Fiat 850

Fiat 850 at a glance

A bigger 600 with an 843 cc engine

Fiat launched the 850 as the successor to the 600. The saloon kept the 600's rear-engine layout, front suspension and rear swing arms, but the engine grew from the 600D's 767 cc to 843 cc. Dante Giacosa, Fiat's chief engineer, planned the 850 as a platform that could carry several bodies.

The saloon arrived in May 1964 in two versions: the Normale with 25 kW (34 PS) and the Super with 27 kW (37 PS). Top speed was about 120-125 km/h. From the mid-1960s the Idroconvert option added an automatic clutch with a torque converter to the four-speed gearbox, but it sold poorly. In 1968 the Special replaced the Super, with a Weber twin-choke carburettor, 9.3:1 compression and 35 kW (47 PS), plus chrome trim and a 160 km/h speedometer.

The family also included the Familiare, a seven-seat minibus that succeeded the 600 Multipla, and the 850T van. Fiat built the Familiare until 1976, longer than any other 850.

Two sporting bodies on one floorpan

Both sports models used the saloon's floorpan, wheelbase and running gear. The Coupé, styled in-house at the Centro Stile, had 35 kW (47 PS) and reached 135 km/h. Road & Track called it in 1967 "one of the handsomest, best-balanced designs ever seen on a small car." The Spider, styled by Giugiaro and built by Bertone at Grugliasco, had 36 kW (49 PS), front disc brakes and weighed 725 kg. Its top speed was about 145 km/h.

In 1968 both became the Sport Coupé and Sport Spider with a 903 cc engine of 38 kW (52 PS). The Coupé gained a longer tail with four round rear lights; the Spider got a new front end. A short-lived third-series Coupé followed in 1971.

For the United States, Fiat cut capacity to 817 cc to stay under the 50 cubic inch limit that triggered emissions rules. Production figures for the sports models vary: Hagerty UK gives about 380,000 Coupés and 140,000 Spiders, while Classic & Sports Car lists 342,873 and 124,600.

Licence builds and Abarth specials

In Spain, SEAT built the 850 from 1966 to 1974, including two four-door saloons designed by Francis Lombardi. In Heilbronn, NSU-Fiat assembled 6,619 cars as the Neckar Adria between June 1965 and September 1969, and Pirin-Fiat in Bulgaria assembled kits from 1967 to 1971. The Yugoslav maker Zastava used the 850T as the base of its 430 van from 1970.

Abarth went much further. The OT 850 saloon of 1964 had 33 kW (44 hp), the OT 1000 Coupé and Spider of 1965 reached 155-160 km/h, and the OT 2000 Coupé America produced 138 kW (185 hp); only three were made. Vignale built about 70 coupés and convertibles to a Michelotti design.

Replaced by the 127, 128 and X1/9

From 1971 the front-wheel-drive Fiat 127 replaced the saloon, using an engine developed from the 903 cc unit. The Coupé was dropped first and the Spider last; Classic & Sports Car names the mid-engined X1/9 as its replacement for 1973. The 900T of 1976 replaced the Familiare and the van. In its class the 850 competed with the Simca 1000, another rear-engined saloon of the 1960s, and it sat above the Fiat Nuova 500 in Fiat's range.

Fiat 850 today: what to check when buying

Rust is the main problem. Hagerty UK lists panel joins, sills, doors, wings, screen surrounds, suspension mounts, jacking points, floorpans, the front boot floor and the inner wings. In the United States, a recall issued between 1978 and 1983 covered rust on cars going back about ten years.

Mechanical points:

• The radiator is marginal; a re-core or thicker core helps, and hoses and antifreeze need checking.
• Engine-bay heat cracks distributor caps and damages HT leads.
• The differential casing can develop hairline cracks and oil leaks.
• Front kingpins need regular greasing.

Seat retrim kits and common Fiat electrical parts are available, while rare trim, especially for the third-series Coupé, is hard to find. Few cars remain in Britain, so many buyers import from mainland Europe or the United States.

Hagerty UK's buyer's guide (June 2025) gives these values, converted at about 1.15: a running saloon from GBP 3,000 (about EUR 3,450) and a tidy one around GBP 8,000 (about EUR 9,200); the best Coupés up to GBP 14,500 (about EUR 16,700); Spiders from GBP 12,000 (about EUR 13,800) in good condition to GBP 20,500 (about EUR 23,600) for the best. The Fiat catalogue lists the brand's other models, and more small cars of the decade are in our classic cars section.