The Fiat 850 has been developed in the early
sixties,
and has been introduced in
the spring of 1964. At the start of its development the
design of the Fiat 600
was taken as a starting point. The Fiat 600 had the
internal
Fiat project code 100,
so the Fiat 850 project became code 100G (G= Grande,
the Italian word for great).
Later on we will see this 100G code back in engine- and
chassisnumbers.
In 1964 only the "Coach" model was introduced. It was
available with two engine types,
the 843 cc 34 HP Normal-version or the 843 cc 37 HP
Super
version.
The Fiat 850 has its engine at the rear of the car like
the Fiat 600.
At the Geneva car exhibition in the spring of 1965
the
"Coupe" and "Spider" model were
introduced. The Coupe with a 843 cc 47 HP engine and
the Spider with a 843 cc 49 HP
engine (see "engine" section of this website for more
details).
Later on we will call this version of the Coupe the
"series
1" version
In February 1968 the Fiat 850 Special was
introduced,
a luxury version of the 850 Coach.
It had the 843 cc 47 HP engine of the 850 Coupe and
disc-brakes
on the front wheels like
the Coupe. From that moment on the 37 HP version of the
Coach was not available anymore.
A fast way to distinguish a Fiat 850 from a Fiat 850
Special are the wheels: the Special has
holes in it for cooling the front disc brakes.
In March 1968 new versions of the Coupe and Spider
were
announced.
Both got the 903 cc 52 HP engine. From the outside they
can be distinguished in the following
way from their predecessors: this model of the 850
Coupe
(the "series 2 model") has now
4 headlights (2 large ones, two small ones) instead of
2, and has 4 rear lights instead of 2.
The Spider from now on has the so-called "vertical
standing
headlights" instead of
"laying headlights".
In one of the last production years of the Fiat 850
coupe
the front design got a change, and
the "series 3" of the Coupe was introduced, it has 4
headlights all of the same size.
Production of the Fiat 850 Coupe was stopped in
november
1971, the production of the Coach
was stopped by Fiat in 1972, but was continued in Spain
as Seat 850.
The Spider production stopped in 1973.
Seat did not only produce the coach (which existed even in a 4-door version which was never built by Fiat) but also the coupe and spider.
Futhermore several Italian companies like Vignale, Moretti and Siata developed and manufactured models based on Fiat 850.
Note that the Fiat 850 engines (in modified form) have been used in later Fiat models such as Fiat 133, Fiat 127, Fiat Panda and Autobianchi A112. Modifications consist of items as different rotation direction (as in Fiat 850 the engine is in the rear of the car), the introduction of electronic ignition and the introduction of an external oil filter. See "engine" part of this website.
Alltogether the Fiat 850 was very succesful. Production quantities: