124 Back Seat Reason and/or History?

[electrok]

I'm really curious about the back seat in these cars. I mean my 8 year old can't really sit without sprawling his legs across the entire back seat. were Italians really that much smaller in 1978? was there some kind of government regulation requiring a backseat so they made the smallest one possible? I anyone knows the reason or history please post I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd like to know.
thanks

Electrok

[amsiegel]

I am not sure how true this is but I was told the only way they could bring the car in was as a 4 seater. witha 4 seater it was considered a family car as a 2 seater it would have been consider a sports car. Maybe it was an insurance thing.

This might not be true since I think some of the later models did not have back seats. Maybe the rules changed in the later years.

[Kevin1]

The back seat is for the dog.

[Adam]

The back seat in mine is for my two dogs! They like trips in the Fiat to dairy queen for ice cream.

[kmead]

It was an insurance thing, not that these cars were ever anything like fast...

[electrok]

right on that clears it up! thx

[manoa matt]

The best part of the whole design is that Fiat considered to include an ash tray for those legless rear seat passengers.

[kmead]

Back then everyone smoked. Its like today where big gulp holders are an advertisement feature so cup holders are now everywhere, actually outnumbering the possible number of passengers.

[Fiatmonkey]

It was to do with European Luxury tax and insurance. They required a rear "seat" to exempt them from luxury taxes on sports cars. But, they didn't require FIAT state they were seats, which is why in the owners manual you will see it called a rear shelf/parcel shelf. Pretty clever of those Italians.

[DUCeditor]

You can call it a "seat." But it was meant to be stood on.



-don

[grittracing]

great looking dogs i would love to take Sam my Choc. lab but i fear he would jump at the 1st red light.lol

[DUCeditor]

i would love to take Sam my Choc. lab but i fear he would jump at the 1st red light.lol

I keep a short leash on Cody, and put it's hand loop around the base of the parking brake. (It could not activate the brake in that position)

Mind you he has never shown any temptation to jump out. His very first ride in the Spider, back when he was just five months old, was to an ice cream shop. Yum! Vanilla! In his mind I expect every drive will eventually end that way -- something, alas, no longer possible since he now has diabetes. In any case he seems to love being in the Spider as much as my wife and I do.

Good (and smart) doggie!

-don

[bobplyler]

I heard that they called it a "Package Shelf" because if they called it a seat, they would have needed to put in seat belts.

[azruss]

its actually for your clubs. . i am planning on installing a rug covered floor. would also like to install a dog belt system. trying to figure out how to keep dog claws of the paint job.

[Adam]

I put in a rear seat belt. The rear seat belt threads through my dogs car harnesses keeping them in the vehicle and does not allow enough movement to climb on the side of the car. Basically they can lie down, sit, or stand but beyond that the harness stops them.

Have yet to take a picture of my two riding in the back seat but here's a link to the harnesses
http://www.gear4dogs.com/catalogues/61/ ... ss_700.jpg