Today’s Nice Price or No Dice 131 is a homage to Fiat’s series-dominating rally cars of the late 1970s. Let’s see if this rare opportunity comes at a winning price.
The storied automotive name Maserati has been sullied over the years by the likes of the Chrysler TC and some Cambiocorsa-equipped Quattroportes that are borderline un-drivable. Seemingly, one of the most unloved of the marque’s offerings is the ’80s Biturbo. However, that doesn’t seem wholly deserved based on the incredibly nice-looking 1989 Biturbo Spyder we considered yesterday. As lovely as it appeared, though, too few of you could muster as much enthusiasm for the car’s $24,500 asking price as the seller. Ultimately, that went down in a sizable 86 percent No Dice loss.
Seeing as we had a red Italian car with an interesting back story just yesterday, I think we should change the pace today and look at… checks notes, a red Italian car with an interesting back story. Dangit!
First and foremost, however, we need to stipulate that this 1976 Fiat 131 Mirafiori Abarth Rally is not the real deal. It is, instead, a replica homage to the 400 cars homologated to allow Fiat to go rally racing. Built by Fiat in conjunction with Bertone and Abarth, the street cars offered plastic fenders, boot lids, and bonnets and lost their bumpers. Abarth fitted the cars with a twin-cam engine featuring two twin-choke Weber side-draught carbs, and as the WRC regulations stipulated that street and competition cars had to use the same transmission, they all had non-synchro five-speeds. The Abarth Rally was one of the most successful WRC contenders of the late 1970s, with the competition cars earning Fiat the Manufacturers’ Championship in 1977, 1978, and 1980.
This homage car has all the plastic goodies to make it look the part, but it’s mostly standard 131 under all that, lacking the real deal’s bigger brakes, up-rated suspension, and coming with a less-taxing to drive fully-synchromesh edition of the Fiat five-speed.
It does have a better-performing engine under the hood. The original 1.8-liter carbureted engine has been given the heave-ho, replaced by a later fuel-injected 2.0. That, the seller notes, means it won’t pass the California smog test’s visual inspection (California requires smog tests on all cars going back to 1976) and hence can’t be registered in the Golden State despite it being shown wearing the State’s plates, albeit with out of date tags.
Other issues include some poor panel fitment, flaking of the flat black paint on the grille and window trim, and the knowledge that it used to be 1970s orange, as evidenced by the wheel arches under the hood. Also, the air intake on the hood, which was originally placed to feed the carbs, has no real purpose on this car as the fuel-injected engine has its intake on the opposite side. Still, it looks pretty sweet.
Things look much better in the cabin. The vinyl upholstery looks to be in surprisingly good condition, as does the dash and sweet Abarth-badged three-spoke steering wheel. The shifter is typical Fiat-long, and unlike the factory-homologated cars, this one has armrests and door pockets.
According to the seller, the car’s alloys are “Abarth style” but lack any sort of center cap badging. They do wear new Falken tires, though. The seller claims the car “Starts, runs, and handles very well.” The quoted 4,582 odometer reading is probably not 100 percent the whole story, but that’s all we get. Tantilizingly, there also seems to be a sizable collection of extra parts that come with the car in the boot.
Another plus is that the 131’s clean title likely means it wasn’t built as a post-wreck Frankencar but as a quirky homage to the pre-Quattro era of rally racing. The asking price for that experience is $19,900.
According to the seller, real Abarth Rally editions trade in the six-figure range. They also note that the price tag excludes tax and DMV fees despite the fact that the inability to pass a smog inspection means the title can’t be transferred in California, where the car is presently located.
However, we won’t let a little thing like government regulations get in our way. What is your take on this odd Italian and that $19,900 asking price? Does that seem like a fair price for an homage rally car? Or is that way too much to fake it until you can make it?
You decide!
San Francisco Bay Area, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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