Ever since I started spending so much time crawling around in the junkyard, about 40 years ago, one thing remains the same: stable supply Fiat 124 Sport Spiders and X1/9s scattered among the dullsville economic zones. These cars were brighter in the early 1980s, but they are still easy to find today in your locality Ewe Pullet. Of course, the current generation of Fiat 500 has been with us for a decade and so the days of the shiny junkyard Fiats returned it to us. But what about is different Fiat models sold here before the company left our harbor in 1982? I have found sometimel give up 128 and even a few out of 850, but rear-wheel drive Fiat sedans of the 1970s and 1980s became extinct. I did not expect to find a scrap yard 130, never, but this year I Yes managed to detect a pair 131s (known as Bravas during their last few years in North America). This is one of those cars, currently in a Denver yard.
Abnormal in the case of a Junkyard Gems, I know something about the history of this Brava. Back in 2019, the owner of a beloved Fiat repair shop passed away and all 75 Fiats (plus some Alfa Romeos and Lancias) in the store’s inventory have been auctioned, cheap. I’ve done my best to spread the word about these cars, and some have been rescued. You can see our subject in this photo above, waiting for its new home.
It has a lot of surface rust from lying on the outside for decades, but not a lot of really alarming corrosion. With a white Brava ’79 sedan nearby, it was purchased for several hundred dollars—at most—and drag out there.
Perhaps the buyer or people who bought those two Bravas planned to debunk them for a profit, or maybe the purpose was to fix them up and promote them. Two years later, they both passed their degrees vineyard just north of downtown Denver. My guess is that everyone in Front Range Colorado who wants an old Fiat sedan has had a half-dozen already, and 20 hours towing to places like Chicago or San Francisco is just too hard for Fiat fans out there. where come here and buy a car.
131 / Brava can be purchased new in the United States from model years 1976 to 1981. In 1979, the list price of a carbureted Brava sedan was $7,583 (about $30,860 in 2021 dollars). Much cheaper than its similar size Rivals of BMW 320i, priced at $11,810, though higher and more powerful at $8,129 Datsun 810 sedan must have stolen some revenue from both categories that year.
Speaking of power, this car has… some. 2.0 liters Fiat Twin Cam sounds great but it fits eighty six horses in 1979. The 320i made 110 hp that year, while the 810 had six in line and 120 horses from the Z-Car. However, the Brava’s excellent handling made up for its lackluster performance in the towing range.
If you want to be cool in 1979, your car needs a sunroof. That means leaks, but so what?
Five-speed manual still somewhat unusual in the late 1970s (four on the floor was the basic manual for most cars in the U.S. market at the time), and Brava had one. ONE GM A three-speed automatic is also available, but you can get that in a new Chevy Nova for about half the cost of the Brava (with the V8 as you go).
Rare, but not valuable. Next stop: Crusher.
It is a descendant of 1928’s Fiat 520!
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