Utah local's vintage car collection features restored Fiat and Ford models

“Cars have always been my thing … and now I can do them lifesize.”

Dante Dagostini has been a car guy ever since he was a kid. His interest in Hot Wheels and building miniature wood cars for pinewood derbies were a hint that someday he’d rework an actual race car of his own.  

He bought his Italian 1976 Fiat 131 Abarth rally car in 2007 as just a shell — no hood, windows, fenders — and has been building it over the last three years. 

He bought his 1989 Ford Ranger STX in 2013 and finished restoring it about four years ago, fully revitalizing the classic compact pickup. 

The Fiat and Ranger in Dante's driveway give his neighborhood a vintage feel.

While filming an episode of Around the Hood With KSL Cars, Dante explained how he wanted his cars to be usable. “With this [Fiat], I wanted it to be kind of a driver car. You know, so I can take it to work, or take it to the store or gym or go on a nice drive. So I updated everything underneath the car.”

Vintage face, modern heart. “It has modern suspension, modern brakes, has air conditioning, cruise control, fuel injection, GPS navigation — all the good stuff. But on the outside, it's all correct like it would have been in 1976, when these were built. That was kind of the theme here when I was building this car,” he said.

The 1989 Ford Ranger is his daily driver and has the same vibe. He claims it was a piece of junk when he bought it, but it’s impossible to tell. He bought a 1994 Ranger brochure on Ebay and tried to make his truck look almost exactly like the original model. He even kept the interior look the same, except for adding a modern radio. So long, cassette tapes!

See Dante's retro collection in this episode of Around the Hood with KSL Cars.

Shop Fiats and Ford Rangers on KSL Cars →

A mind for building things

Dante is a developer for a local software company. He joked that some might consider it boring work, but the programming skills used for his job seem to help when it comes to his car hobby. Both require troubleshooting, debugging and following line-by-line instructions. 

He can look at all the different components and know what needs to be done for the bodywork, paintwork and interior, essentially creating a set list of instructions for himself. He even had to program the Fiat’s engine computer and fine tune it to get it running. Same process, different canvas. 

Dante did all the car work in his garage. About five years ago, he built a contraption on the garage ceiling that could hoist his car, creating a rotisserie to more easily modify his cars.

Dante has been at this for a while. The 1976 Fiat 131 Abarth adds a little charisma to his suburban neighborhood. Photos courtesy of Dante Dagostini

Bringing retro back

It takes a keen eye to notice every tidbit that makes a car unique. Dante has spent years finding just the right touches to make his cars look authentic, down to every last decal.

A love for something rare 

Finding the exact race car he wanted and picking it up was a rally in and of itself.

“I was 14 or 15 years old when I saw one of these cars in an old rally video, and I just loved the boxy shape, the fender flares, the double headlights, and I just wanted one of these cars for years,” he said. “I looked and looked and I found this car in Texas in 2007 and drove down there and bought it.” . 

The weekend he picked up the Fiat started with pulling an all-night drive to Texas with some friends. The guy Dante bought it from had five or six Fiats in his backyard, but Dante’s was in the back, behind the others. He and his friends spent hours pushing the other cars around just to get to his car. They pushed it through the gravel, out to the road and up on his trailer. Then they drove right back home to be back in time for work on Monday. Totally worth it for the one you love.

There are only about five of these types of Fiats in the United States. That makes it a little tricky to get the parts needed to build it accurately. “You can't buy that stuff. You either make it or you don’t have it,” he said. 

Tube chassis, photo courtesy of Dante Dagostini

Unfinished dash, photo courtesy of Dante Dagostini

Photo courtesy of Dante Dagostini

And so he made nearly everything: the gauge faces, plates, seats, dashboard. Other stuff he outsourced. The hood and fenders are from a company in the U.K. He ordered the tires from Italy. His brother found the windows from a junkyard in California. He cut out the whole floor of the Fiat, built the tube chassis and roll cage, then put the car on top of it. He even bought a sticker machine to recreate the decals, and a 1970s industrial sewing machine off KSL Classifieds that he fixed up and used on the interior. 

Photo courtesy of Dante Dagostini

Photo courtesy of Dante Dagostini

Shop Fiats on KSL Cars →

A touch (or more) of personality

Dante is full of enthusiasm for the details. The decals on his Fiat are mostly correct, designed after several different race cars from the 1970s. Back then, rally cars like his were sponsored by companies like Marlboro and Chromadora, which is why Dante added those particular decals to his car. 

Dante created accurate stickers with a sticker machine he purchased.

The rear window decal has the dates this car won the World Rally Championships: 1977, 1978, 1980. One gives a nod to the ladies. Michèle Mouton of Italy was the first female rally racer, first female WRC winner and winner of the Tour de France rally while driving a Fiat 131 Abarth. 

Then there’s the Vans sticker and his @milo.the.131 Instagram handle sticker. For those that know Dante, these just make sense. He’s always wearing Vans shoes, which he wore for this episode of Around the Hood. And Milo? “The nickname for this car is Milo, which came from an old girlfriend of mine and it kind of just stuck. And it’s an Italian name so it worked out,” he said.

Dante wanted everything to be accurate down to every last decal.

Friends and family add to the fun, “The styling was done by Bertone back in the ‘70s. They’re famous for doing Ferraris and Lamborghinis. So it has Bertone badges here. My good friend Frank from Australia got me those. They’re really hard to find.” 

His brother also gave him a miniature replica kit of the Fiat, which Dante used as motivation to finish building the actual car. The finished replica model doesn’t have all the decals (who has a sticker machine that small?), but it does have the same gold wheels. 

Progress on the dash, photo courtesy of Dante Dagostini

Shop Fiats on KSL Cars →

A rugged endeavor

Did you know that the late 1980s are now a vintage era? We’ll give you a moment to collect yourself. 

Dante’s 1989 Ford Ranger has an official vintage buggy license plate, since cars older than 30 years qualify for them. And they’re totally worth it — vintage plates are cheaper than modern ones. 

The truck may be vintage by technicalities, but it looks and runs brand-spanking-new. “The idea here was to make it look exactly like it would have in 1989,” he said. “So I got the correct factory decals, lights, roll bar, the right wheels … I did put a little bit of a lift kit on it with some bigger tires, and I also upgraded to larger front and rear axles, and a bigger V6 engine.”

Accurate decals on the 1989 Ford Ranger, photo courtesy of Dante Dagostini

Everything is pretty close to original, minus a few aesthetic upgrades. He put newer Ranger mirrors on it, which he prefers over the bulky chrome factory ones. The original bumper stuck out a bit too far for his liking, so he replaced it with a more slender option. He built a custom K-link steering, an upgrade from the factory steering. The decal kit and roll bar were found at a dealership in Detroit that had been sitting in a warehouse for 30 years.  

Dante pointed out a few dings on the tailgate, which were hardly noticeable to the average looker. But that's what you can expect for a truck that was meant to haul things — like the steel he used to build the Fiat. Not bad for a vintage daily commuter. 

Shop Ford Rangers on KSL Cars →

Two-wheel throwback

Oh yeah, there’s more. We can’t forget about Dante’s 1971 Triumph TR6R motorcycle. It’s still a work in progress, but it has the same theme. Modern functionality, vintage looks. The paint color is a retro, earthy green. It has modern forks and brakes so it’s smoother than the 1970s technology. He still needs to build the exhaust, gauges and seat, and he’ll again use his industrial sewing machine he got from KSL Classifieds. 

1971 Triumph TR6R

Dante doesn’t plan on selling any of his vehicles. And why would he after putting that much effort and personality put into each one? Those cars are for life.

Looking for your own cool ride? Shop on KSL Cars.

Do you or a friend have a cool story about a car? We want to hear all about it! Reach out at cars@ksl.com