The SEAT 1200 Sport is a two-door, four-seater coupé developed by the Spanish car maker SEAT. First presented in December 1975, and sold commercially from February 1976 to September 1979, it was the first car developed entirely in the company's newly opened Martorell Technical Centre. Its initial version was powered by the bigger 1,197 cc engine of (developed for the
SEAT 124
The SEAT 124 is a small family car produced by the Spanish manufacturer SEAT in its Zona Franca, Barcelona and Landaben, Pamplona plants between 1968 and 1980. The car was very successful in Spain having sold 896,136 units,2+2 a top speed of via its four-speed gearbox transmission. Despite its sporting aspirations, its power output was limited by a relatively low compression ratio, reflecting the fuel octane levels available in its home market.
The 1200 Sport's sharp-edged body design had a drag coefficient (cd) of 0.37. It was purchased from NSU of Germany, after the German firm abandoned its plans to launch the NSU Nergal, its own small sports car based on the rear-engined
NSU Prinz The NSU Prinz (Prince) is an automobile which was produced in West Germany by the NSU Motorenwerke AG from 1958 to 1973.
NSU Prinz I, II & III
The first post-war NSU car, the Prinz I, was launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 1957 a ...
, presented as a prototype in the 1970 Turin Motor Show and designed by Italian designer Aldo Sessano. Antoni Amat, technical director of Inducar (Industrias de la Carrocería, an external provider for SEAT) proposed the 1200 Sport project to SEAT, with the mediation of Günter Óistrach, after the former's visit and contacts at the Turin Motor Show. The Terrassa-based Inducar company undertook the production of the car's chassis. To fit the platform SEAT planned for the car, the Nergal design was modified to include elements of another of Sessano's concept cars, the ''OTAS KL112'', as it was based on the
Fiat 127
The Fiat 127 is a supermini car produced by Italian car manufacturer FIAT from 1971 to 1983. It was introduced in 1971 as the replacement for the Fiat 850. Production of the 127 in Italy ended in 1983 following the introduction of its replacemen ...
. A characteristic of the original NSU Nergal design that remained in the production model was the air-vents in the third pillar, just above the rear wheel arch, likely indicating the presence of the rear-mounted engine in NSU's design. SEAT's engineers examined the possibility of keeping the rear-engine layout, but ultimately chose a front engine. The car's boot featured remote opening through a handle on the driver's door,Seat 1200 Sport and had a fuel capacity of 339 litres.
In 1977, the SEAT 1430 Sport Coupé was introduced, using the same body, but with a retuned version of the engine from the
SEAT 1430
The SEAT 1430 is a 4-door sedan made by SEAT in Spain from 1969 to 1975. The car was based on the FIAT 124 Special, but the front lights were the square ones from the FIAT 125 instead of round. The cockpit was almost identical to the Fiat ...
. In this application, the 1,438-cc engine provided a power output of and a top speed of .
The Sport versions were offered mainly in the
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
market, but also some cars were officially offered in other European countries such as Germany, Holland, Belgium, and France. Both models, 1200 and 1430, were discontinued in 1979, along with the SEAT 128,
SEAT 133
The SEAT 133 is a small rear-engined car designed and sold by SEAT in Spain from 1974 until 1979. The car used the chassis and engine of the by then defunct Fiat/SEAT 850 and featured a new body in the style of the contemporary, somewhat smaller a ...
, and CKD-built
Lancia Beta
The Lancia Beta (Type 828) was an entry-level luxury car produced by Italian car manufacturer Lancia from 1972 to 1984. It was the first new model introduced by Lancia after it had been taken over by Fiat in 1969.
The Beta was made in severa ...
and Beta HPE, as part of the important restructuring of the SEAT range for 1980. A total of 19,332 units was sold in the Spanish market, with 11,619 cars being equipped with the 1200 engine and some 7,713 units with the more powerful but late-launched 1430 motor.
The car was widely known as the "''Boca negra''" ("black mouth" in
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
) because of the color and shape of its always black plastic front panel, which embraced the front
grille
Grill or grille may refer to:
Food
* Barbecue grill, a device or surface used for cooking food, usually fuelled by gas or charcoal, or the part of a cooker that performs this function
* Flattop grill, a cooking device often used in restaurants, ...
and the
headlights
A headlamp is a lamp attached to the front of a vehicle to illuminate the road ahead. Headlamps are also often called headlights, but in the most precise usage, ''headlamp'' is the term for the device itself and ''headlight'' is the term for ...
and incorporated, by 1970s standards, a prominent front bumper. In 2008, SEAT presented the
SEAT Bocanegra
SEAT Bocanegra concept car
The SEAT Bocanegra is a three-door supermini concept car, built by the Spanish automaker SEAT and designed by former Lamborghini designer Luc Donckerwolke who at the moment had been assigned SEAT's design director.
I ...
concept car at the Geneva Motor Show. It received this name as a homage to the classic 1200 Sport, as it also had a black front end. It is sold as a special-edition Ibiza model from the second half of 2009, based on the SEAT Ibiza FR and Cupra versions.
File:Seat 1200 Sport.jpg, SEAT 1200 Sport, side view
File:Seat 1200 Sport Coupe Gen1 000 1975-1979 backright 2011-06-04 U.jpg, SEAT 1200 Sport, rear view
File:SEAT 1430 Sport tres cuartos trasera.jpg, SEAT 1430 Sport
Production figures
Since its launch in 1975 up to 1981, 19,332 SEAT 1200 and 1430 Sport cars have been sold and produced (11,619 units for the SEAT 1200 Sport and 7,713 for the SEAT 1430 Sport version).SEAT 1200 Sport datos tecnicos http://www.seat1200.es/fichatecnica.htm
The total production per year of SEAT 1200 Sport and SEAT 1430 Sport cars is shown in the following table :
1200
Events
By place
Europe
* Spring – Boniface I, marquis of Montferrat, sends envoys to Venice, Genoa and other city-states to negotiate a contract for transport to the Levant. Meanwhile, Boniface and various nobles are mustering ...