CLEMENTE EUROPEAN MOTORS' FIAT 124 SEDAN

Affectionately known as the "Apple Box", our 124 Sedan replaced my dad's 850 Coupe in 1968 and in the hands of Norm Matovich it started a Fiat craze in the Pacific Northwest. Norm actually admitted once that he had almost more fun in this car than in the all conquering 124 Coupe. This was a car that should probably never have done what it did - win. In truth, it should not have even competed. It was a car of rather humble, utilitarian origins built to race at a time when the dominant cars in SCCA and CASC sedan classes were the Coopers, Lotus Cortinas, Alfa GTVs, and the then newly developped Datsun 510. What was my dad thinking by putting this thing on the track? Well, when I asked him that question, he said it was pretty simple; he was thinking "Those poor guys, they won't even know what hit them..." He was right. This boxy little car hit the track like a hurricane. It was ugly, raucious, unrefined and it didn't care. Yeah, I say it didn't care because the car had a bit of a personality and a real attitude about it, and one could sum up that attitude in two words... "KILL 510". In fact it did just that. The car was an axe wielding barbarian in a field of small sedans and it took no prisoners.

What's so special about it? Well, nothing really. It was a basic box with a simple cage, lowered springs made it as stiff as a block of wood, it had widened steel wheels, average tires for the time and no special gearing. What it did have was a decent little motor. As I said above, it should never even have competed; not with the motor it had.  You see, being competitors, dad and Norm were always looking for an edge so when they first brought the car out they registered it in B-Sedan and were issued a log book for a Fiat 125. Pure bullshitting genius. The 125 was never imported to North America and the 124 Sedan only came with a 1400 pushrod motor. Somehow, they convinced the powers of the time that the car was a 125 which of course ran a Fiat twincam. he-he! Well, put a 1438 with pistons, cams and a pair of IDFs in this little box and results... They didn't know what hit them!

As it was such a little brute, the car's success underlined just how good a driver Norm Matovich really was. The selection of images on this page are from Westwood and Seattle where car and driver were best known for their exploits. At Westwood in particular, the forecasts were pretty simple; if it wasn't raining it was going to rain. And it was in the rain that Norm's abilities in the car were stellar. Now in fairness, there were some pretty decent Datsuns running at the time and in dry conditions they were always tough to beat. But once it got wet

Norm would dispose of them very effectively. In fact, part of Norm's preparatory routine involved his famous rain dance It got to a point where that forecast was reworded around the paddock; "Rain today? Matovich will win"