FIAT 125 S / Speciale (1969)

1969 Fiat 125 – first series – prepared for racing with Touring Competition specs: this car was sold new in Sanremo, driven along the twisty roads of the Sanremo rally. It was registered the 12th February 1969 and still has the original title and plates. It is one of the funnies cars of this kind I’ve ever driven, thanks to the great twin-cam 1600 “Lampredi” engine with double Weber 40 carbs, sport exhaust and a great 5 speed gearbox with limited slip diff. The sporty suspension setup and – obviously – the rear wheel drive complete the pleasant driving experience.

It was carefully prepared into the workshop where the driver Orlando Dall’Ava used to take care of his ex Ceccato team Fiat 125S; the livery is the same of the car driven by Pino Ceccato together with Helmut Eisendle at the 1970 Rally d’Italia Sanremo-Sestriere while the mechanical is prepared according to period Touring Competition (Group 2) specs complete of very rare components and quality details. After being used on regularity races up to later 2000s, the car has been fully overhauled in 2018.

The restoration (documented with photos) involved the engine, fully rebuilt with contemporary upgrades, and the body, repainted and reinforced. Due to the many original components and the good conditions of the car when it was purchased, the current owner decided to preserve as much as possibile, more focused on raids and long run regularities more than rallies: so you can still find the original “Ceccato” seat belts, the steering wheel, the sport purpose dashboard with additional gauges and the “noisy but original” limited slip differential specific of this model.

Together with photos and documents regarding the restoration, the car comes with two sets of original wheels with tyres (one set with studded tires on steel rims, one with summer tires on 5,5” Cromodora rims); currently the car mounts a set of winter tires. As a donor car, we give a second Fiat 125 (second series).

​First green “libretto” with original license plates, ASI certificate and ACI Sport passport, mandatory for regularity races. This wonderful and performing 125 can be seen in Bologna by appointment. Further details on www.gulfblue.it

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HISTORICAL TIPS

The fiat 125 was designed by Dante Giacosa, based on the chassis of the 1500S, with 1.4 and 1.6 engines, rear wheel drive and a good comfort even though the leaf springs on the rear. In mid-67 thanks to the good sales of this model Fiat decided to launch the rival of the Alfa Romeo Giulia with a powerful 1.6 twin-cam engine: the 125 Special was introduced in November 1968 and costed 1.390.000 Lira, 90.000 more than the “normal” and 200.000 Lira less than the Giulia Super. The 125 Special weighted around 1000kgs and had 100hp with special camshafts and exhaust manifolds, bigger brakes and the 5-speed gearbox incredibly precise. In 1970 the sales were still very good so Fiat introduced the restyling of the 125, called in Italy “Gommone” because of the rubber protections on the bumpers. Two years later, in 1972, Fiat introduced the next model, the 132.

 RACING HISTORY

In 1968 the standard version of the 125 was driven by some privateers as Pino Ceccato (Fiat dealer in Schio), then by Cristiano Rattazzi and Luca Cordero di Montezemolo. Fiat noticed the good results and discreetly, starting from 1969, supported these drivers on rallies with a “private team”, officially not linked to the Technical Assistance Department; that year the 125 took many good results as the 3rd overall place at the 84 hours of Nurburgring driven by Rattazzi, Montezemolo, Ceccato and the Trofeo Rally CSAI driven by Ceccato. Many other well known italian rally drivers as Smania, Sonda and Bisulli drove to success their 125 prepared with Touring or Touring Competition specs. This has been the beginning of the long life of Fiat Group on rallies, ended with the Delta Integrale in 1991 (which had a development of the 125 engine, the twin-cam designd by Lampredi). In 1973, for a short period, the 124 Special T replaced the Fiat 125 Special Group 2: Squadra Corse FIAT was focused on the World Makes Rally Championship with the more suitable, powerful and faster Abarth 124 Spider Group 4. Even though, the 125 Special was used on national and european rallies till late 70’s, exactly 1977 when the homologation expired.