Here we have a 1971 Fiat 850 Spider. The 850 was produced from 1964 to 1973 in sedan, coupe, and convertible guises. The 850 series was intended as a replacement for the Fiat 600, which was basically a larger version of the iconic 500. Internationally, it had an 843cc inline four-cylinder powering the rear wheels. To get around emission regulations, they downsized the engine to 817cc for the cars destined for the United States. The seller has a long list of legalese in their item description, with precious few details about the actual car in there. They do say it was a recent donation and does not run, so bid accordingly. You can find this one here on eBay.
The car is actually in pretty decent shape, aesthetically. The body, designed and built by Bertone, is straight and relatively free of blemishes and rust. If you own a museum and are looking for something to display in your “this is Italy in 1971” exhibit, this would be perfect for that, since it doesn’t run. The body is excellent, and the interior, while not without its flaws, does have complete trim and nearly rip-free leather seats. There’s a wood dashboard surrounding analog gauges that show about 81,000 miles. The fact that the gauges display miles rather than kilometers leads me to believe this is a U.S. market car.
After 1968, Fiat upgraded the engine to 903cc, but I’m a little unclear on whether that’s global or just for European-market examples. Its four-banger sends the stratospheric–for the tiny little car–52 horsepower to the rear wheels through a four-speed manual. Though it doesn’t run, the seller does include a picture of the engine. It’s not immediately clear why this doesn’t run; everything seems to be there. The seller just says “it will need some work,” which, let’s be honest, if you’re buying a classic Fiat… you’ll get to know the meaning behind the phrase “Fix It Again, Tony,” real quick.
Being a convertible, you’re gonna want to have the top down at some point or another. A small orange Fiat is the perfect fun-in-the-sun car, and a convertible body suits that lifestyle well. Unfortunately, the seller mentions that the top doesn’t really work. There’s a large gash in the fabric, and I’m guessing the mechanism is gummed up somehow. It’d be worth fixing up, either way.
This orange car is located in……Orange,California.
City of Orange,
Orange County,
California
Don’t recall ever seeing an air cooled Fiat in the US. Have raced a Gianinni, one of many names put on an 800 cc nice looking fast back, kam tail race car. Almost bought it but the untreated boxed areas in the unibody were full of rust. Have a friend who used to race one of these. He was close to 300 pounds and it was something to see him get in and out of that car.
It’s water cooled. The radiator on mine was about the size of a bathroom scale.
Fiat 500. Not seen any of them in US?
I think a bit of research should be have been done by the writer before publishing this write up.It is easy enough to find that this car along with most Fiats but the 500 were water cooled. For god’s sake just google the damn thing!
Exactly what I was thinking. I’m not that familiar with Fiat’s prior to the 70’s, but never knew of any air cooled ones. Maybe the writer is thinking about Renaults?
Postwar Renaults (4CV, Dauphine, R8, R10) were water cooled as well.
The radiator is clearly visible in the engine compartment picture…
City of Orange,
Orange County,
California
This being a 1971 should have the 903cc engine with a rompin’-stompin’ 55HP. Also should have had high backed seats.
Looks in great shape from what we can see. No serious rust, just a little bubbling in what looks like a very thorough repaint. Underside photos would really help, but it might really be pretty rust-free and that makes it pretty rare.
I would guess that the mechanical stuff is likely to be pretty straightforward. They are super easy to work on. I’ve pulled an engine alone by hand (I was younger then) And I think parts are pretty available.
Seems like it would be a bargain at twice the current price if there are no hidden horrors.
And yes, the only air-cooled Fiats were the 500s, but in the 1970s half the cars on Italy’s roads were Fiat 500s.
Elanguy – Maybe Fiat made some versions of an air-cooled 500, but I bought a 1957 Fiat 500 in Germany (1967) that was certainly water-cooled. It was my city car, as my other was a ’67 Fairlane GTA that sucked very expensive German premium. Loved that little Fiat. An oddity about the ignition was that the key was instead in a push down mechanism behind the floor shifter. Not only turned on the ignition ,but also unlocked the shifter. If I recall correctly, starter lever and choke lever flanked the tunnel…
Elanguy is correct. In 1957, Fiat introduced the Nuova 500, a twin cylinder air-cooled rear-engine car. They were all made that way. The previous model until 1955 was a front engine water cooled version called the 500C or Topolino.
Looked like this.
F.I.A.T. = Fix It All [the] Time
tops can be had to replace.
Had several of these when new. Can’t see Y the top “doesn’t wrk” as I could sit in the driver’s and pull the thing up’n over if rain suddenly hit. Lube the hinges?
Drives like a “modern car” and would B fine for a DD. Course it aint jap so one would like to ‘tinker’, maintain. Most who had them were typical u s. of a drivers & that’s where the ‘fix it again” came from. Our owners give their vehicles lill respect. Even a sewing machine needs maintenance and these run like one w/minor attention.
Female fam member borrower one due to the early spring weather. She went up the mountain top for plants to transplant into her yrd. It is so light it went dwn the dirt rd where there was still some ice. The ruts had been filled w/water (ice) all winter and the lill car stayed up but in a sunny section fell thru the ice and got “hi pointed’ on ‘the crown” then she hada long spring walk (no cellies then) to get the men folk. We went up and jacked it up’n over so the wheels were on the ground @ rd side & crown in middle to hand push off AND drive back to the low lands…
I’ve got 850 spiders in the corner of my garage
My 850 Spider was full of spiders…
Cars,or actual spiders?
Item location:
Orange, California
I saw one at that years L.A. Auto Show. I loved it until I tried to sit in it. I’m 6’1″,and it felt like a pedal car.
I owned the coupe version of the 850. It was a lot of fun. There was a driving comparison between a Pinto a Vega the 850 and something else. Try and find it; it’s worth the search. They did a projection of the power needed to make the cars go 200 mph. They had to do the coupe twice because they couldn’t believe how slippery it was. I had to tune it about every two weeks to get the “power”. It had actual magnesium wheels. The driver’s seat came out of the mounts during a sporty shift. It had a cable to operate the throttle by hand. In the test when a driver was tasked to go for pizza they always took the Fiat. I recall a line in the review that the Fiat felt and sounded like a real racer when you went through the gears in complete defiance to the speedometer
My brother has this exact car and it was fun. We used to take out the metal boot cover giving us room to put another person in the little rear seat. They are very prone to rust as most Fiats were back then. We stopped at the dealer to look at the new Fiats one night. When we went to leave the clutch cable broke and we couldn’t get the car in gear to get home. He ended up trading it in for a new Fiat 128 sedan.
My cousin had a brand new Fiat Strada back in the day. One frigid Ohio winter night we jumped in the car ready to go party. The defroster wouldn’t work. We tried to roll down the windows and the window crank handles both broke off in our hands… We had to take my old VW Beetle.
Ended:
May 23, 2021 , 11:30AM
Winning bid:
US $3,800.00
[ 53 bids ]
I had one in the 1980’s. It only ran good once or twice. So basically, it didn’t run either. The 124’s are pretty decent cars, but these are truly awful in every way and are not really roadable in the U.S. Beautiful design, but I would rather ride a bicycle.
A buddy of mine bought one of these when we were stationed in Germany, 1969-70. He set it up to autocross, and I seem to remember he was pretty successful, or at least he had a lot of fun. Cool looking, sporty 2 seater.