We houden allemaal van vierkante auto's want er is geen auto vierkanter dan de onze

(hoewel, de 960 II...)

Maar er zijn er natuurlijk meer. De meest zijn natuurlijk gemaakt in de jaren 70 en 80 maar er zijn natuurlijk meer bouwjaren

Dit is een pagina die een ode is aan "DE VIERKANTE AUTO"

allereerst natuurijk de Panda

geweldig basic hokje:

maar doordat de wielen op de hoeken staan is het best nog ruim

deze is natuurlijk over de top!

It was in its basic layout similar to the Escort MkII (both arch rivals, the two WRC frontrunners in the 1977-1980 period, both having a 2.0 16v engine, RWD and perfectly identical dimensions - except the Fiat being exactly 100mm longer)

en hij was vierkant natuurlijk...

Indeed the extensive use of glassfibre rather than steel did not make this car lighter than the Escort and the Fiat was actually down on power compared to the Escort! It couldn't have been the drivers either, because with Timo Mäkinen, Roger Clark, Björn Waldegaard & Hannu Mikkola Ford had undoubtadly the strongest driver line up at the time as well. OK, maybe it helped a little that Ford was only represented as a private team after winning the 1979 makes title - and 1980 was the strongest championship year for the Fiat 131. Fact however is that the Fiat 131 managed to rake in 18 WRC victories, all without a new evolution or homologation. Even until today, only the Citroën Xsara managed to beat that number of wins before at least a new evolution came in. It is weird, the Fiat 131 did never stand out in any single point, but the overall package was so good - the most permanent works drivers Markku Alen and Walter Röhrl aside - that people like Björn Waldegaard, Timo Salonen, Jean-Claude Andruet or Simo Lampinen felt honoured at the chance of driving one. Although curiously at least Fiat Group regulars Markku Alen and Bernard Darniche jumped at every possible chance to swap their Fiat 131 for the older Stratos, which however is more testimony at the superb cars the Fiat-Lancia Group turned out than making the 131 a bad choice.

hier nog een prachtig filmpje van de 131 Stradale