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In Spain in the summer of 78 we rented a car called a SEAT(say-aht), which seemed very similar to my friends FIAT 124(or 128 I can't recall) at the time
it was a bare bones car allright, red with a 4 on the floor, a noisy beast.
was this an equivalent of the FIAT like the 80's Chev Nova/Toyota Corolla was?
Don't don't really know that particular model, but Seat is a primarily domestic market brand in Spain, owned and operated by VAG (VW), they are available on the market in most of Europe, but their main market is the domestic one.
They're known for making very unreliable rustbuckets that are pretty fun to drive, but slightly outdated on the technology front.
VW's started to make changes now though, improving brand quality and reputation, and though they're not really comparable with their German and French counterparts (Plus Ford) (small hatchbacks usually or smaller sedans) they are getting close. The previous generation Audi A4 was very recently re-badged and had some minor cosmetic changes and is sold as a Seat Exeo, again, primarily to capture more market shares in Spain, where the A4 didn't meet the expected sales numbers.
I was called the seat 131 or fiat 131
The Fiat 131 employed construction techniques and technologies typical of its day. The body was a monocoque type, made of conventional steel. Designed and styled on the typical three-box design, with distinct boxes for the engine compartment, passenger compartment, and boot.
The major mechanical components were also conventional and contemporary, but with some notable advances. In basic terms, the 131 employs a front engine, rear-wheel drive layout, whereby the engine is mounted in the front of the car, longitudinally in a north-south orientation. The gearbox is mounted directly behind the engine, and a tubular propeller shaft, under the transmission "tunnel", transmits the drive to a solid live rear axle.
The engines were all straight-4 types, derived from the engines used in the outgoing 124 range, with a cast ironcylinder block and aluminium alloycylinder head, either pushrod with chain drive camshaft or double (DOHC) overhead camshaft, driven by a single rubber/kevlar toothed timing belt. Fuel supply was via a single Weber ADF twin-chokecarburettor, fed from a trunk mounted steel fuel tank. Traditional contact breakerignition systems were used, usually with Marellidistributors.
The suspension system utilised fully independent front suspension, with MacPherson struts, track control arms and anti-roll bar. The rear suspension was quite advanced (when using a solid live rear axle), in that the rear axle was controlled by double unequal length trailing arms and a panhard rod, with coil springs and direct acting dampers. This design proved far superior to many of its contemporaries, especially with vehicle stability and handling.
The braking system was also typical; the front brakes were disc brakes, using a solid iron disc and a single-piston sliding caliper. The rears were drum brakes, utilising leading and trailing shoe design operated by a dual piston fixed slave cylinder. They were operated hydraulically, with a tandem master cylinder assisted by a vacuum servo using two separate circuits. A rear mounted load sensing valve varied the bias of effort applied to the rear brakes, dependent on the load being carried (and also the pitch dynamics caused by braking effort and road levels). A centrally located floor mounted handbrake operated on the rears using bowden cables.
In Spain in the summer of 78 we rented a car called a SEAT(say-aht), which seemed very similar to my friends FIAT 124(or 128 I can't recall) at the time
it was a bare bones car allright, red with a 4 on the floor, a noisy beast.
was this an equivalent of the FIAT like the 80's Chev Nova/Toyota Corolla was?
Seat was originally a Spanish partner of Fiat, selling rebadged Fiats they built in Spain. Fiat pulled out in '81 and VW bought them. Some of their stuff is kind of cool, as they went racing with a few models (like the Ibiza and Leon). In Europe, it's VW's bottom range, just below Skoda.
i didn't realize they were still around. and looking at the 1st generation car was a bit tough because it reminded me of the day i had food/water poisoning in Spain and was riding in the car back to the hotel
I wonder what year our car was in 78--do you think it was as old as a 74 or was it more current?
In 1977 while on leave from my Infantry unit in Germany, my German girlfriend and I, took a holiday in Spain to Valencia. On the Mediterranean coast and we rented a 1977 Seat 131, the most uncomfortable underpowered little piece of sh.....ummm never mind. But we had a blast in it and it took us everywhere we asked it to, even up goat paths it was geared so low it pulled like a truck.When we first got it, it had less than 5,000km on it when we turned it in 3 weeks later, it had almost 15,000km on the clock. If I remember correctly the fee for the car was about 1,000 peseta a day ($10) and 10 peseta a km. for the whole 3 weeks and 6,000 miles we paid the grand sum of $800 USD well worth it. Here's an old pic, taken on the coastal road near Mojacar on the way to Gibraltar
The only reason we didn't rent the Mercedes is they were like $100.00 a day, and on a 2nd Lieutenant's pay that was just a bit to much.
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thanks for the posts
