Thanks so much for all you do for all of us 124 fans!

Yes, your so right about the lack of marketing. the same situation here in Australia. It was only those in the know that bought the car, l purchased my Abarth early 2017 and l still have people asking what the car is.

Great and informative video. I drove a Fiat 124 in the mid 1970’s. I can’t recall the model year. A really nice car. Only took me nearly 50 years to actually buy a current 2018 model this year. Life somehow had other plans until now. Thanks for all that information.

awesome! im at 10:39 of the video. thanks for the hard work on this.. looking forward to tomorrow..

This is the exact video I have been wanting. I cannot wait to get the 79 down the street

Their value seems to be holding up quite well too. I briefly had a '70 around 1980. It definately taught me alot about wrenching on cars although I wasn't looking at it as a learning experience back then. This new version does capture the design essence of the original but not so much that I'd call it retro as it looks modern too.

Thank you for championing our very special little cars! Happy 124 Day!

Nice video. Makes me wanna keep the car even more.

Very well done, and greatly enjoyed watching! Thank you.

I consider myself very lucky to have THE 2017 Detroit and Toronto Auto Show car. It is a red Lusso with six-speed manual, black leather interior I bought it from a gentleman from Windsor who's sister worked for Fiat Chrysler, who was tasked with selling the "used" car. I have owns many NB Miatas....but I consider my "Fiata" the best one that I have ever owned. The combination of Italian styling/engineering and Japanese assembly/engineering is outstanding. I love it.

Love my 17 black Lusso

Che bella macchina. L'anima dell'Italia risiede nel profondo.🥰

1/24, Fiat Spider Day!

Another great video Taz! Have a Happy 124 Day!

I want to add some infos: Rumors of the cooperation between FCA and Mazda began in 2009. One year later Pininfarina (again) released the beautiful study "Duettottanta" on the Geneva Motorshow. You showed a picture of the car in the video. Just wanted to say what it was called, because I think its stunning and it would have been an absolute bestseller if there had been a similar production car. That said: You are correct that there was A LOT of resistance against the CEO for that decission. The Alfa Romeo guys didnt like the idea to give away development and construction to Mazda. The project was completely sabotaged. Obviously the contracts were signed and they couldnt go back, so they decided to relable the car. The official excuse from the CEO was that an Alfa Romeo customer wouldnt accept a 4 cylinder engine in a Spider... Alfa Romeo did receive another "Halo car" project to "revive" the brand. The 4C - which was a 4 cylinder engined car... If you look at those cars, both are very similar concepts: 4C: (Back) mid engine layout, RWD 124 Spider (Front) mind engine layout, RWD (like all the generations of Corvette before the C8). Both cars have a similar weight (4Cs DRY weight is about 900kg, without liquids, battery and driver!!!). The 124 Spider weighs ready to go about 1,100 kg and actually has a limited slip diff AND a boot and a folding roof top mechanism that you can use. So if you think about it: Its pretty clear to me why the 124 Spider never got the 1.8 liter engine that was in the 4C, as the cars would have been too similar and the 4C couldnt have competed in the same price range as the Spider. BUT: The high selling price for the Abarth 124 Spider stayed in Europe that high as if it HAD the larger engine. They didnt sell because 1) No marketing at all (Marchionne wasnt a fan of it and believed it was a waste and he would sell anyway). Marchionne was a pure economist. He had no interest in cars whatsover, and he really tried to save every penny in the company. 2) Nobody knew that this car existed (except for people who were looking very close at the market) 3) Priced WAY too high - the Abarth sold in Germany for over 40.000 EUR (including tax). In comparison the Mazda MX-5 Sport (which had the LSD, the big break kit and the bilstein dampners) sold for UNDER 30k!!! Hundreds of cars were parked on industrial parking spaces in Europe, and they werent selling. Some cars stayed there over two years!!! In 2018 FCA gave huge amounts of discounts because the emission homoligation ran out in September 2018 for these models (EURO 6 was replaced for the norm EURO 6 temp D norm). I bought my Abarth 124 Spider for 25,990 EUR (including 19% tax!) in March 2019 - my car had a special permit for the homoligation thing until April 2019!!! Otherwise my car dealer would have been forced to register the car on the company. By the way: Outsourcing was also a theme with the engines from the Fiat/Abarth 124 Spider. The multiair unit was designed and constructed at Schaeffler in Germany. A large automotive supplier company. I wouldnt say that the 124 Spider looks better than the Miata by the way. It looks different. Thats always an individual thing. Everyone that bought a Miata has done the right thing and received a very good sports car. Our 124 Spiders are a bit special tho, as there are not many around. Which can also be complicated if you need spare parts after an accident. You are potentially waiting for months until they found the part in Hiroshima and send it overseas to your dealership. Not sure if the Abarths can keep up with the Miata 2.0 on track. The Miata is lighter and has received the better engine in 2018, with 10 more hp (180hp Miata compared to the 170 hp in the Abarth in Europe). But again, I dont believe we should overthink that. Its nuances at best. And I didnt buy the car to make record breaking attempts on the track (despite having a background of 10 years motorsports with historic cars). I bought it to drive beautiful mountain roads here in Europe. Especially in Southern France and Italy.

I see a lot of the older 124s for sale under $6000 and they appear to be in good shape. I’m not a mechanic and don’t have a place to learn. Is it easy to find a good mechanic for these cars? Are parts readily available? They are a cool looking car. I prefer when the bumpers have been removed. Doesn’t sound like a very fast car but perhaps a fun car-kind of like the Miata.

Well done and was pleasantly surprised to see ours in your video. Agreed Fiat marketing sucked, not just for the 124, but all Fiats. Wife refuses to give up her 500 pop cabrio that she dailies. Oddly enough I had intended to get a bug-eyed sprite when my wife convinced me to get our Spider.

Ha! Just realized today is 1:24: 23

'The 124 is 75% Japanese but 20% is Italian'? What's the other 5%....Nicaraguan?

Sounds like someone whacked the old ceo, so the new guy can push Ev...

Excellent! I just want to say thank you for the wonderful summary and celebration. I've got a 1980/81. I'll share this friends and family. I'd love to send in a pic of mine for whatever use you see fit. (If I may give a a little Italian pronunciation tip with no offense intended: ce is pronounced "chay," ci is pronounced "chee," so che is pronounced "kay," and chi is pronounced "key." An i is always a long ee sound. On a roll...good for FIAT owners to speak-a-da-part.... gl is pronounced like a spanish ll (double L), gn is pronounced like "ny"...gnocchi ..."nyo-key"! Double consonents just give a sort of pause or subtle extension: Bella has extended llllll, like saying BilL Landed. It's like saying one work that ends in that letter and then another that starts in that letter. Oh yeah, ge and gi has the g pronounced as a j and ghe and ghi have it pronounced as a hard g. Finally, ca, co, cu, ga, go, gu are all the hard c and hard g. -There's just something about that Italian vibe that I love. It's reflected in the 124, the language, the food...THAT'S Italian!) ...Now for the hand gestures 😛