STEVE COLE'S 124 COUPE VINTAGE RACER

Well, it all started so innocently. We had just moved to a new home with, and for the first time in my life, a three-car garage, so I could have a hobby car. One night while searching the internet I found a Lancia Zagato (in the street rides section) and ended up buying it. Neat car but now I needed an Italian mechanic for the hard stuff. So after a few months of searching I found Robert and Cindy Rodgers at Shadetree Enginetrics and took the Lancia out for some work. Unfortunately what I found was a dedicated racer who worked on cars to feed his hobby and I got hooked along the way!

I had done ¼ mile with big blocks in high school and auto crossed an MGB in college and just watched racing since then so when about two years ago my wife heard that I wanted to race cars again it really took her by surprise. My only sport at the time was golf. But, after 26 years of marriage she has learned to not get too settled and off I went.

The car is a 1971 Fiat 124 Coupe of which I am the fourth owner. It has been around Dallas, TX its whole life and my mechanic once owned it and restored it after which it won a show. When I got it, the car had been sitting for a few years in an airport hangar with the motor disassembled and a little rust in the doors. The first thing I did was strip the car completely and send it to the painter for rust repair and a new red paint job. The car was originally blue and if it would have been a different blue it would have stayed this color, as I really did not want to change it. But after much discussion I went with the red.

Now I did not want just a racecar but a show car that just made a wrong turn and got on the track. This was a hard concept for me to get across to everyone who worked on the car as it would take quite a bit of conversation to get my point across. You want it to look good, go fast and it’s a Fiat? This was a common question. But Robert understood and with his and Cindy’s help we have accomplished most of the goals established for the car.

The car is street legal, in its current form, but over time I see it getting further away from this idea as I have turned out to be not a bad driver in the vintage series that I race in and the need for more speed is creeping into the equation. A few details of the car follow:

• 11 to 1 compression
• Custom built headers
• Dual weber 40 IDF’s on a waffleback manifold
• Abarth ignition controller with MSD rev limiter and shift light
• 131 transmission
• Stock brakes, as required, with stainless lines, carbon pads, new booster and a front/rear bias controller
• ATL fuel cell mounted on diamond plate aluminum
• Momo race seat and steering wheel
• Full roll cage
• All the suspension components were removed stripped and painted with all new bushings and joints. A-arms were stiffened.
• Lowering springs were installed along with a solid panhard rod.
• All hoses, weather-stripping and other expendables were replaced.
• Complete new interior. All of the original insulation was removed and replaced with a lighter variety for weight savings.

The list of items still to complete is a limited slip differential, a spare lower ratio rear end gear set, solid mounted front end sway bar, a screen grill to protect the oil cooler and the list just keeps growing. I guess it will never really be complete.

The final product has met all my expectations and in my first year of racing I have become competitive in the B-Sedan class I run in. At my first race the response that I wanted from the car was given while I was out on the track. My mechanic was leaning on the fence and next to him two guys were watching the race when one of them said “Hey, look at that BMW out there.” The other guy looked at him and said “That isn’t a BMW, it’s an Alfa.” Robert looked over and said “No, that is a Fiat.” The interested fellow racers and spectators don’t stop for the whole weekend usually. Now this is FUN!

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