Bargain Buy? 1972 Fiat 850 Spider
I am taking a trip down memory lane this week as I am coming across cars that I haven’t seen or thought about in years. Yesterday, it was a Saab 95 but before I could get ten words written, the seller pulled the ad for whatever reason. Today, it’s a 1972 Fiat 850 Spider. This cute (yes, not a favorite descriptor but appropriate in this case) is located in Wilton, New York and available here on craigslist for $1,350 – price negotiable. Thanks to Pat L. for this tip.
Fiat introduced the 850 Spider in 1965 and it stayed in production until 1973. In ’68, the Spider got an engine upgrade to a 903 CC, in-line, four-cylinder motor good for 52 HP and that’s the engine that this ’72 possesses. This example is non-running and the seller states, “Let me inform you that it does need work. To run it needs the tank to be flushed the carb to be cleaned a clutch cable a throttle cable and a choke cable I have all of those parts and an ignition coil all OEM and brand new with paperwork.” Visually, it appears to be mostly there, and we’ll assume that the seller has the air cleaner assembly too. He follows up with the thought that, “Shouldn’t be too bad if you know mechanic work.” Priceless! Gear changes are courtesy of a four-speed manual transaxle.
The exterior shows well but there are very few images so it’s not possible to get a comprehensive look at the entire car. The finish is a bit faded, as expected, and is probably not original based on the view inside the engine compartment, but there are no obvious signs of body rot or crash damage. The trim all appears to be present so that’s helpful but the seller rightfully claims that this is a project car (he just wanted to get that out of the way). The frame is listed as “pretty” solid, though pretty can be interpreted over a variable swath. This owner is the second and it’s a New York car so giving the underside the once-over eyeball is advised. Also suggested is the need for new tires, though I have to admit that the white stripes work in this case for whatever reason.
Inside, from what can be seen, looks reasonable. There are replacement seat covers over the original seats so some reupholstering or as he suggests, the seat covers at least, should be replaced; carpeting too. No word regarding the operability of the gauges.
One of my best friends in high school had an 850 finished off in light blue. It was a fun car but slow and he liked to see how many cars at a time he could pass at a time on a two-lane road. The answer? Not too many. Having mechanical skills was a necessity as his 850 was usually on the fritz but his skills were sorely lacking. One day he pulled into the high-school parking lot with a fire brewing under the bonnet. The exhaust system/muffler hanger broke and he used nylon rope to cinch it up in place – kind of stupid even for a high school senior but he was on the road and that’s all he could find. As it turns out, he had just returned from Laurel, Maryland where he somehow stumbled upon an outdoor political rally in which a man named Arthur Bremer had shot and paralyzed presidential candidate George Wallace. Sometimes you remember a car more for the events that surround it than the car itself. Anyway, this Fiat is not expensive and the price is negotiable. If you have some mechanical skills, this may be a good introduction to some Italian style, top-down motoring, don’t you think?
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Comments
I had one of these rust buckets, being a New York car the prospective buyer better check the floors & the undercarriage. One day I went across some railroad tracks and one side of my seat fell through the floor in a shower of sparks. Luckily I had a small piece of 2 x 4 in the car that I wedged between the seat and the rocker panel to hold the seat up. You could grab the engine and move it about an inch side to side. I finally took it to the auction and some out of town dealer bought it. It was a cold night and his helpers were fighting over who would drive it back to the dealership about 40 mile away. The winner ended up being a loser, when he got in and slammed the door the window fell off the track into the door. Bet it was a cold ride back. I laughed my ass off. I must admit it was fun to drive while it lasted.
Completely agree on the need to check any 850 (and any Fiat) very carefully underneath for rust. Back in the late 70’s a friend of mine bought one of these. It was only 7 years old, but the pan/frame had already completely rusted away thanks to salty upstate New York winters. The first time we opened both doors simultaneously with the top down, the car literally folded in on itself into a V-shape and collapsed onto the ground. He continued to drive it for a while, never opening both doors, and with the soft-top always up – it was the only thing holding the car together. This example is now almost 50 years old. After seeing how badly one rusted after 7 years, I can only imagine what this one might look like underneath, and what “pretty solid” means. For only $1,350, I wouldn’t expect much.
I had a 72 Fiat 850, and one day a buddy and I decided to be cool and jump into the car without opening the doors. The car dropped down in the middle and finished off the rusty frame.
After that the doors would never open. I still drove it for about a year… then it got parted out. The engine still lives on powering a homemade Bobcat!
I traded a broken boom box and $55 in cash for one of these at college. Much more fragile toy than actual car. They were recalled when new for rust issues, so half a century in New York has probably not done this one any favors. I had much better luck with the Fiat124 Spiders that came out the same year. Bringamagnet.com
The last year for the 6 digit blue-on-orange license plates was 1980, this has been sitting a while…
Last year for those plates was 86. I had a set which was replaced with the Liberty Plates that ran till 1999. Used to be NYS would swap plates every 15 years, but now they like to do it every ten years but allowing to keep the older plates.
Looks like it was repainted from green to resale red.
It always bummed me out, that this is what Europeans had to put up with, while we cruised around in 396 Chevelles. I’ve never had any luck, nor knew anyone that had any luck with a Fiat. Seemed the 850 was the worst. The only reason this one is here, is because it quit running 30 years ago. 8 years on the road was pretty good for this. A friend across the alley had an 850 coupe. To say it was the worst car I ever encountered, would be an understatement. Everything that could go wrong( for a 3 year old car), did. From gauges, to door handles, to transmission 3 times, just a poor vehicle all around.
I had an 850 coupe when I was young. I autox the thing all the time. Engine would scream and it would hustle through the course and I never broke anything. Never even pulled the transmission. Best of all it would totally annihilate something like a 396 chevelle. In the time it took the chevelle to tip toe around the first corner I could complete the course and be back in my chair in the pits. I never understood why anyone would spend a dime on a POS muscle car like that as they were absolutely horrible to drive.
The Fiat was an absolute blast to drive, particularly in the tight twisties.
I also had an 850 coupe and enjoyed it enormously. So much fun in such a little, nimble package and just as reliable as most cars of the era.
I traded a dead VW for a running Fiat 850 coupe. It was 5 or 6 years old, but had very little rust. The exhaust system was shot but I bought new header for $20. I had to redrill the holes, so it would fit. Clamped on a cheap glass pack, and I was done. My friend had a 850 sedan which was really rare.
My wife adopted it as her daily driver. I sold it to buy a new 1974 Fiat 124 Coupe.
My brother had one of these in the 1970s. We used to take the rear boot panel off so 2 more could sit in the back. We drove it to the dealer to looks at the new Fiats. When we went to leave the clutch cable broke so we couldnt get it in gear. He traded it on a new fiat 124 sedan. Which was a good little car.
I have in my garage 1973 850 spider
Original and no ….. rust
Only 35.000 miles and have original
Hard top .
Summer fun to ride
Inherently good cars, but not made for the abuse most young American drivers inflicted on them. I had a 850 spider and a sport coupe in the distant past and they were some of the most fun cars I owned. To anyone in the Syracuse area, this one does need a good looking over…for better or worse.
yeah, garage kept in new england wrked fine enuff to go for several, then several 124 (inc one sedan, oh no, that musta been a 128?). Final was the Lancia Beta Coupe listed above. Anyway the 850 I looked at like a karman ghia. A lill style, lill speed, a lill fun. Low expense for this all (example: 13 inch tire).
I never saw a removable hrd top for one. That I’d like…
Rust is the demon on these cars. They don’t salt the roads in Italy, so…
What people don’t understand about the Fiat 850 spider is that it was a high performance car. Seriously. It’s little engine made 1 hp per cubic inch, which was good in the early 70s. And it would rev to 7000 RPM all day long.
It also required a lot of regular maintenance. You had to lube the king pins every 2500 miles. That’s what the owners manual called for. The problem is, no one did that. Or did the other short service interval Maintenance. So then they broke, and people complained about fix it again Tony.
They did have a few week spots and it helped to have some basic repair skills. Mine broke throttle cables; they took about two minutes to replace, and I always carried a spare.
And yes, they were slow. According to a road and track test of a 1972, it took 20 seconds to go from 0 to 60.But they were entertaining to drive, had one of the slickest convertible tops in the business and you could go a long way on the fuel in a 7 gallon tank.
Life changes meant I didn’t keep mine long enough to collect on the settlement for the 850’s rust problems. But I was glad I owned the little car. It was a lot of fun. I would do it all over again.
I had a new 850 coupe. It was a lot of fun. It actually came with magnesium wheels. With rayon belted tires I could hold the wheel at arms length ! Of course it was flimsy. A hard shift broke off the seat mounts luckily it wasn’t far to the back seats. It had to be tuned about every two weeks. I recall the test among a series of compacts. One statement was how bashing through the gears at red line gave a racing sensation in complete defiance to the speedometer. But when one of the testers had to go for pizza they took the Fiat. They did some drag measurements and I recall they were amazed at the low result. Oh yes the Italian cruise control. There was a ring to a cable under the dash simply pull it out to the desired speed, That was a fun discovery !
My late wife had an 850 Spider that try as we might, she, the kids and I couldn’t break it. She drove it it trouble free for years. Rust was the only problem. Phospheric acid and marine bondo kept it on the road. These were good cars.
Oh, BTW, these cars didn’t have an oil filter. They had a centrifugal oil cleaner at hte end of the crankshaft. When you changed the oil, you took the cover off the cleaner, wiped out any gunk, and put it back on. How many people did that? How many people even knew that? I’ll bet many a Fiat dealer mechanics didn’t know/do that.
The X brace on the underside is these car’s achilles heel. If it’s rusted, the car is toast.