Nose holes

[FiatBen]

OK, so maybe sometimes I just have too much time to think, especially when driving. Be that as it may, as I left out of the driveway this afternoon to go to a job, I passed my '82 that is coming apart:

I had already been pondering for the past few days as to when and why the radiator got two openings from the original single opening my '69s exhibit. But then I'm looking at the other holes. OK, I know the round ones accomodate the bumper shocks (because I just took the bumper off a few days ago), but what are those square ones for? All I could remember is that the little wires to the signals in the bumper came thru there. I know we didn't need great big holes for those two wires! So I started conjecturing: European models without bumpers needing a place for lights? brake vents? some design change/flaw? .......
Any theories?
Any real knowledge?
Anyone care??

[Curly]

In my opinion they served no purpose at all and spoilt the look of the front end, so I filled them in

[spiderrey]

I only deal with early cars. But this is a guess. Could be the holes are there for clearance when the tube bumper gets compressed? Arent the running lights in that location on the tube bumper?>

[Danno]

I'm pretty sure they are either there to cool off the brakes racecar style, or they are there to piss us off.

Seriously, I don't know the real purpose. I can tell you, however, that my friend Tony makes a sweet light setup that fits that spot and combined with Mark's light in the bumper hole it could be pretty sweet.

[burlybryan]

Also probably not their function, but the holes are handy for accessing the bolts to remove the bumper shocks.

Will be installing Tony's lights this winter when I go "bumperless".

[katsi]

I too have often pondered the same thought. Take, for example; the red car pictured on the top of the web site. What the heck are thos big rectangular holes for?? Well, I know why and here is the answer everyone is waiting for.
Whistles!
Originally, ehey were going to put in whistles so you could tell how fast you are going by the whiz of the whistles in the front. Some A-Hole somewhere thought that this would not be a good idea and scrapped the whole whistle program at Fiat and the rest is history!

[ORFORD2004]

Who is that Tony and were can we see those lights?????

[Danno]

http://wwwe.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopi ... 3&p=107124

[maytag]

don't get rid of those holes! They are obviously there for a reason, since they're there... and the Fiat Gods will strike!

wait for it... Majic and Artigue will chime-in here any second......

wait for it......

wait for it....

[Divers]

Maytag,

You and I both know that the Fiat engineers in there wisdom were just reduces the metal needed to build the car so they left some holes.

[FiatBen]

I tend to agree with Curly. Although the idea they somehow protect the back of the signals in the event of a crash hard enough to collapse the bumpers (along with the front of the car) is an interesting one.

[maytag]

Maytag,

You and I both know that the Fiat engineers in there wisdom were just reduces the metal needed to build the car so they left some holes.

I think those holes were there 'cuz they changed the way they shipped these to North America, and they needed a place to put the slings through for stacking them on the boats.

[manoa matt]

The tube bumper signals don't stick out the back of the bumper far enough for that to be an issue. If there was a crash hard enough to push the bumper back that far, the turn signal impacting the sheet metal will be the least of your worries.

My theory is the holes got carried over from the GP4 rally cars. The early rally cars of 72-74 had the early turn signals, but as the models progressed the later rally cars had a rectangular hole in about the same location. There were special rectangular turn signals that fit into those holes.

Early rally car: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=fia ... F0&first=1

Late rally car: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=fia ... 13&first=1

My guess is that the square turn signals had plastic housings and were cheaper to produce in the event of a crash during a rally race. The early turn signal housings are die cast metal then chromed.

Fiat may have had the intention to use a rally style rectangular turn signal on the road going spiders, but US Federal bumper regulations inacted in 1974 squashed that idea. I seams an awfully large hole just for a wire to pass through.

Rally lights available here: http://www.abarth-gmr.be/new/parts.php?dzial=FIAT 124 SPIDER ABARTH

[maytag]

Fiat may have had the intention to use a rally style rectangular turn signal on the road going spiders, but US Federal bumper regulations inacted in 1974 squashed that idea. I seams an awfully large hole just for a wire to pass through.

Oh no, this can't be correct. Because as we've been taught here recently: FIAT and Pininfarina knew EXACTLY what they were doing when they created the big bumpers. US Federal Bumper Reg's had NOTHING whatsoever to do with the design.

Or so some would like us to believe.