1970 Fiat 124 Spider 1600 (BS)
First Registered - 12/11/1970
Mileage - 70,094 km (43k miles)
One UK owner vehicle
Very good condition, usable classic Italian soft-top
Pampered with circa £10k spent since 2020
Early, European spec’ 124 Spider
Imported from Portugal in 2016
No rust, and no sign of welding anywhere
Description
Even for us, as classic-Italian-car specialists with a string of 124 restorations and customer projects behind us, finding a 124 Spider like this is an exciting event.
Source any genuine, low-mileage original European-spec’ 1608cc “BS” and you’re off to a pretty good start. Before the US federal restrictions throttled that glorious Lampredi twin-cam, pumped up the ride height like a steroid-addled poser on Muscle Beach and distracted from Pininfarina’s stylistic flourishes with their supersized bumpers: this is a purist’s 124 Spider.
An evolution of the original AS Spiders both in terms of design and performance, the BS is as elegant to drive as it is to look at. The 1.6-litre iteration of the famous engine might not be quite as rev-happy and sonorous as the earlier 1.4, but it’s still an absolute joy to encourage through the gears (particularly with the roof down). And anyone who would swipe right on the more common CS model and it’s rubberised fenders over a body-hugging Cromodora-bumpered 124 like this? Well, in our opinion, their eyesight would be as questionable as their petrol-head status.
This 1970 example was imported into the UK back in 2016 from Portugal. In fact, its sole UK owner actually purchased the car whilst out there and drove it all the way home - and loved every single inch of the journey. Since then he has clearly cherished it, as the receipt from renowned classic-car specialists MG Mecca from 2020 will attest. Here it was lavished with a full engine, suspension and brake rebuild - to the tune of just shy of £8,000. The result is an absolutely wonderful 124 Spider driving experience. It has been our genuine pleasure to work on this car for its owner over the last 18-months or so, MoT’ing it and ironing out the few remaining niggles.
As we hope the photos (we can also provide a full walk-around video, or organise a video-call in which the car will be shown in its entirety to any interested parties) will indicate; this is in very good condition indeed throughout. The pictures of the underside depict it in its current state - showing no sign of any past welding whatsoever. We have intentionally left it un-treated at the moment so its next owner can fully appreciate its condition. As soon as a sale is agreed we will gladly treat it to an anti-corrosion program in order to keep it as healthy as this.
Further to this we are also including a brand new MoT at the point of sale. The current certificate is due to expire on 13th April 2022, but as it was us who undertook that test we have absolutely no hesitancy in offering to renew this again. Of course, you could choose to register this 124 Spider as a historic vehicle, which means no further MoT would be mandatory and you would also benefit from £0 cost road fund license and exemption from any ULEZ charges.
When its previous owner mentioned he was considering moving this 124 Spider on, we immediately decided we had to have it. We’ve owned, inspected and worked on so many of these beautiful classic Fiats that we knew we’d struggle to find another quite like this without spending considerably more money. If you’re in the market for a 124 Spider, we think you’d have to do the same to find a better example than this.
