THE FIAT 130 COUPE AT 50

50 years ago, Fiat unveiled one of their most beautiful cars: the 10 Coupe. It was not just a belated heir to the 2300S and the Lance Flaminia Coupe but a car fit to rival the BMW 3.0CS and the Mercedes-Benz 280CE. Famous owners included (but of course) Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni.

Fiat initiated plans for the 2300’s replacement in 1963 and they introduced the original 130 Berlina in 1969. It was a rather imposing alternative to the Jaguar XJ6 and the M-B W108, even if Martin Buckley once rudely compared it with ‘the progeny of a one-night stand between a ZIL and a Mercedes 600’.

In reality, the four-door 130 was a conservative-looking machine, reflecting the demands of the Italian haute bourgeoisie. When the Coupe versions made its bow at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show, not a few observers were amazed by its coachwork, devised by Paolo Martin of Pininfarina. Power was from a 3.2-litre V6 married to Borg Warner Model 35 transmission; Fiat is also said to have built a quintet of 130s fitted with a five-speed manual box. The running gear was built in-house and then sent to Pininfarina for body assembly.

The Coupe’s extensive list of fittings included PAS, adjustable steering, electric windows and Cromodora alloy wheels. Most importantly, every detail of the 130 epitomised good taste, from its clean-cut lines and Carrello headlights to the velvet cord upholstery and the Veglia Borletti speedometer.

British sales commenced in 1972, and Autocar positively raved about the Coupe’s manners: “…seldom have we encountered such excellent handling in a car of this size. Its superbly balanced feel inspires tremendous confidence, allowing high averages to be achieved without conscious driver effort.”. Motor stated: “Inside, it’s not just lavishly equipped but exquisitely finished and appointed. We can’t recall anything finer in style and décor, regardless of price.” Meanwhile, Bill Boddy of Motor Sport was equally impressed:

This Fiat 130 is a very excellent luxury car, beautifully engineered, with the taut ‘expensive’ feel such cars used to have, although in view of what BMW, for instance, achieve in terms of performance from 2½-litres, it could do with still more power; Fiat’s comment on that could well be that for the really press-on drivers they provide the Fiat Dinos! For comfortable, unostentatious fast motoring this top Fiat model is most certainly not to be denied but it is a very expensive car in this country, at £5,499.48. In the first six months of 1972, however, 108 Fiat 130s were sold here.

Boddy also assured the reader that the Coupe was not “a moron’s shopping car”, which undoubtedly reassured the potential buyer. In 1974 Pininfarina created the Opera, an exceedingly attractive four-door version of the Coupe, and the equally appealing three-door Maremma Estate. Alas, these never entered production and Fiat made its last 130 grand tourer in 1977, a year after the saloon’s demise.

Given that a 130 Coupe was more expensive than several Ford Escort XLs, it was never going to be a familiar sight at your local shopping precinct. In the early 1970s, you just knew that the owner of such a car would not even acknowledge the Wimpy Bar’s existence - or many other forms of everyday life. After all, this was a Fiat that represented “…a grand departure from mass-produced prestige cars”.

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