Italian automaker Fiat had been established for years before trying its hand in the sports-car market. As with many manufacturers during the 1960s, Fiat used one of their existing models as the basis for their first sports-car offering, resulting in the Fiat 1200.
In this article, you will learn about Fiat’s sports-car history, from the Pinin Farina-styled 1200 to the wildly successful Fiat 124 Sports Coupe and Spider -- both worked off the success of existing Fiat sedans, producing sleek, sporty additions to the lineup.
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Eventually, however, Fiat had to pull out of the sports-car game, first by halting production on its sports cars in North America, and later in Europe as well. Fiats had always carried a reputation for being somewhat unreliable, which eventually forced them out of the market. Still, Fiat was and remains a high-quality carmaker.
Let's begin our exploration of Fiat on the next page with the 1200 and 1500.