Fiat’s 124 Spider is an Italian-ified version of the Japanese Mazda MX-5 Miata, and it’s just been given a special-edition variant with the name “America,” for sale in Europe. Forget Pitbull, this roadster is Mr. Worldwide. Oddly, the 124 Spider America won’t be sold in the U.S. We wish it were headed here, however, because we like the kit.
If you thought that this special-edition 124’s name invokes our great nation, you get bonus points for patriotism but no points on accuracy. The 124 Spider America is named for the eponymous model that Fiat sold in the 1980s to commemorate design house Pininfarina’s then-50th birthday. (Pininfarina, it should be noted, designed the original 124 Spider, which was still being sold in the early ’80s.)
Just like that old 124 Spider America, the new one wears sweet “Magnetic Bronze” paint (which is not actually magnetic) over a tobacco-colored leather interior, and ultra-hot four-spoke wheels. The door mirrors are painted silver, and Fiat affixes a special grille badge and a numbered plaque inside the cabin. Buyers can even order an old-school luggage rack for the trunk.

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It’s all so wonderfully retro, and refreshingly so given that it harks back not to the oft-glorified 1960s but ...