Fiat 850 Sport Coupé S1, 1965
Fiat 850
Fiat 850•
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Chassis No.: 074076
Registration: JUX 334D
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.
This car was first registered in Udine on 25th of May 1966 to a Mr Calligrafi, he owned the car until 1st of March 1999 when it was sold to Ermanno Bonamini. Mr Bonamini sold it last year to a gentleman who the present owner bought it from. The car has been recently recommissioned as it had been virtually unused, the current vendor states the engine has been refreshed and is running extremely well. The gearbox and drivetrain are faultless and make no undue noise. The flexible hoses and rear wheel cylinders have been replaced as they were suffering from lack of use. The brakes work well and the car has recently had four new tyres, fresh oil and a carburettor fitted.
The fuel pump and shock absorbers have been rebuilt and the car underwent a very high quality respray, the chrome is in very good condition with a deep shine and no pitting or corrosion.
Everything works; the gauges function as they should, the windows open and shut easily, the doors shut with a pleasing clunk and are a good fit. The seats are the original and look almost new, the rubber floor mats are brand new to original specification and with original spec over mats, the boot mat has also been replaced as the original one become brittle. This wonderful little car is presented with the original jack and full toolkit. This must be one of the nicest examples of this pocket size sports car available, and one that will keep you grinning!
