06 Jul 01
Seat will not thank us for the reminder that this car - a warmed-over cheapo Fiat for the proletariat - is its heritage. Although it looked like a 127 it was actually a re-skinned, rear-engined 850: the last UK-registered 850s had been built in Spain anyway, where Seat had been building cast-off Fiats since the early '50s. The 850 was passable transport in the '60s, but by the mid '70s, few people were convinced by rear-engined cars, even if they were sold at bargain-basement prices through mainstream Fiat dealerships.
The 133 lasted only a year in the UK, bought by a handful of skinflints who wouldn't even stretch to the price of a Mini. In fact, most of the Brits who experienced them did so in rentacars on the Costa del Sol, grateful, no doubt, that they were handing the heap back after two noisy weeks. The 133 sold well in Spain, but during the Franco era people didn't have much choice - it was a Seat, or take the donkey.
