The first facelift for the Fiat 131 appeared in 1978 and brought a breeze of fresh air to the car before it aged too much.
After successfully introducing the Fiat 131 Mirafiori in 1975, the Italian carmaker worked together with Abarth and prepared the two-door version for the World Rally Championship. They won it in 1977, and that’s why the 1978 model came at the right time. But the only connection between the four-door sedan and the rally car was the name and a sticker in the back as a reminder for its users. But the Supermirafiori was not a race car.

Inside, it offered comfortable seats at the front fitted with headrests. In the back, there was enough room for up to two adults. Due to the intrusive transmission tunnel, it wasn’t easy to host three passengers, mostly since there were only two headrests. The instrument cluster was rectangular, with squared dials for the tachometer and speedometer. In the middle, on the upper side, there was an analog clock.

The most important changes were for the drivetrain. Apart from the base engine versions, which still used the same four-pots as the 1975 model-year, the rest were fitted with twin-cam and four overhead valves. Fiat installed a new, five-speed gearbox for the entire range, with an option for a three-speed auto for selected versions.

After a successful career, the Fiat 124 had to be taken out from the assembly line.
In 1974, after 4 million units produced, it was taken out and the 131 was introduced at the Turin Motor Show.

As a replacement for the Fiat 124, the 131 was an uncomplicated, medium-sized, family car. It was available as a four-door sedan or a station-wagon. Later on, a coupe version was introduced. But the 131 sedan was simple and easy to understand, especially since it came with the Fiat 124 engines under the hood and the same gearbox. It was also named “Mirafiori”, from the Fiat’s factory name near Turin.

On the outside, the versions with the smaller engine were fitted with square headlights, while the more powerful 1.6-liter unit featured twin-round headlights. The chromed grille was standard on all models. Surprisingly, the 131 didn’t come fitted with exterior rear-view mirrors.

Inside, the 131 Mirafiori featured five seats and it could have been fitted as an option with air-conditioning, and that was a big improvement over the 124 model. The instrument cluster featured three square dials, while the 1.3-liter was equipped with two dials.

The Fiat 131 was fitted with inline-four engines, with 1.3- or 1.6-liter displacement. For the U.S. market only, the 131 was equipped with a 1.8-liter engine. The standard transmission was a 4-speed manual, while a 3-speed automatic from GM was offered as an option for the 1.6- and 1,8-liter units.