23 replies to this topic

[colinsays]

Hi all :

 

I am looking for info and photos about the Fiat 126 used by Embassy F1 Team between 1973 and 1975.

In 1973 the Fiat dealer in Edinburgh decided for advertising to give the team Embassy Hill a Brand new Fiat 126, the car was to be used as Paddock car and for moving from hotels to circuits

I read one that Damon Hill said in an interview “The team shuttle was a tiny Fiat 126. I remember in Barcelona going from the hotel to the track at Montjuich Park with about 10 people squeezed in!!!”

The photo above is precisely from Montjuich 73

 

 

Does anyone has more infoor photos about it?

I saw that a similar car was going to be auctiones, but was only a bad recreation and has nothing to be with the real one

[StanBarrett2]

I am reworking The Lola T370 Embassy cutaway, and while googlin for details found the 126 in a photo. Google Ëmbassy Hill F1

 

6th row down 4th photo across

 

it probably is the recreation of the real thing

 

macoran

Edited by StanBarrett2, 25 August 2016 - 13:43.

[bradbury west]

Interesting to see that they used a FIAT tractor unit
Roger Lund

[colinsays]

I found this one, but is the "replica" one.

Note has no original wheels and they have removed the ugly plastic bumpers used in modern versions

Edited by colinsays, 26 August 2016 - 08:50.

[Glengavel]

I am reworking The Lola T370 Embassy cutaway, and while googlin for details found the 126 in a photo. Google Ëmbassy Hill F1

 

6th row down 4th photo across

 

it probably is the recreation of the real thing

 

macoran

 

 I imagine the original would have been thrashed to within an inch of its life and unceremoniously disposed of when the team was wound up.

[colinsays]

Original reg. number was RMM 441L, perhaps someone around here can check if this registration is alive....

[Allan Lupton]

Original reg. number was RMM 441L, perhaps someone around here can check if this registration is alive....

not known to DVLA

[colinsays]

Thanks!!! Well at least mine survives 

Edited by colinsays, 26 August 2016 - 09:22.

[Vitesse2]

Odd that a Fiat dealer in Edinburgh would provide a car with a North London registration. Although since that was Graham's stomping ground, perhaps they just supplied it from the nearest?

 

Interesting to see that they used a FIAT tractor unit
Roger Lund

Maybe part of the same deal and presumably LHD? Which would be more convenient for flogging around sur le continent.

 

There is also a Ford non-artic transporter around in Embassy Hill colours - maybe that dates back to the Shadow year and perhaps was originally used in F2? In addition to the lurid orange Jaegermeister livery, Graham's F2 Brabham was also sponsored by Tate of Leeds - Ford dealers.

[colinsays]

I saw an old advert published in the GLASGOW HERALD at 6th may of 1974 that shows Graham itself making publicity for a Fiat 126. 

Perhaps someone can publish it here as you can view former Glasgow Herald publications (my PC does not worh properly)

[Vitesse2]

There is also a Ford non-artic transporter around in Embassy Hill colours - maybe that dates back to the Shadow year and perhaps was originally used in F2? In addition to the lurid orange Jaegermeister livery, Graham's F2 Brabham was also sponsored by Tate of Leeds - Ford dealers.

Hmm, M plate, first registered 1st September 1973.

[colinsays]

Hmm, M plate, first registered 1st September 1973.

So my info is correct..."In 1973 the Fiat dealer in Edinburgh decided for advertising to give the team Embassy Hill a Brand new Fiat 126, the car was to be used as Paddock car and for moving from hotels to circuits

[Vitesse2]

The L plate on the car could indicate any date between August 1st 1972 and July 31st 1973 as first registration date.

 

I can't find the picture you mention in that issue of the Herald though. I also tried June 5th in case you'd originally seen it as a numeric date in US format. And the same dates for 1973. Nothing.

[Charlieman]

Odd that a Fiat dealer in Edinburgh would provide a car with a North London registration. Although since that was Graham's stomping ground, perhaps they just supplied it from the nearest?

The dealer had to find a white one in order to avoid a full respray. In the 1970s, a white Fiat (or lots of other popular cars) wouldn't have looked attractive after two or three years, which knowledgable buyers would have appreciated. So your suggestion that the dealer found a suitable model by inter dealer exchange makes sense. Assuming, of course, that Fiat sold 126s in white.

[colinsays]

The L plate on the car could indicate any date between August 1st 1972 and July 31st 1973 as first registration date.

 

I can't find the picture you mention in that issue of the Herald though. I also tried June 5th in case you'd originally seen it as a numeric date in US format. And the same dates for 1973. Nothing.

Did you seek 6th May of 1974? I am pretty sure of the advert but my link does not work.

[Vitesse2]

Did you seek 6th May of 1974? I am pretty sure of the advert but my link does not work.

Yes. May 6th and June 5th in both 1973 and 1974.

 

https://news.google....VawPscysC&hl=en

[Vitesse2]

Assuming, of course, that Fiat sold 126s in white.

[Charlieman]

That's a modern repaint Vitesse2 -- some overspray around the front lights, rust on front suspension and registration plate bracket, battered front bumper but new tyres. Can anyone read the tax disc? And it doesn't look like Arctic White or the version used for the Hill car. Nice looking restoration, of course. DVLA believes that the car exists and is off road.

[BRG]

..some overspray around the front lights, rust on front suspension and registration plate bracket, battered front bumper but new tyres. 

That sounds very much like a brand new 1974 FIAT!

[ernieb]

Brands Hatch GP 1974

 

 

[colinsays]

Hi Vitesse2. Please look Page 24 below,of the newspaper 6th may 1974 to see advert.
Waoooow ernieb. Very nice pic

[Vitesse2]

Need new glasses ...

 

[Vitesse2]

 

Fiat Economy

Graham Hill is many things besides being a racing driver these days and you may have seen him on television running out of petrol in a Fiat 126 in Preston Park, Brighton (not on a double-yellow, I hope Graham?) after he had attempted to drive there from London on a gallon of fuel. The run was supervised and scrutineered by the RAC and filmed by TV, and in the ITV commercial you heard Hill praising the little car's handling and gearbox, and saw it apparently accelerating past larger vehicles as no 126 has done before or since. The RAC gave the consumption as 58.8 m.p.g.—and I hope they checked the mileometer for accuracy, because some years ago I did a similar test of a reconditioned Fiat Topolino which Mayfair Motors Ltd. claimed would give 50 m.p.g., only to find that on actual distance covered it was doing about 48. Certainly Graham Hill must have driven with a heavier foot than Jack Hill of Reading, who got 63.4 m.p.g. at an average of 27.34 m.p.g. from a Fiat 126, also under RAC observation, as we reported in the May isue.

Motor Sport, July 1974 - road test by WB

 

http://www.motorspor...53/fiat-economy

[colinsays]

Another intresting interview with Damon Hill where he referes to the Fiat 126

http://www.motorspor...unch-damon-hill