Fiat Strada commercial

Classic ad from from 1979.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Fiat
• Strada
• commercial
• advert
• 1979

[stevieg2087]

I seem to remember Not The Nine O'Clock News taking the piss out of this one, adding a clip of one crashing at the end and 'Driven By Italians' on-screen too.

[olliedann]

I remember that too. I wonder if anyone has posted that clip?

[rynmcgrory]

Hairs are standing up on my neck at the end of that.

[hyperlexis]

The joke was always "The car built by Robots ..and driven by idiots."

My father had one from I think 1979. I remember taking long road trips in it. So many problems though -- clutch cable snapping, radiator leak, terrible vapor lock in summer. Having to use start fluid or gasoline down carb to get it started. And the rust! My Gd! It must have been in pieces within 5 years. It's like they weren't treated at all. One door almost rusted off. Today's FIATs are 1000% better, fortunately.

[swampvox]

This advert was the brainchild of one Mike Banks, a close friend of my father. I seem to recall that it was far longer than all the other adverts and cost Fiat a fortune when it premièred during the break in the middle of the ITN news at 10pm. Could be wrong - I was 14 yrs old at the time and made it my business to be as unimpressed as possible by anything my dad considered cool!

[tigerbob2185]

@stevieg2087 They did a spoof where everyone in the factory was called 'Bob'. The gag was "Hand built by Roberts"

[tigerbob2185]

@Ordre33 Can't remember his name, but it was performed by a tenor from the ENO. Recorded specially for the commercial. The music is Rossini, from the Barber of Seville. It's edited to 2 minutes. Original is over twice as long. One of the better exampled of editing of classical music for commercial use. Usually the music gets butchered.

[tigerbob2185]

@col2006ie Actually, it was filmed largely while the factory was closed (due to a strike about the new technology).

[FGalaxie]

They were probably more reliable and lasted longer than Leyland cars of the era.

[FGalaxie]

@bikersupermoto and they used footage of a vaxhaull, so it wa poms doing the driving.

Sort of like how their car industry all ended up in foreign hands.

[FGalaxie]

@stevieg2087 And it was a Vauxhall. so it was Poms driving it, and crashing it. haha

[fixinggrace]

FIAT used Soviet steel to build these cars which wasn't up to snuff at all. I had one in 1986 that rotted so bad the doors literally fell apart. Didn't help we lived in the rust belt either. Otherwise, these were great cars. I literally used $2 worth of gasoline to get me back and forth to work every week.

[veggiemoto]

I had a 1979 Strada and it was a fun car to drive compared to American made econoboxes, and got better mileage. I never had a bit of trouble with it but the finish was not able to withstand east coast winters and road salt very well. For the era it was great although the Rabbit had greater durability.

[SIRSMITH08]

@SIRSMITH08 its ok ive got it thxs