Beautiful in Blue! 1970 Fiat 850 Coupe
In the 1960s and 1970s, the Fiat 850 was one of the Italian car builder’s most popular automobiles. Road & Track, for example, would call the Fiat 850 Coupe “one of the handsomest, best-balanced designs ever seen on a small car”. The seller owns one such vehicle from 1970 and it looks to be in excellent condition and is in Pacifica, California. The nifty little auto is available here on craigslist for $16,000. Our thanks go to ToddK for this hot tip!
The Fiat 850 was an evolution of the Fiat 600, a small vehicle with rear-wheel-drive, and the engine mounted in the back. It was in production from 1964 to 1973 and 2.3 million copies were sold across many variants, including the 850 Spyder which most U.S. collectors think of. While the car had an 843-cc engine on its home turf, versions sold in the U.S. used an 817-cc version that was better able to meet U.S. emission standards. These engines had a higher compression ratio which means higher octane fuel is required.
No history is provided for this 1970 edition of the Fiat 850 Coupe. It’s extremely clean, which suggests it may have at least been cosmetically restored at some point. The mileage is 73,500, so the Fiat has not been a garage queen all its life. The little engine has been rebuilt and we’re told the car was imported before some of California’s more stringent smog regulations were in effect. With a 4-speed manual transmission, we’re told this sporty runabout is fun to drive and we don’t doubt it. Who wants a test drive?
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Comments
Beautiful 850.Blue perfect color.These look more balanced then the conv.
The 817 cc (49.9 cubic inch) engine used in the US market was no more able to comply with US laws than the bigger bore versions. It was adopted because the rules weren’t imposed on engines with a displacement under 50 cubic inches and may be thought of as a quick and (literally) dirty solution the problem of compliance.
Johnny Procknow. He was a neighbor when in HS( early 70s) and his 1st car was this only red. Initially, it was a fun little car, had a high winding( to get anywhere) motor, 4 speed, rather zippy,,,,for a couple of months. Then the problems began. It began to grind in 2nd, the dealer repaired it, but shortly, it began grinding in 3rd. They tried to fix it again, but never was right. Then EVERYTHING began to fail. Window cranks, gauges, you name it. He took a bath on it trading it for a ’68 Barracuda, with much better results. It certainly left a bad taste in my mouth for any Fiat to this day.
It never ceases to amuse me that so many Americans manage to hold a grudge against Fiat (and/or the entire nation of Italy) for ’70s quality control problems, half a century later, considering that British and American carmakers suffered similar issues (one of them so severely that they adopted the self-deprecating ad tag line “Have you driven a Ford ……..lately?” for the entirety of the ’80s). Somehow Americans are perfectly willing to forgive the Big Three (and, to a lesser extent, the British car industry) for all the same electrical fires and self-destructing transmissions (maybe fewer of the former and more of the latter, judging from my grandparents’ friends’ horror stories of buying American cars new in the ’70s). Hmm…
My Mom bought one new when I was about 8 or 10. After her Cortina rusted out, this was the next interesting small stick-shift car. It was Fiat’s closest color to BRG. Once we she piled a pack of neighborhood kids into it (back when slow driving was considered an alternative to seatbelts) and off to the roller rink. When seven or eight kids emerged from the little Fiat, some guy at the rink said it looked like a clown car. I remember it rusting so rapidly and completely that a lawsuit was discussed. It was replaced by the ’73 Capri that later became my first car. Thanks for the write-up, Russ, and nice find ToddK!
This one might have had the 903 cc motor.Also the 4 branch exhaust might not have been stock.
I had a 68 Spyder- fun car except when it started to go south. I don’t remember having to use premium gas, until after the third head gasket and head milling increased the compression level enough . -lol
let’s see:
Front drivers seat broke off welds
Wind shield wiper motor burned up
Three head gasket failures
Radio blew up
smaller stuff as well-too numerous to mention
It did have a throttle lock for cruise control – that was nice while cruising on the 101 at 65 mph at a billion revs and I could get everything i owned in the car.
and we could pick the car up and put it into small parking spaces
It was pretty however- and I got that instead of a 67 Mustang fastback from Newport Beach’s Ford aeronutronics, executive turnbacks, 390 engines- white blue stripe, but who would want one of those- i believe the used cost was about 2500. close to the 850- of course I might be dead if I had that many ponies in college.
Nice ride! Overpriced though.
Wow prices have really improved. We bought a new 850 in 1967 including the Factory hard top for just a few $$ over 1700.
I ordered a brand new Fiat 850 Coupe at the LA Auto Show, I think in 1966. My Fiat finally arrived and I went down to the Port of Long Beach to watch it come off the boat. The first 850 they picked up fell as it came over the side of the ship and crushed it to a zillion pieces. The Fiat salesman said “oh, oh, I think that was your car.” I’d ordered a Red one with black interior….what I got was a red one with Blue interior….only the Italians. Mine caught on fire in the parking lot at work within a month…electrical system in the engine compartment. I took the muffle off and installed a “cherry bomb” then used to drive it thru that long tunnel in downtown Los Angeles where the homeless guys used to sleep….that would really get them moving at about 6000rpm!
Buddy in hs had an 850 spider orange he said it was so he could never lose it. So at a party one night me and 7 other guys went out and picked it up and slid it into another guy’s dad’ f350 mason dump and moved it two blocks
We finally told him where it was about 3 am when he was about to call the police and report it stolen
Oh drunken hi jinx
my friends put mine inside the dorm waiting room sideways – that was fun
at least I had a car
Thanks to all of you for the laughs. I had a 1974 124TC that did not catch fire but nevertheless had plenty of things go wrong to rival the 850 (and the spiders and 128’s and well you get it). But we’ll save that for when a TC shows up on Barn Finds.
When gas prices are $4+, this car goes up in value. Keep it dry and do basic maintenance, it’ll be around longer than us. Notice the complaints from the peanut gallery are admitting abuse and neglect, and “it let them down”. Excellent little runabout that’s fun like a go kart. Safer than a motorcycle. And practical enough to carry some groceries. Strong Fiat club support. I bet this thing puts a lot of smiles on faces seeing it driving around.
Good luck to the new owner. Pamper it and you’ll always be glad you did.