The 124 Sports Coupe represents a “car” in its purest form. It is a car which in the words of Liam Gallagher “does what exactly it says on the tin”. 

It’s the Michael Arteta of cars, so perfect and proportionate it that it almost doesn’t look real. It seems so familiar yet unique at the same time. You prolly have seen a handful in the background of beautiful films, which is where it lives in my brain. Or perhaps parked beside a race track or hill climb stage, with stunning men and women in stellar shades onlooking; girls in bikini tops patiently waiting for the day’s detour to end so they can get back to the coast.

It’s a car for the everyman of a forgotten time and place, where driving and car ownership was not assumed, rather a valued privilege.  

Inside there is nothing not-Italian about it; Veglia gauges and Magneti Marelli components fill your field of view. This car has a truly memorable essence. It’s no wonder the bulldog rally winning 131 was akin to this underrated machine, and no wonder the cabriolet/spider version was so popular. Unfortunately, many of these have been given back to earth citing natural causes but for the ones that have lasted, a hat tip is in order.

I had mine less than a year,  but there was never a dull moment. Though rusty and badly painted white, everything worked. I took it on road trips and once drove it through a tropical storm to visit relatives and all it did was bond me closer to it.  Some can still be had at a relative bargain and if you can place yourself in the right frame of mind for it, there might not be a more suitable all around classic coupe, if for nothing else than the way it can make you feel.