The Fiat 128 - a Technical Trailblazer

If you were to look under the surface of any modern small car today, you would probably encounter many innovative features that might not warrant a second glance–such as a transversely-mounted engine with an alloy cylinder head and an overhead camshaft driven by a toothed rubber belt, and more than likely a gearbox mounted beside the engine driving the front wheels through an offset final-drive and unequal-length driveshafts. You would also be more than likely to find front disc brakes, rack-and-pinion steering, and MacPherson strut front and semi-independent rear suspension.

In fact, you would be hard pressed today to call any of these features innovative. Sensible, maybe even obvious. It would be hard to imagine the components of a small car arranged any other way without it seeming unusual.

But what started it all? Which car was the first to incorporate all these features, and in doing so, blaze the trail that the vast majority of small cars have followed to this day?

The answer is the Fiat 128. Launched in 1969, at a time when front-wheel drive was still yet to be adopted by most major car manufacturers, the 128 was a technical marvel. It was as thrilling and rewarding to drive as its engineering and packaging effieciency was to behold, and it paved the way for the modern small car.

Citroën were the first manufacturer to bring front-wheel drive to the mass-market, with their 1934 Traction Avant, and they spread the front-wheel drive butter even further with the knife that was the 1948 2CV. Their cars have remained exclusively front-driven ever since.

Then in 1959 came the Mini, a car which at a single stroke re-wrote the book on small car engineering and efficiency. Sure, it pioneered the transverse 'east-west' engine mounting and it handled like a go-kart; it transcended class boundaries, and the later 'hot' Cooper S was a veritable giant-killer on the stages of Monte Carlo; but its rubber cone suspension rode so stiff that if you drove over a coin, you could tell whether it was heads or tails. The gearbox was mounted in the sump and lubricated by engine oil; and the engine itself was cooled by a radiator which was mounted to the side, rather than the front of the engine, away from the flow of fresh air. Paradoxically, a cooling fan drew already heated air from over the engine through the radiator and expelled it into the nearside wheelarch through large vent openings.

Following on from the inevitable success of the Mini, many European manufacturers began seriously developing their own, albeit somewhat larger, front-wheel drive cars–Saab had been exclusively front-wheel drive since their inception in 1947, and launched their 96 in 1960. Renault came to the party with their R4 of 1961 (regarded by many as the first true hatchback, and which took the 2CV's utilitarian minimalistic ethos and ran with it), Lancia followed the larger 1961 Flavia with the pretty Fulvia coupé in 1963, and Peugeot arrived with their 204 of 1965. Renault fired again with the remarkable R16 in 1965. Even BMC adopted the Mini mechanicals for the slightly larger 1100 and Triumph joined in 1965 with the Michelotti-styled 1300 (which, curiously, had evolved via the 1500 into the rear-drive Dolomite by 1972).

The Fiat's offset transaxle and unequal length driveshafts furrowed more than a few brows and brought about the question of uneven power transmission, tyre wear and 'torque steer'–the tendency for the power of the engine alone to steer the car under heavy acceleration. Fiat's subsidiary Autobianchi had débuted this layout earlier on the tidy Primula of 1964, and given its positive reception, then decided to develop the concept further.

But by 1969, when Fiat launched the brilliant 128, the front-wheel drive engineering gremlins had largely been sorted out. Fiat had done their homework, and given the 128's modest power output this was rarely a problem anyway, even during spirited driving.

Thus, the 128 became the first front-wheel drive Fiat, and went on to win the coveted 1970 European Car of the Year award, beating the Renault 12 and its Fiat stablemate the Autobianchi A112. This was the second such award for Fiat, but by no means the last. Fiat has so far held the title on no less than nine occasions–a record.

The 128's brilliance was down to none other than one Dante Giacosa–Fiat's engineering manager and father of the company's most significant models–from the small but mighty 500 'Topolino' from 1936 to the world's first 'people-mover', the innovative 1956 Multipla. Working with engine designer Aurelio Lampredi, Giacosa developed a small but efficiently packaged car which would seat four comfortably and possess that typical Italian 'x-factor' - an unquantifiable combination of style, elegance, passion and enthusiasm.

The 1.1 litre engine was an all-new design which featured a cast-iron block with four cylinders, an aluminium reverse-flow cylinder head incorporating a belt-driven overhead camshaft, and an oversquare bore. A short stroke made for easy breathing and a rev-happy character. This engine drove the front wheels directly through a four-speed transmission, simply bolted to the end of the engine.

Power loss through friction was minimal; the input shaft was–via a clutch–straight off the end of the flywheel; and the synchronisers were all on the output shaft–which rotated at a lower speed and therefore prolonged their service life. A gear on the end of the output shaft drove the final drive unit so there were only two meshing points between the clutch and the differential.

The 128 used MacPherson struts on the front suspension, liberating plenty of room under the bonnet for other uses, and allowed the front-wheel drive geometry to work its magic, making short work of scrub radii and steering kick-back. At the rear was the typical Fiat transverse leaf spring (used on the front of earlier Fiats such as the 600 and 500) which also acted as an integrated anti-roll bar.

Volkswagen were probably the first to take note. The Beetle and its relatives had helped line Wolfsburg's pockets for two decades by the time the 128 was released. The writing was on the wall for the Beetle, though. In the presence of falling sales, and cars like the 128, the 1971 Alfasud the smaller Fiat 127 from 1971, and even the new wave of Japanese products such as the Honda Civic, Volkswagen had to think fast.

Having built nothing but rear-engined air-cooled Beetle spin-offs since before the war, Volkswagen–having absorbed Auto Union in 1964 (and with it, Audi)–were able to use their new-found knowledge of front-wheel drive to engineer a new wave of designs at the beginning of the 1970s. First of these was the 1973 Passat, then the following year the Scirocco and Golf, and finally the tiny Polo of 1975. The Golf, of course, would go on to create the biggest impact and become by far the most pivotal model from this period. It was everything the Beetle was not–a water–cooled transverse-engine driving the front wheels, and all cloaked in a brilliantly-styled body by Giugiaro.

The Golf alone single-handedly reversed Volkswagen's flagging fortunes, and through six generations is still in production thirty-seven years later. It has gone on to become the third best-selling car in history.

In 1972 Fiat released the X1/9 - a mid-engined sports car which saw the 128's drivetrain placed behind the driver and powering the rear wheels, and clothed in a smart wedge-shaped body by Bertone.

Many other manufacturers were late to the front-wheel drive party. Ford didn't adopt the setup until the Fiesta of 1976. Toyota waited until the 1978 Tercel. Opel/Vauxhall held out until 1979 with the Kadett, and Mazda didn't release a front-driver until the 1980 Familia/323 .Holden even kept front-wheel drive from us until the 1982 Camira.

It was Giacosa and Lampredi who, by bringing all the features and innovations together in the one crisply styled car, achieved a breakthrough and set the scene for all to follow.

The Fiat 128 - one of my favourites.