Welcome back! We’re working our way through the alphabet of unusual and sometimes undesirable cars, and we’ve made our way to the letter F. One of today’s choices had Enzo Ferrari’s seal of approval; the other might be the world’s newest automotive orphan. Either way, you’d have to really love them to want them.
On Friday, we looked at an over-the-top boutique brand, and a joint-venture coupe from the heyday of sport compacts. A lot of you worried that the rust on that Eagle Talon is far more advanced than it looks in the photos, a fear I share. I’d imagine that thing has one or two more good winters in it until you’re shopping for a rust-free bodyshell in the desert to swap that drivetrain into. But that didn’t stop the Talon from taking a comfortable win.
I like the Talon, but not for that price. For three grand, sure, it would be fun until the tin-worm kills it. But I think I’d have a lot more fun with the Excalibur. It is absolutely not a car to be taken seriously, and that makes it wonderful. Expensive, yes, but worth it.
Yeah, I know, today’s cars are expensive too. I’ll throw some more cheap ones in as we go along. Today, though, we’re spending a bit more of your fake internet money. They’re both terrible ideas, but they both have good stories to tell. Here we go.
1977 Fiat 128 – $17,995
Engine/drivetrain: 1.1-liter overhead cam inline 4, four-speed manual, FWD
Location: Wilmington, DE
Odometer reading: 24,000 miles
Operational status: I get the feeling it has been sitting for a while
If you know my writing from Opposite Lock, or the old Drivetribe days, you already know about my affection for the Fiat 128. I grew up with one of these boxy little wonders, and I have wanted one of my own ever since. Sadly, they’re rust-prone and can be mechanically fragile if not treated well, so finding a good one now, more than forty years after the last one was sold in America, is not easy. That’s why this super-clean example for sale just two hours north of me caught my eye.
If you’re one of the many car enthusiasts who resent the fact that so many cars are front-wheel-drive, you have this car, and an Italian engineer named Dante Giacosta, to blame. Fiat wasn’t the first to use a transverse engine and FWD – that was BMC with the Mini – but it was the first to place a transverse engine and a separate transaxle side-by-side. Its engine is a short-stroke, high-revving four-cylinder, designed by that master of Italian engines, Aurelio Lampredi. As far as I know, all 128s were four-speed manuals, and geared pretty short – highway cruising is a noisy affair. This one hasn’t seen many highway miles, or many miles at all, for that matter; its odometer sits just shy of 24,000. I think it has been sitting for a while. The seller says the fuel system was just replaced, and it’s sitting in a garage on jackstands, which makes me think they’re in the process of reviving it.
At such low mileage, you’d expect it to be a time capsule, and it is. Fiat built almost three million 128s, and this is probably one of the nicest ones left that isn’t a special version like the Rally or the 3P. It’s a little dirty inside, but everything is intact, and looks like it would clean up well. It comes with service manuals and a bunch of parts to get you started, including the all-important timing belt; it’s a 30,000 mile change interval on these.
More importantly, and absolutely miraculously, it is one hundred percent rust-free. My dad’s 128 had significant rust on it after two Chicago winters. This one, looking like it just rolled off the ship back in the Carter years, is astonishing. It’s a lot of money; this car retailed for $2,998 in 1977, which would be $15,785 today, meaning it’s priced more than new even counting for inflation. But where are you going to find another one in this condition? Believe me when I say that if I had eighteen grand to blow, I would buy this car in a heartbeat, and I don’t care who thinks I’m weird for that.
2023 Fisker Ocean One – $18,995
Motor/drivetrain: Two 349 kw AC electric motors, single-speed gear reduction, AWD
Location: Woodinville, WA
Odometer reading: 13,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives great
But I get that Italian economy cars from the 1970s aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, so I also wanted to show you something a bit more modern. Fisker is, of course, no more, having gone bankrupt last year, making this Ocean possibly an even riskier proposition than the Fiat. This electric SUV was produced for only two years, by Magna Steyr in Austria, and the availability of future service and repair for it is very much in question.
And that’s a shame, because it’s kind of a neat car. I’ve seen two Oceans locally (three, if you count the Atlantic – sorry, I couldn’t resist), both in this blue, one glossy and one sort of a satin finish. They’re good-looking cars, and decent performers, from what I understand. It has two motors and all-wheel-drive and has a 360 mile range – plenty for pretty much anything except cross-country trips. This one is for sale up near Seattle, and has only 13,000 miles on it.
This is the One model, which is the fancy version. It has power everything, cameras everywhere, and all sorts of driving aids – and a big-ass touchscreen to control it all. That’s not my preferred way of doing things, and I know I’m not the only one, but that’s how this car does it, for better or worse. At least the seats look comfortable.
It’s in good condition, which you would expect for a car so new, but it looks like half the photos in the ad were taken before it was detailed. I’m not sure why the seller would do that, unless they were just in a hurry to get the ad up, and then added more photos later. I think, if you’re looking for a nice electric SUV to drive daily, this probably isn’t the car for you, but if you are an enthusiast who wants to get into something that is going to be a classic simply because of the story behind it, this might be an interesting choice.
So really what we have here are two collector’s items: one historically important economy car of which very few examples survive, and one artifact from a failed startup in the early years of the EV revolution. You wouldn’t want to rely on either one for daily transportation, but they’re both just going to get more rare as time goes on. I already know which one I would choose; how about you?
I’m going to stick with the analog choice here.
My software hacking skills ended at Fortran IV, and I don’t see any punch card readers in that Ocean.
My timing light still works…if I can only find it…
Fiat even tho it is really too expensive, but I will say it is a shame about Fisker, living in NYC I saw 5 of them over the weekend alone being used as livery cabs. They are a nice looking EV CUV, had they made it I might have considered one in a few years!
I love 128 and had one. But 18K is stupidly high.
Argentine 128s had a 5MT from 1980 till 1988, and you can have one in excellent condition with the 1.5 motor and aircon and have it shipped for less than half that money. Or the IAVA street racing versions.
https://www.arcar.org/fiat-128-super-europa-120279
https://auto.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-2026857730-fiat-128-15-se-_JM#polycard_client=search-nordic&position=11&search_layout=grid&type=item&tracking_id=53f22664-4267-43bb-a446-b97f89ecb90d
I went with the Fiat because you can actually get parts for it. HOWEVER…let’s forget about money for a moment. What if you bought the Fisker and swapped in some other electric car powertrain and controls? Could you do a (ugh) Tesla swap in it? Or, electrons be damned, convert it to an ICE powertrain? Would it ever be worth it?
LS-swap! (and let the world burn)
^This^
Yes great idea because taking a diamond car with platinum wheels makes a the cost as big as a whale.
Hidey hidey hidey ho….
The Fiat is a delightful classic that may be hard to find parts for in the US but will be easy enough to keep going and enjoy with some patience and elbow grease (and probably occasional shipping from Italy). The Fisker will probably be an expensive brick within 3 years.
“F” is for “Fugeddaboutit” today.
The 128 isn’t worth considering only because of the atrocious price. I like these little Fiats — in fact, I like almost all earlier Fiats — and a rust-free example would be a delight. Just not for 18 Large.
The Fisker could well brick itself before you get it home. And even if it doesn’t, it will be far easier to find parts for the Fiat than the Fisker.
So bring on the “G” cars. I’ll just say “No F-ing way” and leave it there.
First off, got to admit, I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t get Ford V. Ferrari today. But at least these are interesting, if not compelling choices.
The Fiat will be a little easier to keep running for years to come, as long as you don’t wreck it. I would be surprised if the Ocean gets enough of a cult following for some grassroots battery replacements in the near future. Add all the buggy electronics that could brick the car and you could easily be left with an $18K yard sculpture.
I was also hoping for Ford vs. Ferrari, but that little Fiat time capsule makes up for it. Half the fun of this series is guessing the matchups.
100% agree. Which makes tomorrow’s match up particularly intriguing. My wish is for a Gumpert Apollo vs a Goggomobil. Might be hard to find an example of either for sale, though.
Ford v Ferrari. Brilliant! Never entered my head until you said it. And apparently not Mark’s either, but he could have gone full alliteration with Ford Flex v Ferrari F-40 or any other of the many F- models.
I always thought the Flex was pretty homely, but it would be far more likely to get you home than end up on a flatbed tow truck.
The Fiat can be a car and stay a car again relatively easy. The Fisker is soon to be a very expensive paper weight, and it will stay that way.
Won’t vote on this one… they’re both going to be money traps with hard to source replacement parts. If the 128 was something on the order of $2-3k, I would consider it. But $18k for a Fiat that sold for maybe $4k when new is just levels of insanity that haven’t yet been defined.
I would bask in the glory of the Ocean, until the inevitable “oh crap” moment when the orphan car becomes unrepairable. At which point I’d rip the powertrain out of it and graft it into something old (early ’70s?), without all of the techy stuff – just batteries, motor, and some sort of throttle.
After that, I’d probably come to my senses and graft in the heat pump, so it could be more than just a fair weather car.
As for the rest of the fancy modern high tech screens and such, it would be off to the landfill.
“F” is for fascinating. Two cars on the opposite end of the technology spectrum but united in the near-impossibility of sourcing replacement parts in the future.
They’ll both break, and soon, but at least the Fiat has a prayer of someone knowing how to work on it.
By modern standards, breathtakingly simple to work on.
Lube the wheels. Feed the hamsters.
In 1973, the 128 had the second best mileage, losing only to the more aerodynamic Lotus Europa.
I had the 1.3 L considerably quicker.
With timing tuned for premium, I got close to 50 mpg in the mountains.
Muscular hamsters.
Proving you can likely find a group of auto enthusiasts around darn near anything heard a small community of ev enthusiasts has built up around the Fiskars too.
I 100 percent agree both will break and when the Fiskar breaks you had better be comfortable with electronics and software. So if you are a programmer or software QA… and / or a diy ev enthusiast… a now orphaned Fiskar could be a decent deal.
Biggest challenge I would expect to be parts, especially special parts that are normally common like windshields.
So an old record player over a Microsoft Zune. I’ll take the overpriced record player.
Fiat might be an 8-track.
More appropriate. In my defense I’ve only had one cup of coffee.
As much as I loved my FAIT 128 Rallye that price is nuts. It was yellow with black stripes & scorpions and had the worst torque steer you could imagine. Only had it a couple of years and sold it to a high school kid who did not know when the oil light came on he had to put oil in it. Blew the engine and it went for scrap 🙁
I love how especially cursed today’s showdown is…
I’m having a flashback to 1973 – reading about a carb kit for the 128 and imagining driving it around the country. But no, Dad had to buy the Vega.
I drove Fiats all over the country, while people told me how fragile they are.
I watched their cars die early, more often than not.
The Fiat price is bonkers, and the Fisker is horrible, so it’s a coin toss today.
Before today, I couldn’t tell you a single car that I wouldn’t pick over a 50 year old Italuan economy car priced in five figures.
And yet, here we are.
I do not want to vote for either. Also is that a rats/squirrel nest in the bottom left of the second picture of the Fiat in the engine bay? If that Fiat was half the price I would think about it but for 18k? I can think of much better and more fun ways to spend that money. The Fisker on the other hand I would just buy and use for that Rivian trade in deal (if that is allowed and not a first owners type deal) if not available maybe you could trade it in somewhere for something that will have parts availability and reliability.
As I understand it, the Rivian trade-in deal is only for the original owner that financed through Fisker (which was Chase on the backend, just like Rivian’s financing arm).
What initially appears to be a rats/squirrel nest might actually be spray expanding foam for sealing at the firewall for the hoses, etc, which does not bode well for the overall assessment of the Fiat’s mechanical fitness.
Oh man. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted a neither option as bad as today! I love the Fiat, but at no more than half that price. I’d have fun with the Fisker, but I’d never pay for it. So I voted Fiat because there is a price at which that would be interesting. There’s not a price that would make me consider the Fisker.
My thoughts exactly, though said better than I could. Love the Fiat, but the price is utter madness. The Fisker is simply a lost cause, so the Fiat wins by default, but as presented I don’t want to vote for either.
Both are overpriced for what they are, but the 128 will likely only go up in value, especially once it’s restored whereas the Fisker, due to the inability to get replacement parts, is already on life support even if it doesn’t know it.
No Ford LTD vs. Ferrari GTO?
Firebird vs. Fiero?
Freestyle vs. Freestar?
Freelander vs. Firedome?
Fairlane, Fury, Five Hundred, Fox, Audi 4000/5000.
A make is different from a model
Mark said he’d go either way.
If the Fisker is not found to be free, it is a failure and I fret the fate falls to the fabled Fiat.
Fantastic.
Personally I wouldn’t spend that kind of money on either. Although I do have those future dollars reserved for another really dumb purchase of a clean example of an underpowered deathtrap that I grew up with, most of which have rusted away. So I understand where you’re coming from, so the Fiat gets my vote.
Also the Fiat will probably last and be appreciated a lot longer, as the Ocean is one electrical gremlin away from the crusher.
When the car
Hits your eye
Like a big
Pizza Pie
That’s a Fiat…