Fiat’s dedication to the 1974 collection was absolute, with 124s confirmed for each spherical. However when all three of these manufacturing unit vehicles retired in Canada and Munari’s Stratos gained once more, half of Italy’s north put its head in its palms.
There was a lot to ponder because the world championship made the 24-hour street journey to Marquette. One factor the cream of the WRC discovered on the shores of Lake Superior was a heat welcome. The Vacation Inn had by no means executed such good enterprise and even the Marquette Rotary Membership bought in on the act, inviting among the higher-profile European workforce personnel to affix their assembly.
Whereas historical past reveals the WRC departed Michigan half a century in the past in the present day and didn’t return, historical past additionally reveals the occasion organizers placed on a terrific rally within the face of some enormously tough situations.
No person, for instance, might have foreseen a member of the native police drive deciding to chase Munari’s Stratos right into a stage after the Italian was a contact too brisk by a village on the street part. And when the sherriff crashed mid-stage, issues bought much more difficult. Sixteen of the deliberate 51 phases (together with the 50-mile Carpenter Lake Street check – which really ran again throughout the border in Canada) have been misplaced when heavy rain turned torrential, washing bridges away and making lots of the roads unimaginable to move.
