NEW! Award 111: 1967 Fiat 850 Coupe – Sold?

January 26, 2023, Update – We confirmed the listing for this “Classifind” expired, so with no replacement found, we’re assuming this ride is “Sold?” While this one got away, please reach out either by email or call us directly if you’d like to be informed when we come across something similar.

Fiat’s late 1960s line of rear-engined, water-cooled 850 cars, while somewhat popular across parts of Europe, never really gained traction here in the U.S. While the two-seat 850 Spider enjoyed mild sales success, even rarer to find are fastback styled 850 Coupes such as this red over dark saddle 1967 example last listed in December 2022 on Craigslist in New Albany, Ohio (Columbus).  The seller notes he imported their 850 Spider from Italy, where a famous chef owned it, and the Italian government has recognized the car. While the seller does not explicitly confirm it, with only 54K original miles, we’re assuming this is a low-mileage, survivor-quality example.

Last offered for $29,500, Classic.com, the analytics and search engine for the collector car market, confirms the ask will be a new record based on this guide’s summary for Fiat 850 Coupes produced between 1965 and 1971.  By clicking on the green dots in the graph below, you can navigate to each comparable car sold as a way to help you evaluate the price of the 850 featured here:

As a second data point, the  Collector Car Market Review Online Tool reveals the seller’s ask is over double this guide’s #1 “Excellent” appraisal of only $12,400.  As nice as this 1967 Fiat 850 Spider is, the seller’s ask of nearly thirty large for a car model that has barely been able to break the $20K mark is an optimistic stretch, even for what appears to be a low-mileage survivor.  Consequently, we’re giving the seller our latest “NEW!” (short for “No Effin Way!”) Award for listing their Fiat at a price that is out of touch with current market trends.

Fiat produced its full line of 850 cars from 1964 through 1973 based on the evolution of the company’s successful Fiat 600. While the 850’s engine was based on that of the Fiat 600, the former had its capacity increased to 843 cubic centimeters. The 850 came in two versions: “normale” (standard) with 34 horsepower and “super” with 37 horsepower. Designed primarily for navigating city streets, the maximum speed of these cars is just under eighty miles per hour with a leisurely acceleration curve to get you to that terminal velocity. While it was not a large step forward in technical development, it possessed a charm with its large rolling eyes and short tail, in which the engine sat.

At the time of their introduction into the United States, the Sedan, Coupé, and Spider were marketed with a reduced capacity, high compression 817 cubic centimeter (50 cubic inch) engine to beat US emissions regulations at the time, which applied only to engines equal to or larger than 50 cubic inches. Compression was raised from 8.8:1 to 9.2:1, requiring premium octane fuel.

To separate the sportier variants Coupé and Spider from the sedan, apart from the increase of engine performance, the equipment was also extended and adapted to the higher expectations. Both received sport seats, a sport steering wheel, and a round speedometer.  The front drum brakes were replaced with disc brakes, while drum brakes remained on the rear wheels.

The Petrolicious YouTube Channel features this video giving a modern perspective of driving a 1967 Fiat 850 Coupe:

This 1967 Fiat 850 Coupe appears to be a very nice example of what is a very rare car.  What is not clear from the seller’s description is whether their Fiat is a very well-detailed survivor example or if the car has been restored at some point.

Here’s the seller’s description:

Show or go: What would you do with this 1967 Fiat 850 Coupe For Sale?  Please comment below and let us know!