A fine ’60s Fiat 1100 & the Company’s 100 years in Ireland | Season 3 – Episode 9
Wheels Mar 01, 2023
Fiat Motors (Ireland) Limited was founded in Dublin nearly 100 years ago. It imported complete vehicles and later assembled a range of cars. One of those models in the 1960’s was the Fiat 1100 – a popular saloon in Ireland in its day. We saw a fine example in Kildare last year which we will cover in this post as well as some of Fiat’s history in Ireland.
Italian motor giant Fiat has had a presence in Ireland for nearly 100 years, at first through an importer and then through a wholly owned subsidiary, Fiat Auto Ireland. In the pre-War they sold 508 Balilla – a compact car designed and developed by Fiat in 1932. In the 1950’s Fiat sold the popular 500 Topolino. In the 60s and 70s, decades when the large car assembly plants located around Dublin employed thousands of workers directly and indirectly, Fiat was one of the biggest.
The company operated an assembly plant in Chapelizod before expanding and moving to Ballyfermot, where Fiat 127s and 128s were produced. Sales and administration offices also moved to the Kylemore Road and there was a company owned workshop and paint-shop in Grand Canal Street. It’s hard to know exactly how many people in total worked for Fiat over the years, but the figure of 600 is probably conservative. In its hay day Fiat assembled 600, 850, 1100, 124, 127 and 128 models at different times.
A rarer and sturdier model from Fiat was the 1100, or ‘Mille cento’ in its native Italian. It was a popular saloon here Ireland in its day. Well-specified on its launch with an overhead-valve engine, four-speed gearbox a coil-sprung independent front suspension. In Ireland, the 1100 was assembled by Henderson’s in Dublin, and later by Fiat Ireland. The 1100D we saw at Shamrock Vintage & Machine Annual Show in Kildare in May last year was the third generation of the model and was assembled by Fiat Ireland.
It was sold new at the Sweeney & Forte Fiat dealership in 1963, and was taken off the road in 1976 with only 50,000 miles on the clock. The present owner was offered the car in 2005 and it had been untouched, for almost thirty years. In 2010/ 2011 it was restored to an extremely high standard using as many of its factory components as possible.
Fiat had a major presence in Ireland in the 1970s and 1980s – quoting some Fiat enthusiasts “There wouldn’t be a picture of a shopping centre car park anywhere in Ireland from that era that wouldn’t have plenty of Fiats in it. The brand was a huge seller backing the day. Fiat Ireland squandered their market share advantage!” The 1100 would continue in production until 1970, with over a million built.
Sources of information
Fiat 1100 club Bangalore
Gerry Moore
Stellantis.com
TeamBHP.com
Wikipedia.org
