10k: 1971 Fiat 850 Sport Bertone Racer

The Fiat 850 was available as a sedan, coupe, spider and sweet familiare 7 passenger van.  The coupe was styled by famed design house Bertone – and nicknamed the Bertone Racer, but still motivated by the same underpowered rear mounted inline 4.  This 1971 Fiat 850 Sport Bertone Racer is for sale for $12,000 in CA via ebay.

This Fiat 850 looks to be in great shape with stock wheels and a nice deep red (rosso!) paint job that could be original (always a plus!).  It still maintains its original “racer” C-pillar emblems and is a prettier car than the 850 spider.  It was also built in fewer numbers than the spider – by a ratio of 50:1, and in all total about 3000 Bertone Racers were built between 1964 and 1973.  But rare is often mistaken for desirable and 1970s Fiat build quality was at best questionable – it has been said that its easier to close the door on a Jehovah’s witness than a Fiat.

The Fiat Sport 850 is powered by a rear-longitudinal mounted inline 4 cylinder displacing 0.85 liters and putting about 47 horsepower to the rear wheels.  Don’t expect this rear engined rust magnet to do wheelies or even be able to exceed 85 mph, but it should have nimble and fun handing with all that weight in the back.  And by nimble and fun we mean – likely to do the slide backwards into a ditch.

Inside, this Fiat looks to need some freshening or cleaning – but it is hard to tell from a single photograph.  We often are amazed at the total lack of information in an advertisement when people are asking top dollar for a car – and while rare, $12k for a 40 year old Fiat IS top dollar.  It would be acceptable if someone just wanted to sell a car quickly and didn’t want to put time into an ad, but when asking a premium you should at least include 10 good photos of the car.

This seller was nice enough to include a black & white photograph of a car that isn’t for sale in the ebay listing…but an idea of what this car could look like if you put another $5k into it.  Bottom line this is a sweet and rare machine, and it is easy to get spare parts for an old Fiat – just follow another one around.

See another cheap Italian car for sale?  email us here:  tips@dailyturismo.com