When the owner of a classic Fiat says that it has never seen a Winter, that is never a bad thing. The biggest enemy of a classic Fiat is rust, and this can consume otherwise healthy metal at an alarming rate. This Fiat 850 Sport Spider appears to have avoided the worst of these problems, and after sitting in storage since 2005, it is looking for a new home. Located in Sidney, Ohio, it is listed for sale here on eBay. The owner has set the bidding to open at $0.99, but there have been no bids to this point.

Finished in red with a white soft-top, the 850 Sport Spider is a pretty little car. The paint has a number of blemishes on it, but the car doesn’t appear to have any major dings or dents. The photos aren’t the greatest, and there is only one showing a limited view of the underside of the vehicle. However, it does appear to be quite clean and solid underneath. My major concern is what appears to be rust that might be appearing around and below the front bumper on the driver’s side of the vehicle. If it is rust, then hopefully it hasn’t advanced too far and can be addressed before it really takes hold of the vehicle.

I get the impression from the text that the owner envisaged this little Fiat as being a father-and-son project for him. However, now that his son has reached the lofty height of 6′ 5″ tall, it probably isn’t a vehicle that is terribly practical for him anymore. This is a shame because these are a great little car, and the interior is definitely capable of seating a person up to 6′ tall. The interior of this Fiat is in remarkably good condition, and it looks like it will need little more than a really good clean to return it to its best. From behind the wheel, the driver gets a nice wheel and a good array of gauges to keep them informed of the car’s general health and well-being. Even though the original radio might appear to be in an inconvenient spot, nothing is really out of reach inside a Fiat 850.

The rear-mounted engine in the Sport Spider is a 903cc 4-cylinder engine, producing 58hp. This might not sound like much, but in a car as light (1,555lbs) as the Spider, it still provides adequate performance. While it will never be the sort of vehicle that will pose a threat to a muscle car, the Sport Spider could still be wound out to a top speed of 93mph. Power is sent to the rear wheels via a 4-speed manual transmission. Unfortunately, the last time the Fiat fired a shot in anger was back in 2005, and the engine hasn’t been started since. However, the owner says that it shouldn’t take much to get it running again, but it would probably pay to give the car a pretty thorough check before turning the key for the first time.

If any potential rust issues in this Fiat 850 Sport Spider are not major, then this car could represent quite an interesting restoration project. The Sport Spider was something of a sales success for Fiat, and more than 140,000 vehicles rolled off the line during nearly 9-years of production. Sadly, rust claimed a great many of these little cars, and while they might not be classed as ultra-rare today, you still don’t see huge numbers of them out and about on our roads. NADA suggests around the $10,000 mark as a potential average value for a Sport Spider, and looking at recent sales results, this appears to be about right. Once this Fiat is restored and back on the road, it really has the potential to be a very enjoyable little Italian classic.