Massimo Burzio - l'Unità, Jan. 15th 2001
TURIN. Few people may recall it,
but thirty years ago, in 1971, one of the most important economy
car in Fiat history was born: the 127. This model was important
not only because it was produced, up to 1987, in 3,700,000 specimens
or because it was awarded the prize of "Car of the Year"
in 1972, but mainly because it was one of the first front-wheel
drive cars of Fiat group (after Autobianchi Primula of 1964 and
Fiat 128 of 1969).
Still 127 was also a symbol of the Italian skill to design, plan
and build small cars, since the American Lee Jacocca, one of the
most important managers in world car history, revealed in the
eighties that the first version of Ford Fiesta was conceived virtually
cribbing the127.
The two-boxes car designed by Pio Manzù (a prematurely
deceased young designer of Fiat Style Center) give evidence, amongst
other things, of a stylistic research which began to think also
of a stream-lined coachwork aimed to mass production cars, and
also of a purity of style still perceivable today, for instance,
in the tail and in the satisfaying ratio between panel and glass.
At first the 127 was built with a boot door, which already in
1972, in the "3 doors", became a wide tailgate to make
the access to the luggage boot easier. This is absolutely common
in today's two-boxes cars, but then wasn't so usual. The 127,
in its 16-years story, saw three main series and about twenty
versions and variants: amongst these a 5-doors, a station wagon
which, among the others, gave origin to the van Fiorino, to a
Sport and "Rustica" version: a strange 2WD that "should
look like" a 4WD, and which, in its interior fitting confirmed,
unfortunately, its name. The 127 had a launching price of 920,000
liras, about 15 millions of today (7.700 € n.d.r.)
and it was rather comfortable, at least compared with the standards
of those decades. It had also a good maximum load, both in normal
setting, both in that, rather unusual at that time, with the rear
seat lowered. The 127 was rather "modern" for the period
in which was conceived and turned out and this is confirmed, finally,
by its mechanicals. The structure of suspension, brakes and steering
gear was indeed borrowed from the new Fiat 128 and only the engine,
at the beginning, derived from the old Fiat 850: a 4-cylinders
engine of 903 cc by 47 HP, combined to a four-speed gearbox that
anyway was continually revised and had a decorous career. Nevertheless
on 127 were assembled also a 1,050 cc engine by 70 HP (for the
Sport model of 1978) and a very noisy Diesel 1301 cc by 45 HP.
Moreover, since it was built also in Brasil, (apart from Spanish
Seat and Yugoslavian Zastava) even a sugar cane alcohol-propelled
engine.
page created: September 19th 2004 and last updated: January 26th 2011