Fiat 124 Sport Spider 1600 No. 23 Santinho Mendes Santos Ferreira Rally Portugal 1977 Trofeu 1:43

Trofeu, Portugal's own die-cast specialist founded in 1990, has built its catalogue around precisely the kind of entry this model represents: a private national competitor running a period-correct Fiat 124 Sport Spider 1600 on home roads in front of home crowds. This 1:43 scale model is limited to 150 units, placing it among the tightest production runs in the brand's range and making it a focused acquisition rather than a general shelf-filler.

The Fiat 124 Sport Spider 1600 in Competition

Tom Tjaarda's Pininfarina-built 124 Sport Spider debuted at the November 1966 Turin Auto Show as a front-engined, rear-wheel-drive monocoque cabriolet measuring 3,971 mm in length. The road-specification 1,608 cc DOHC inline-four — a perfectly square 80 mm bore × 80 mm stroke unit — produced approximately 110 PS at 6,400 rpm through a 5-speed manual gearbox. Its compact dimensions and twin-cam architecture made it a natural candidate for Group 2 and Group 4 homologation, and private competitors continued to enter the platform in national-level rounds well into the late 1970s.

Car No. 23 at the 1977 Rally de Portugal Vinho do Porto

The 11º Rally de Portugal Vinho do Porto, held 1–6 March 1977 as Round 3 of the WRC season, attracted 103 starters and produced only 27 finishers across 46 stages — an attrition rate that underlines the severity of the Portuguese roads. Overall victory went to Markku Alén, with Fiat taking the Manufacturers' award. António Santinho Mendes, a documented Portuguese rally competitor of the era, started No. 23 alongside co-driver Santos Ferreira. Their car was prepared in night-stage specification: a bank of auxiliary driving lights mounted at the front, standard privateer practice for a multi-day event that included nocturnal special stages.

The 1:43 Die-Cast by Trofeu

Trofeu has been producing die-cast models since 1990 with a consistent editorial focus on Iberian and Portuguese rally history, giving this release a direct cultural connection between manufacturer, subject, and marque. The model is rendered in red bodywork with black detailing — the private Portuguese livery worn by No. 23 — and carries the auxiliary front lights that define the night-version specification. Trofeu produces separate SKUs for day and night configurations of the same casting, making each variant individually distinct. The edition is confirmed at 150 units.

In the Display Cabinet

At 1:43, the model measures approximately 9.5 cm in length, calculated directly from the real car's 3,971 mm bodyshell. That footprint suits a standard collector shelf or glass cabinet without requiring dedicated display space. The model pairs naturally with other Trofeu releases from the 1973–1977 Portuguese TAP and Vinho do Porto rally series, and sits alongside 1:43 representations of the Lancia Stratos HF and Fiat 131 Abarth that contested the same WRC season — contextualising the grassroots 124 entry within the broader 1977 championship picture.