Fiat 128 Rally range and history 

Vehicle technical details
Manufacturer:	Fiat
Production:	1971  to 1975
Class:	Sports car
Designer:	Fiat Style Center
Top speed:	150  km / h
Body and chassis
Body styles:	Sedan
Doors:	2 door
Chassis/body:	metal body
Engine and Powertrain
Drive:	front
Engine Type:	4-cylinder
Displacement:	1.3 litre
Engine location:	front
Engine power:	67 hp
Transmission:	4-speed
Brakes:	front disc / rear drum
Tyres:	145HR x 13
Weights and Dimensions
Wheelbase:	2448 mm
Length:	3886  mm
Width:	1590 mm
Height:	1390 mm
Weight:	820  k g

The Fiat 128 rally is a sports car , derived from the sedan model , built by the Turin-based company between 1971 and 1974 .

History

The Fiat 128 Rally was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1971 and, despite the role of surrogate and temporary product that had been assigned to it, it achieved a flattering sales success, also in relation to the affordable price and good performance.

Already in the prototype production phase of the 128 Coupé model , the FIAT management felt that the truly sporting characteristics of the new car would pose some difficulties in contrasting the new "family sports cars" proposed by European competitors who offered interpretations of racing character, but equipped with structure devoted to quiet driving and sedan comfort .In order not to leave uncovered that slice of the market that the new coupe would not have been able to satisfy, the decision was taken to support a special version of the sedan, with greater sporting characteristics.

This solution made it possible to fully test more powerful engines, planned for the second series of the 128 , whose experimentation had begun in the last months of 1969 . Furthermore, it would have helped to balance the large production gap between the bodies of the four-door version and those of the two-door version, which was not very appreciated by the national market.

The substantial differences of the Rally, compared to the 128 sedan from which it derives, are very few. Except for the engine and for the use of the brake booster, the most obvious improvements concern the light clusters, the external moldings and the full-bodied interior redoing, equipped with enveloping and reclinable seats with adjustable headrests, rear windows with a compass opening, new coatings , central satellite holder on the floor. The dashboard , identical to that of the sedan, was embellished with an instrumentation made more complete by the addition of the rev counter, the oil pressure gauge and the water thermometer.

The exterior is made more aggressive by lateral adhesive strips, by the front bumper that acts as support for the "rally-like" supplementary lights, by four circular rear lights (actually inherited from the 850 Coupé ) and by the possibility of obtaining the wheel rims in alloy.

At the end of 1972 a slight restyling was presented which involved some details of the interiors and exteriors: internally new optional upholstery solutions were proposed which included the central part of the seat in red or ocher cloth (depending on the external color) with the sides always in faux black leather, the chromed rings mounted around the additional instrumentation also disappeared; on the outside of the front bumper a black colored gasket was installed as well as on the contour of the "rally" plates mounted on the front hood and on the rear trunk lid.Performance, although not exaggeratedly different from the derivation model, underwent a moderate increase compared to a limited increase in fuel consumption.

The Fiat 128 Rally was put up for sale with a limited choice of optional accessories, including  alarm, glass with heated rear window,front seat belts , windshield with built-in radio antenna and magnesium alloy wheels .

The range featured stripes along the side sills ,colors is composed of white, red-orange, arctic gray and yellow, none of which metallic, with black leatherette interiors , as an alternative to imitation leather and red or ocher cloth in the central seat band Rally badging on the bonnet and boot lid.