Description
The Fiat 850 was introduced as a two-door saloon in 1964 to replace the 600 with a more powerful 843cc engine. The sport coupé and spider appeared in 1965, both drew praise from testers of the day for having a decent turn of speed and excellent handling, Road and Track magazine described the coupé as ‘One of the best balanced and handsome designs available’. It is a little known fact that they were designed by one-time Ferrari designer Boano. The engines had higher compression pistons than the saloon with around 25% more power and would do nearly 50mpg, they also had disc front brakes as well as other improvements. It was revised in 1968 with twin headlights and rear lights, plus a 903cc engine but lost some of the finer detailing, charm and proportion of the original Boano design. There were several Abarth versions with 1000-2000cc engines.
Offered from the estate of a significant private collector of many cars, motorcycles and military vehicles, this wonderful little car is presented in a very period shade of yellow with a black leatherette interior. This is surely one of the nicest examples around and is hugely entertaining little sports car with bags of character!
