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The Fiat 124 Sport Spider is a convertible sports car marketed by Fiat for model years 1966-1985. Designed by and manufactured at the Italian carrozzeria Pininfarina factory, the monocoque, front-engine, rear-drive Sport Spider debuted at the November 1966 Turin Auto Show with styling by Tom Tjaarda.
Fiat later marketed the car as the Spider 2000 (1979-1982). After being retired by FIAT, Pininfarina continued the production of the model under his own brand as Pininfarina Spider Azzura for the North American market and Pininfarina Spidereuropa for the European market for three more years, from 1983 until 1985.
Honoring its legacy, in 2015 a successor of the Fiat 124 Spider was presented at the LA Auto Show.
The Fiat 124 Sport Spider was designed by Pininfarina and styled in-house by Tom Tjaarda. The 124 Sport Spider, 124 Sport Coupé, and 124 sedan share much of their running gear – and, in the case of the coupé, platforms. The Sports Spider uses a shorter platform along with a shorter wheelbase, and in contrast to the Pininfarina styled and manufactured spider, Fiat designed and manufactured the coupé in-house.
The succession of build series of the 124 was designated internally as AS, BS, BS1, CS, and CSA. AS models had a torque tube transmitting power to the rear wheels; this crack-prone design was replaced by a trailing-arm rear axle with the second series (BS) during 1969 — which was manufactured alongside the AS for the first six months of 1970. The early AS cars also have smaller taillights, while the BS receives a mesh grille and black-rimmed gauges inside. In July 1970 the 1.6-liter BS1 appeared; this model is recognizable by its twin humps on the bonnet and bumper overriders. The CS series Spider arrived during 1972. Also in 1972, a sports version of the Spider debuted, required for type-approval of its rally version, and was marketed as 124 CSA (C-Spider-Abarth). The vehicle has a capacity of 128 hp. In three years, Fiat manufactured less than 1000 CSA models, which were intended for sale to individual clients.
The car was manufactured by Fiat (with a Pininfarina body) in Turin until October 1981, when Pininfarina took over manufacture in their San Giorgio Canavese plant. Serial numbers started over from zero, while the eleventh digit in the Vehicle Identification Number was switched from an 8 to a 5. The Fiat Spider 2000 ended manufacture in July 1982, and after the Italian summer holidays, production of Pininfarina-badged cars commenced in its place.
