1987 Fiat Ritmo 130TC Abarth – Classified of the Week

What do you do if you want an ’80s hot hatch? You buy a Golf GTI right? Or perhaps a Peugeot 205 if you’re feeling particularly flush. Or maybe even a Renault 5 Turbo if forced induction is your Huckleberry. Any of these cars would be an excellent choice; friends would nod their heads in understated approval, family would wax lyrical about a “wise investment” and you would be content knowing that you’ve made a shrewd decision. The trouble is, you’d all be wrong. What you really should do is buy a much cooler Fiat Ritmo 130 TC Abarth instead.

The ’80s was a wonderful time for the small family runabout because everyone who was anyone was turning up the dial and creating spicy versions of these familial favourites. Alongside the Uno Turbo, Fiat’s first foray into the hot hatch market, the Ritmo (also known as the Strada) began life as just another rather mundane small car, albeit one that was a huge step forwards from the ageing 128, dragging Fiat into the ’80s. But when the Italians presented the Abarth 125 TC at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1981 they showed that the humble Ritmo really did have a decent set of gnashers behind its rather cute front end, a feature that was sadly ditched with the first revamp of the model.

Those pointy teeth came in the form of a modified version of the carburetted four-cylinder engine found in the standard Ritmo. Now a 2.0-litre twin cam version it was pushing out 125bhp, hence the nomenclature, enough to propel the little Fiat to 60mph from parked in 8.5seconds and on to a top whack of almost 120mph, well and truly earning it those hot hatch credentials.

The Fiat Ritmo was a successful car for the Italian auto maker and so a revised, second generation model was put out in ’82. These cars featured an updated body, lighter chassis and the reshuffling of some bits and pieces but retained the same general mechanical layout, brake, transmission and suspension set up of the previous cars, i.e. ventilated front discs and a five-speed ZF manual gearbox driving the front wheels. The second gen Abarth version arrived a year later, renamed as the 130TC due to an increase in power (can you guess the figure?) thanks to better cams and twin carbs replacing the single Weber on the first iteration cars and continued to be a crowd pleaser in terms of performance with improved top speed and 0-60 times; 122mph and 7.7seconds respectively. Tidy.

The Ritmo was revised a second time in ’85 but only saw cosmetic changes to the platform with the mechanicals remaining pretty much the same since the 125TC’s inception four years earlier. This would prove to be the car’s death knell despite it out-performing its rivals from the likes of VW, Vauxhall and Ford, as similar hot hatches were ahead of the curve with the likes of fuel injection and more advanced tech.

The car we have here is one of those third-gen Fiat Ritmo 130TC Abarth models, an’87 to be exact, and rather than present in the boring factory colour scheme, this particular car is resplendent in Repsol rally livery. This isn’t merely a show pony, however. Far from it. This 130TC fully backs up its motorsport inspired paint job because it is a fully rally-prepared, FIA approved racer, complete with Sassa roll bar and Sparco race seat. This Ritmo is primed and ready to hit the stages.

It currently resides in Italy in the care of classic car specialists Promotor Classic but should you wish to import this rare gem of a hot hatch into the UK it would be a simple process. Imagine turning up to a show in this brilliant little pocket rocket or thrashing it up a hill climb. You’d be the talk of the town and enjoy every single second of it.