SEAT 131 two-door, the coupe version that never existed

In 2024, it will be 50 years since the arrival on the market Fiat 131In Spain, it would not go on sale until a year later, when it was launched. SEAT 131, initially with a four-door body. In 1976, the family car appeared, marketed as a 5-door, with no further variants. Along the way, it was left behind what could have been the SEAT 131 two-door, which did not reach our market.

Returning to Italy, the Fiat 131 appeared on the market with two body variants: two doors -called two-door coupe in some catalogues- and four doors. Regarding the engines, it would initially have 1.297 cm³ engines.³ and 1.585 cm³While The available finishes were Mirafiori and Mirafiori Special, also known simply as the Special. Just one year later, the station wagon arrived, which was called the Panorama.

Although sales of the 131 started out only so-so, partly due to the Oil Crisis, the truth is that it eventually picked up and finally placed more than one and a half million cars on the marketHe also won the World Rally Championship for manufacturers in 1977, 1978 and 1980 and the World Rally Championship for drivers in 1978 (Markku Alén) and 1980 (Walter Rohrl) thanks to the versions AbarthThese were developed specifically on the two-door body.

THE SEAT 131

As we have already advanced, The 131 arrived in Spain in 1975, that is, in 2025 it will be 50 years old. It did so with only the four-door body, although it kept the new features that the Italian model brought. Among them, we must mention the McPherson front suspension or a new rack and pinion steering. In fact, it was the last SEAT saloon in a classic configuration, that is, with a front engine and rear wheel drive.

Just a year later, The family body called 5 Doors was launched in our market, just as SEAT had done with the 124 and 1430 estates that it replaced. Without going into great detail, we will say that the 131 had three series that came to equip the 1430, 1600, 1800, 1919 and 2000 gasoline engines and the XNUMX, XNUMX, XNUMX, XNUMX and XNUMX gasoline engines. diesel Perkins 1800 and Sofim 2500.

It should be noted that, on the four-door body, Some certainly sporty versions were launched, like the CLX 1800 and CLX 2000, the latter in two variants. The SEAT 131 It remained in production until 1984, when it was assembled 412.948 units, a more than remarkable figure for a vehicle like this, especially if we consider that it was on sale during a very complicated time.

THE TWO-DOOR SEAT 131 THAT WAS NOT

Let's now focus on the topic of this article, which is none other than the version of the 131 that did not reach Spain. And that is that SEAT The two-door body was never manufactured, similar to the four-door version, but with or without rear doors. In fact, neither the wheelbase, which remained 2.490 millimetres, nor the overall length of the car had changed. What was different were the front doors, which had become larger.

If you look at the images, The silhouette of the 131 did not change at all., the rear doors were simply removed, keeping the rest of the bodywork. In addition, the rear air vent was removed and a decoration was added to the lower part of the rear pillar. That was the end of the changes, as even the rear part remained unchanged.

And why was there no two-door SEAT 131? The brand probably considered that the market situation did not require it. The 124 Sport Coupé 1800 was discontinued precisely when the brand's new saloon appeared after selling less than 13.000 units, so everything indicated that The situation of the national market had completely changed..

Furthermore, SEAT was going to launch just one year later the "Black mouth" which, although it was in another segment, served as an alternative for those who wanted to own a coupé. In fact, due to Fiat's imposition, it would end up having two sports cars in its range with the 128As things stood, the coupé version of the SEAT 131 was never produced.

DON’T LEAVE YET…

…there is more. The Fiat 131 had another body that SEAT did not transfer to its production line, although in this case, it is logical to a certain extent. We are talking about the peculiar 131 Marengo, the van version of the model, but built on the two-door body, so It was actually a three-door.

That is, instead of taking the family as a basis, A station wagon derivative was made on the coupe, with only the front seats and a 2500 diesel engine. Since then, Fiat began to call the van versions Marengo. For obvious reasons, SEAT should not have even considered making this curious version in Spain.

Images of Fiat and Car Brochure Addict.