The Fiat 128 is a small family car which was manufactured and marketed by Fiat from 1969 to 1985. The bodystyles were a two- or four-door sedan, three- or five-door station wagon as well as two- or three-door coupé.
With engineering by Dante Giacosa and engine design by Aurelio Lampredi, Fiat promoted in its advertising that mechanical features consumed only 20% of the vehicle's volume. over three million were ultimately manufactured.
In 2012 automotive journalist Jamie Kitman called the 128 a "pioneer of the small cars we drive today."
Development
thumb|left|[[Umberto Agnelli and Dante Giacosa receiving the 1970 European Car of the Year at the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam, 5 February 1970.]]
With engineering by Dante Giacosa and engine design by Aurelio Lampredi,
Fiat promoted in its advertising that Enzo Ferrari drove a 128 as his personal vehicle." In all, 2,776,000 sedans and wagons were built in Italy, plus 330,800 coupés and 3Ps.
Front drive innovation
Front-wheel drive had previously been introduced to small, inexpensive cars by BMC, firstly with the Mini in 1959 and then with the larger 1100/1300 series in 1962. During the mid-1960s, Fiat set about designing a new car to compete with the latter. The BMC design of Alec Issigonis had the transmission and engine sharing a single oil sump — despite disparate lubricating requirements — and located the engine's radiator at the side of the engine, away from the flow of fresh air and drawing heated rather than cool air over the engine. The layout often required the engine to be removed to service the clutch.
The Fiat 128's arrangement had numerous differences. As engineered by Dante Giacosa, it featured a transverse-mounted engine with unequal-length drive shafts and an innovative compact clutch release mechanism (designed by Ettore Cordiano) — an arrangement which Fiat had strategically tested on a previous production model for a full five years, the Primula from its less market-critical subsidiary, Autobianchi. The layout enabled the engine and gearbox to be located side by side without sharing lubricating fluid while orienting an electrically controlled cooling fan toward fresh air flow. By using the Primula as a test-bed, Fiat was able to sufficiently resolve the layout's disadvantages, including uneven side-to-side power transmission, uneven tire wear and potential torque steer, the tendency for the power of the engine alone to steer the car under heavy acceleration.
The compact and efficient layout — a transversely-mounted engine with transmission mounted beside the engine driving the front wheels through an offset final-drive and unequal-length driveshafts — subsequently became common with competitors
The layout was sufficiently flexible that Fiat reconfigured the 128 drive-train as a mid-engined layout for the Fiat X1/9.
Design
The all new 1.1 litre Fiat SOHC engine, engineered by noted engine designer Aurelio Lampredi, featured an iron block mated to an aluminum head along with a belt-driven single overhead camshaft.
The 128 was styled similarly to the 124 and 125 and featured rack-and-pinion steering, Pirelli 145R13 Cinturato or 145R13 Michelin ZX radial tyres, front disc brakes, independent rear suspension with a transverse leaf spring, and a strut-type front suspension with integral anti-roll bar. The 128 went on sale on the UK market around the same time as the Rootes Group's Hillman Avenger, and shortly before the Vauxhall Viva was transformed from its second generation to its third generation. The market leader in this sector at the time was British Leyland's 1100 and 1300 range. Sales of imported cars in the UK were in the first stages of a sharp rise in their market share at the beginning of the 1970s, with Fiat and likes of Datsun, Renault and Volkswagen being particularly successful.
Variants
128 Rally
The Fiat 128 Rally was a sporty, 1.3-litre-engined version of the 128 two-door saloon, introduced at the 41st Geneva Motor Show in March 1971 and produced up to 1974. However, the model, uniquely in the 4-door body style, was introduced to the South African market alongside the 2-door coupé from 1974 onward, as a locally-built model until its replacement in 1978 with the updated "South Africa-only" Rally model based on the 128 second series sedan. The 1978 South African update was based on the 4-door "Comfort" model (2nd series) but equipped with a twin choke carburettor and a redesigned inlet manifold to give it more power than the standard models, recording 53.4 KW (73 HP) power. In the interior, the model featured "sporty" bucket front seats with head restraints. Color-coordinated stripping accentuated the front seats as part of the "sporty" flair. Externally, the model came with three-color "waistline" stripes on either side of the vehicle, rectangular halogen spotlights fitted on the front bumper, front and boot spoilers, wider tires (165/70 SR3), and in three body colors, namely, bright red, yellow, and white.
thumb|left|Quadruple round tail lamps were a peculiarity of the 128 Rally. This car is equipped with the factory-option [[alloy wheels.]]
Compared to the regular 128's 1,116 cc four-cylinder engine, the Rally's type 128 AR engine had been bored out 6 mm to 86 mm—while keeping the 55.5 mm stroke—for a total displacement of .
At the October 1972 update of the 128 model range, the Rally received new upholstery (leatherette with cloth seat centres) and a black plastic protection to the front bumper tube.