Fiat 850 family: the people’s choice

By Simon Hucknall

| 6 Dec 2024

Classic & Sports Car – Fiat 850 family: people’s choice

Wasn’t the world a far more interesting place when cars had a genuine national identity?

Not by dint of slapping a badge on a Eurobox with a mildly restyled body, underpinning it with a chassis and mechanicals common to 14 other brands and 100-odd other models; but cars that you chose simply because they were British, German, Italian or whatever, and because their then well-defined characteristics aligned with your buying criteria – or perhaps even attuned with your own sensibilities.

The Fiat 850 was one such car.

The Amigo 900E camper exemplifies Fiat’s diverse 850 line-up

Like the rear-engined 600 and Nuova 500 models that had gone before, it was archetypically Italian, from its zingy, rev-happy engine to its pert and petite lines, no matter the derivative.

While the 850 was little more than essential transport for millions in basic Normale or Familiare guises, it also created an enthusiast following with sporty Coupé and Spider versions, each of which looked like little doses of scaled-down exotica.

All four are here with us today, and instantly the world is a happier place.

‘The basic Fiat 850 was essential transport for millions, but the sporty Coupé [above] and Spider versions look like little doses of scaled-down exotica’

It is slightly ironic that Dante Giacosa, Fiat’s legendary design engineer and father of the 500, 600 and 850 models, became a poster boy for front-wheel drive in his final years, establishing with the Primula – from (Fiat-owned) Autobianchi – and the Fiat 128 a template for most modern front-drive cars.

But launching that technology en masse would have been commercial suicide 60 years ago, especially in Italy where Fiat held 70% of the new-car market and most buyers were well used to rear-engined, rear-drive motoring.

However, after nine years in the market, the larger of the two rear-engined models, the 600 – and its Multipla sibling – was looking outdated and slow, despite its Tipo 100 engine growing from 633cc to 767cc in that time.

The standard Fiat 850 Normale is an entertaining steer on the right road

The 850 range, with Berlina (saloon) and 850T/Familiare (van and people-carrier), was Giacosa’s typically innovative and cost-effective response.

Making their first appearance in 1964, the new models carried over the 600’s front upper-wishbone/transverse leaf spring and rear semi-trailing arm/coil spring suspension arrangement with little revision, save the addition of an anti-roll bar at each end.

The outgoing model’s engine was also kept, bored out to 843cc, with power increasing from 29bhp to 34bhp, in turn raising top speed from 68 to 75mph.

The Fiat 850 Normale gets by with 843cc and 34bhp

The four-cylinder Tipo 100 had launched with the 600 in 1955 and was contemporary without being particularly advanced.

Its three-bearing crankshaft was set into an iron block, with a side-mounted camshaft operating overhead valves, via pushrods, in an aluminium cylinder head.

Easing the cost of servicing, a centrifugal oil filter was used, integrated within the crankshaft pulley.

However, the 850 ditched the 600’s gearbox in favour of an all-synchromesh four-speed unit with spiral-bevel final drive.

The Fiat 850 Sport Coupé’s ‘frunk’ houses the spare wheel

The most significant improvements, though, came through superior packaging versus the outgoing model.

While the 850’s wheelbase only increased by around 1in, it was almost a foot longer than the 600 and 2in wider, with its rear track growing by 2⅓in for improved rear stability.

The extra length came mainly from a longer rear overhang; four doors and a more Simca 1000-like three-box design were mooted in early prototypes, but cost considerations, as well as poor aerodynamic performance, resulted in the two-door body with a short rear ‘notch’ that went into production.

The fuel tank was moved from the front of the car to between the rear seat and engine, which both liberated more luggage space and improved safety.

The compact Fiat 900E Amigo campervan prefers not to be hurried

If anything, Giacosa’s approach to the 850 van and people-carrier was more conventional.

Gone was the Multipla’s distinctive ‘is it coming or going?’ design, replaced by a more upright and boxy body, which, in Familiare guise, could accommodate seven over three rows of seats.

It was perhaps due to the relative timelessness of this new model’s design, and its later popularity as a camper (as here), that it was to outlast all other 850s, with the final vehicles produced as late as 1986, some 22 years after launch.

The Fiat 850 Normale’s cute Dante Giacosa styling

Graham Horne’s 1967 850 Normale saloon is a good starting point for today.

As a callow teenager I owned not one but three Seat-built 850s, and this is the first time I’ve driven one on the road for more than 40 years.

In its basic form, such as this, the 850 would have been integral to any ’60s Italian street scene.

Inside, there’s nothing bar the essential: a small pod containing a horizontal speedo, four warning lights and a fuel gauge; three switches for headlights, one-speed wipers and instrument backlighting; plus column stalks for indicators and dipped/full beam (although the product team went wild with a two-speed heater fan).

Basic cabin for the Fiat 850 Normale

Rubber covers the entire floor and painted metal proliferates – even around the inside of the roof, with only a thin layer of insulating rubber where normally you’d find headlining.

Amusingly, the doorhandles are straight out of a Ferrari 275, but without the chrome plating.

Aged 17, I probably kidded myself that the 850 was fast-ish but, even tasked with powering a slip of a car weighing 670kg, it was never going to burn rubber with just 34bhp.

It does feel instantly peppy, though.

The Fiat 850 Normale’s basic cabin features a horizontal speedometer

Given how remote the gearlever is from its ’box at the rear, the shift quality is relatively short and precise, and you start to enjoy the challenge of working the little engine to extract its meagre performance.

Even with so little cabin insulation, the 850 is quite refined, leaving much of its engine noise behind (despite this car’s non-standard four-branch manifold and large-bore twin tailpipes, which Graham is planning to swap for standard items).

Its motor is smoother and more refined than a Mini’s A-series, and I’m already looking forward to what the mildly tuned units in the Coupé and Spider will offer.

The Fiat 850 Sport Coupé’s proportions are very different to the Normale’s, despite its shared wheelbase

Buzzing down undulating B-roads feels a bit like piloting an old-school Porsche 911, with plenty of vertical body movement at the front combined with delightfully light and reasonably precise, high-geared steering.

We’ll delve deeper into the handling shortly with the more potent 850s, but as I finish my drive of this Normale, at least my positive memories remain intact.

It didn’t take Fiat long to realise the 850’s sporting potential, either.

At the 1965 Geneva Salon it presented the 850 Coupé and Spider, both with an impressive menu of upgrades over the cooking Normale and slightly more powerful Super saloons.

Inside, the Fiat 850 Sport Coupé gets faux wood and bold clocks

Their engines still displaced 843cc, but were fitted with twin-choke Weber 28/36 carburettors, reprofiled camshafts and four-branch exhaust manifolds to deliver 47bhp – a 40% increase produced 1200rpm higher at 6200rpm.

Catering for the extra performance, both cars rode on larger, 13in ventilated wheels, with disc brakes replacing the Normale’s front drums.

However, both ‘our’ test cars pick up the further revisions made as part of a second-series refresh in 1968, at the same time adopting a ‘Sport’ prefix to their names.

This second-generation Fiat 850 Sport Coupé makes 52bhp

The Super saloon was replaced by a new Special model, which became something of a Q-car by incorporating the chassis and engine changes previously reserved for hotter 850s, while the Sport Coupé and Sport Spider’s engines were bored out to 903cc to give 52bhp and a top speed increased to just shy of 90mph.

Cath Lange’s ’68 Sport Coupé, imported from Tuscany two years ago, is a superb example.

It is identifiable as a facelifted car by its four headlights (earlier Coupés had two), retains Fiat’s original factory specification and rides on attractive Campagnolo alloys, which were a period dealer option.

Unlike the Spider, the Coupé was styled in-house by the company’s Centro Stile department.

This 1968 Fiat 850 Sport Coupé’s four headlights mark it out as a facelifted model

Fiat UK branded it ‘Britain’s lowest-priced 2+2 GT’ with a list price of £870 – a £289 premium over the basic 850 saloon.

Slightly longer than the saloon, by 33mm, its styling had more than a hint of Fiat’s forthcoming 124 Coupé and even – if you squint a bit – Bertone’s 1966 Fiat Dino Coupé.

The 850 Coupé’s cabin was transformed, too, with large clocks for speed and revs in the binnacle, a natty faux-wood two-spoke steering wheel and more of the same running the width of the dashboard.

Application of trim in general was less parsimonious than in the Normale and, while there was less rear headroom than in the saloon, the rear bench was a deal more sumptuous – as were the front seats.

The Fiat 850 Sport Spider’s design was by Giorgetto Giugiaro

Viewed from any angle, it seems impossible that the Coupé is related to the saloon, from its more pronounced front wings to the long sweep of its C-pillar down to a sloping engine cover and Kamm tail, inset with four circular tail-lights.

Inside, the ribbed vinyl seats have at least some bolstering to hold you in place, too.

Fire up, and the busy hum from the rear is perhaps a tad more vocal than it is in the saloon, but it’s by no means intrusive.

Once you are used to the clutch’s high biting point, the Coupé encourages an enthusiastic driving style, helped by a freer-breathing engine that relishes being extended towards its higher redline.

The Fiat 850 Sport Spider adds more dials, plus a dealer-fitted centre console

The driving position favours those of a more slender build – my left shoulder is in permanent contact with the door – and there’s plenty of pedal offset to the right in this left-hand-drive car.

But you soon get into the Coupé’s groove.

On our twisty, cambered test route, it still bobs up and down at the front like the saloon, but the additional power reveals more about the chassis’ competence.

The ride is supple on 80-profile, 155-section tyres, yet there is plenty of control at speed.

A 20kg weight penalty takes the edge off the Fiat 850 Sport Spider’s 52bhp output

Steering is light and high-geared, as before, and delicate and full of feel on turn-in, but it’s slightly vague at the straight-ahead; it’s worse on windswept roads, when constant corrections are needed.

It defaults to understeer when pushed, but clings on gamely at the rear, and throttling off mid-bend merely quells front slippage.

There isn’t enough poke for lurid tail slides, at least in the dry.

On driver engagement alone, the Coupé would be my car of choice.

The Fiat 850 ditched the 600’s gearbox in favour of an all-synchromesh four-speed unit

Aesthetically, however, the 850 Spider is the glamourpuss of our quartet.

Designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro at Bertone and built by the Torinese carrozzeria, it wasn’t imported to the UK officially.

Rob Anzalone’s 1972 car is not only a second-series model, identifiable by exposed headlights (faired in on earlier cars) among other cosmetic changes, but also one of the very last Sport Spider 850s produced.

Imported from Ohio six years ago, hence the side repeaters on the wings, Rob says it’s a car close to his heart and Sicilian heritage: “I love its Italian spirit, it makes me smile every time I drive it.”

The Fiat 850 Sport Spider’s La Dolce Vita vibe isn’t interrupted by scuttle shake

You can see why. This was the only two-seater 850 and, with its fabric roof folded neatly out of sight below a steel flap, a long, perfectly flat rear deck is created behind the seats.

Inside there’s yet another different dash layout, with a faux-wood-backed binnacle housing two main and three secondary dials, plus a similarly trimmed, non-factory centre console fitted by the US dealer when new.

The Spider’s structure is impressively rigid, with only the most brittle surfaces creating some wobble through the column.

Other than that, its chassis dynamics are very similar to those of the Coupé.

This Fiat Amigo camper is a later 900E

The slight downside is that the extra reinforcement needed to achieve structural parity adds around 20kg (figures vary), which dulls its performance a little versus the Coupé.

But with side windows down, your elbow jutting out (more comfortable that way) and the Veglia Borletti tacho’s needle hovering in its upper reaches, you’re no longer in chilly Buckinghamshire but (in your mind) motoring around the sun-kissed shores of Lake Como, with the Spider’s crisp exhaust timbre bouncing off the walls of trattorie.

It would take a while to reach the Italian Lakes in ‘our’ 900E Amigo, but at least you’d avoid the outrageous hotel charges if you stayed overnight.

Steven Grove’s 1982 model is the last of a line that started in 1964 with the 850 Familiare and 850T (commercial).

The Fiat Amigo 900E campervan’s cleverly adaptable interior

In 1970 the range was refreshed, with the Familiare benefitting from the 903cc engine.

But the most significant changes came in ’76, with the 900T and its taller roof, larger windscreen, 12in wheels, and redesigned grille and bumpers.

In the UK this begat the Amigo 900T camper, as here, which received another mild facelift in 1980 to become the 900E, and with it the rather clumsy addition of some Fiat 127 Special instruments across the dashboard.

But you cannot fault the cleverness of the Amigo’s conversion.

The Fiat Amigo 900E camper’s engine noise is suppressed by camping kit

This is another trip down memory lane for me: my folks bought one new in 1978 and we used it for our holidays, yours truly nestling in one of the ‘upstairs’ hammocks that folded out after the side-hinged roof was lifted.

Steven’s later version sleeps three: front and rear seats ‘downstairs’ combine with the fold-down table to make one bed, while two more sleep in the upper level with the roof popped up and a frame extending the canvas side a couple of feet proud of the van’s body.

The galley comprises a small hob and adjacent sink above the engine, with various cupboards between the two.

The front passenger and driver’s seat also flip to face rearwards into the living area.

The Fiat Amigo 900E campervan’s driver sits well forward, with the steering wheel near to horizontal

You’d need to be very organised for it not to descend into Carry On Camping chaos, but it’s a neat and compact holidaymaker.

With the mechanicals buried beneath so much home-from-home gubbins, the Amigo is easily the most refined member of our 850 group: its engine sounds more like a high-speed fan in this application.

You sit high above the front axle, with your feet mere inches from the front bodywork, giving an unparalleled view of the road.

The Fiat Amigo 900E camper’s flat front makes parallel parking a doddle

The steering wheel is positioned near-horizontally and, once under way, you soon acclimatise to the Amigo’s somewhat bouncy gait and sedate progress.

But it’s an endearing way to meander down country lanes when time is not of the essence.

The fact that the Amigo can rightly be viewed as a classic vehicle and enjoy historic registration status makes it far more than just an alternative campervan, too.

The diminutive but multi-million-selling Fiat 850 is now an endearing classic car

Few cars have immortalised their nation’s automotive character more than the Fiat 850.

Did that account for its success – especially as a Coupé or Spider – outside of Italy?

I’d wager it did. Either way, today it provides a rare and refreshing option to the more ubiquitous Mini or Hillman Imp – with a touch of La Dolce Vita thrown in for good measure.

Images: Max Edleston

Thanks to: Storacar

Factfiles

Fiat 850 Normale

Sold/number built 1964-’71/2.3 million (all 850 models)
Construction steel monocoque
Engine iron-block, alloy-head, ohv 843cc ‘four’, single-choke Solex carburettor
Max power 34bhp @ 5000rpm
Max torque 37lb ft @ 2800rpm
Transmission four-speed manual, RWD
Suspension independent, at front by wishbones, transverse leaf spring rear semi-trailing arms, coil springs; telescopic dampers, anti-roll bar f/r
Steering worm and roller
Brakes drums
Length 11ft 8¾in (3575mm)
Width 4ft 8¼in (1425mm)
Height 4ft 6½in (1385mm)
Wheelbase 6ft 7¾in (2027mm)
Weight 1477lb (670kg)
Mpg 35.5
0-60mph 26.8 secs
Top speed 75mph
Price new £581 (1968)
Value now £3500-5500*