable Fiat for all occasions in troubled times. The 4.24-meter-long popular Fiat for families, cab fleets and public authorities was launched in 1974, when Europe was suffering the consequences of the oil crisis and Italy was economically devastated. Countless strikes, terrorist attacks, 20 percent inflation, negotiations between Rome's head of government Mariano Rumor and German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt over a five-billion-mark loan that was essential for Italy, Ferrari driver Clay Regazzoni's defeat in Formula 1 against Emerson Fittipaldi and the elimination of the favorite Gigliola Cinquetti against the Swedish band Abba at the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton: Italy experienced its Waterloo.
In this environment, the unagitated Fiat 131 Mirafiori proved to be a shooting star - and it even had the genes for a global success story, including on rally tracks: Walter Röhrl raced to his first world championship title in a wild Fiat 131 Abarth.
131 smaller than 130
The four-cylinder 131, whose model designation was confusing, enjoyed a steep career between family car and rally world champion. After all, the 131 was positioned between the flagship 130 and the equally larger Fiat 132, which is perhaps why Fiat gave the 131 the distinctive nickname Mirafiori.
This was also the name of the largest Fiat factory, which, like all Italian plants, was shaken by strikes: in the first half of 1975 alone, Fiat boss Giovanni Agnelli registered the incredible number of 2100 strikes in his empire, which were aimed at particularly popular model series. Successful, Fiat's market share in Italy fell from a good 70 percent to just under 50 percent, and in the important German market Renault succeeded in toppling the Italians from the throne of king of the importers.
Faulty in all parts?
There were also quality deficits. FIAT became "faulty in all parts". Sloppily assembled models by unmotivated employees were not even accepted by the most loyal Fiat buyers. A fate that only befell the Fiat 131 in the USA. Initially, the Fiat marketed there as the Brava won over almost 100,000 buyers a year, but then the two- and four-door saloons and the five-door estate, which followed in 1975, plummeted to last place in US quality rankings - the end of American exports.
The Mirafiori miracle
Not so in Europe. Here, the Mirafiori performed several miracles. Firstly, the Miracolo succeeded in becoming the best-selling import car in its segment in Germany. With a guarantee against corrosion damage, surprisingly good rankings for aged Fiat 131s in quality checks, a wide range of body styles and engines to suit all requirements - from the tired 1.3-liter petrol engine with 55 hp to a 75 hp 1.6-liter unit and the 96 hp super Mirafiori that was added in 1978 - the Fiat 131 offered more than other import bestsellers such as the Renault 12 and Citroen GS.
Added to this were low prices and, from 1978, two diesel engines (2.0-liter and 2.5-liter four-cylinder), which the trade media praised as "super diesels from Italy". In fact, the diesel engines shone even before the start of series production with a class victory in the 30,000-kilometer London-Sydney Rally. Another new feature was the standard five-speed gearbox, which reduced the standard consumption of the rough-running diesel to 6.6 liters at a constant 100 km/h. This allowed the Mirafiori to score points on the diesel-savvy Italian home market.
At the beginning of the 1980s - by which time the Fiat 131 had already undergone two facelifts and, thanks to furious Abarth variants, had taken on the role of poster car in teenagers' bedrooms - Turin was pleased to see that the Italian car industry was on the up globally thanks to this robust mid-range model. Around 20 plants on five continents assembled the 131 Mirafiori, which became a popular car in countries such as Turkey (as the Tofas Murat 131 or Dogan, Sahin or Kartal). The Australians loved the Fiat as the Super Brava, the Poles appreciated it as the Polski Fiat 131p, and the Ethiopians only retired the car in 2010 - 36 years after its premiere at the Turin Motor Show. The Spanish also loved "their" Seat 131, especially as it had independent engines and dominated the 1979 Rallye de Espana as the Seat 131 Abarth.
Top model faster than a Porsche 911 T
The Fiat 131 and Abarth, this liaison began in 1976, when Lancia had to cede the rally field to Fiat. In cooperation between Fiat, Bertone (body construction) and Abarth (mechanics), 400 units of the two-door Fiat 131 Abarth Rally were produced, 350 of which were road-legal 140 hp Abarth Rally cars. The cars even outclassed a Porsche 911 T in terms of performance.
Legendary Monte victory
On the track, the 131 Abarth won three one-make world championship titles for Fiat (1977, 1978 and 1980), while the Finn Markku Alén won the 1978 WRC Drivers' World Championship in the Fiat. And the young rally superstar Walter Röhrl secured his first drivers' world championship in 1980 with the Fiat 131 Abarth. For Fiat, however, Röhrl's victory in the legendary 1980 Monte Carlo Rally overshadowed all other successes: the 22-year-old from Regensburg and his co-driver Christian Geistdörfer showed the strength of nerve and perfection that all their rivals lacked in the Monte in extremely difficult weather conditions with plenty of ice and snow. To this day, it is the last victory for a Fiat at the Monte.
Röhrl already had the world championship title in his pocket when Fiat launched the sporty 131 Racing series model with a 115 hp 2.0-liter petrol engine. That's what winners look like, the drivers of this two-door model sold in Germany under the name 131 Sport could sing. Especially as Fiat celebrated the triumph of the German rally titan with the special Walter Röhrl model. The fact that the 131 Sport, which was mostly painted orange, lagged behind hot hatches such as the Golf GTI did nothing to diminish its cult status.
Christoph Pichura from the evaluation organization Classic Analytics explains the relevance of the Fiat 131 today: "When you say 131, you mean 131 Sport. While the weaker variants on the classic car market tend to be inexpensive curiosities, the 131 Sport, known abroad only as the 131 Racing, was an early fan favorite. The 'Walter Röhrl' special series, which is only available in Germany, differs from the normal Sport only in very few optical details, and in good condition it now costs 15,600 euros - if you can find one." (SPX)
Kommentare
Liebe Leserin, lieber Leser,
die Kommentarfunktion steht Ihnen ab 6 Uhr wieder wie gewohnt zur Verfügung.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
das krone.at-Team
User-Beiträge geben nicht notwendigerweise die Meinung des Betreibers/der Redaktion bzw. von Krone Multimedia (KMM) wieder. In diesem Sinne distanziert sich die Redaktion/der Betreiber von den Inhalten in diesem Diskussionsforum. KMM behält sich insbesondere vor, gegen geltendes Recht verstoßende, den guten Sitten oder der Netiquette widersprechende bzw. dem Ansehen von KMM zuwiderlaufende Beiträge zu löschen, diesbezüglichen Schadenersatz gegenüber dem betreffenden User geltend zu machen, die Nutzer-Daten zu Zwecken der Rechtsverfolgung zu verwenden und strafrechtlich relevante Beiträge zur Anzeige zu bringen (siehe auch AGB). Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.