In 2005 David & Juliet took a trip to Royal Oak, Michigan to purchase this 128 from a Fiat enthusiast. He had purchased it from its original owner at least a decade before that. Five years passed while the Fiat sat in our warehouse waiting for someone who might appreciate it’s unique potential.

Then in 2010 this little 128 courted its current owner, from halfway across the country, through a few photographs on our website. The current owner had purchased a new 128 back in 1977 and had many fond memories of the car. In an effort to re-create the experience and the relationship that had begun with another vehicle decades ago our discussion turned to restoring this charming but unlikely candidate.

The vehicle was completely stripped, rotisserie mounted and restored in 2011 and the beginning of 2012. Almost all of the hardware that was removed from the car as it was disassembled was used to put the car back together. Each nut, bolt, clip and screw was cleaned, painted, catalogued and re-used due to the fact that most of the parts were no longer available for this vehicle. The interior was completely restored, and again, due to the unavailability of seat and door panel replacement pieces, it was custom fabricated. The owner decided to change the color of the interior slightly from its original light tan to butterscotch, which we think looks beautiful!

Our four year-old daughter, Isabella, named the car “Little Jack” and we felt that the Italian translation was an appropriate nickname to use while Giacchino was under our roof.

In the beginning of July 2012 Giacchino was loaded onto a transporter and swept away, arriving to greet his new family on the East Coast on the Fourth of July. We are left to imagine a Hollywood happy ending to a star-crossed love story, complete with fireworks exploding in the night sky as the credits roll.