Along came a topless 850: 1967 Fiat 850 Spider brochure
Posted on Oct 24, 2017 in Featured | 2 comments
Fiat created an inexpensive and youthful masterpiece with their new-in-the-USA-for-1967 850 Spider, an open-top sibling to the equally new and pretty 850 Sport Coupe. While the Sport Coupe was styled by Felice and Gian Boano and built in-house at Fiat, the Spider came from the pens and craftsmen at Bertone.
Its design was clever, combining the 850 platform’s water-cooled, rear-mounted longitudinal four-cylinder with a front trunk, notably roomy cabin, integrated metal convertible top boot and aerodynamic lines. Its two-barrel-carbureted 843-cc engine made 52 hp that went to the rear wheels through a four-speed manual, and performance was nippy, considering its circa-1,600-pound curb weight, fully independent suspension and incredible 15-foot, 3/4-inch turning circle. Highway mileage could easily top 40 MPG, too.
This four-page 850 Spider brochure is undated, and was printed in Italy by Gros Monti & C., Torino. It shows the European version with flush glass headlamps and slender overrider-less bumpers; those imported to America this year did wear glass-covered headlamps of a different design, as well as rubber-tipped bumper overriders. It also illustrates the 850’s folding clever convertible top and optional removable hard top.
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The brochure is really cool! States that the top speed is over 90mph. I test drove a used one around 1980, it was fun but pretty tame in acceleration.
As someone who purchased and restored a TR6, a car I once owned and loved in my youth, we all tend to remember those cars as being better than they actually were.