UK’s rarest cars: the innovative Fiat 127 is almost extinct after 50 years
The 127 was one of the UK’s best-selling imported cars of the 70s and early 80s, but today there are only 103 still being used on the road
16 April 2021 • 5:25pm
Every successful subsequent small car followed the Fiat s front-wheel drive formula. This is a Series 1 car produced from 1971 to 1977
Fifty years ago this month, Fiat startled many of its more traditionally-minded customers. For the past 16 years, the motoring public associated the company’s small cars with rear-mounted engines, but here was a front-wheel-drive saloon with a transversely mounted engine driving the front wheels. The 127 set the modern supermini template, with the Volkswagen Polo, Ford Fiesta and Austin Metro following in its wake.