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A bit of Fiat history in The Garage

November 5, 2010 by Gary Grant 12 Comments

Alongside the great Porsche discussion on the Canadian Motorsport History group on Yahoo, there has been another thread about some early racing Alfa’s in Ontario. Our old friend George Commachio’s Alfa was brought up, as was the Fiat 124 he raced prior to the Alfa.

The car was a late Sixties (George thought ’67 but wasn’t sure) Fiat 124 Special. Twin cam, 5 speed, 4 wheel discs. A neat machine that did indeed later become the Lada, but missing a cam, a gear and had drums in the back. George eventually sold his 124 to Lloyd Service who then raced the car. There is a tale that perhaps he had a major crash with the car in turn 3 at Mosport.

I can’t remember the name of the guy Lloyd sold the car to, but I think the next guy only raced it once. It was then sold to a guy named Neil Burns. In fact, we met because of the car, when as a teenager I poked my head into the shop where he kept it.

Years later, I convinced Neil to finish the car up and race it. I don’t recall any evidence of heavy crash damage at that time so I’m not sure about Lloyd crashing it. Neil was on a tight (ie none) budget and struggled to get the car to keep running without blowing head gaskets. Even then the car ran in the high 1:50’s.
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Black Russian

May 28, 2009 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

ladasamaraadrenalin-05

Long time readers of The Garage may recall that years ago I used to crew for a team that campaigned a 1967 Fiat 124 Special. The Italian Brick. Years later, that brick shed the twincam head, 5 speed and 4 wheel disc brakes and Fiat sold it to Russian automaker Lada. Same brick, but without the Italian fun factor.

Around the world, shops build some pretty cool stuff from some pretty pedestrian rides and Mother Russia it seems is no different. A shop called Gladkov Service has put together this Italian/Russian/Japanese combo that looks ready to take on the best the world has to offer. The recipe is as follows: 1/2 part each Russian & Italian body to 1 part Godzilla. Expand body sides with all steel flares. Mount rubber and spoiler to enhance Godzilla effect. Turn key and unleash the terror of twin turbo Skyline powered brick.

Wicked cool!

Gallery after the break
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