Fiat does not build many cars like the Fiat 850: a 2-door Sedan (automobile) / saloon / 2-door coupé / 2-door Roadster (automobile) / roadster (Spider) / 4-door minivan (Familiare) / 3-door van (850T) with 817 , built from 1964 to 1973 in the decade that gave the world the pony car and the mid-engined supercar. Its designer of record is Dante Giacosa (saloon) / Felice Mario Boano and Gian Paolo Boano at Centro Stile Fiat (Coupé) / Giorgetto Giugiaro at Gruppo Bertone / Bertone (Spider). Production ran to 2,203,380 cars.
Where it came from
The Fiat 850 (Tipo 100G) is a small rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive car manufactured and marketed by Italian car manufacturer Fiat from 1964 to 1973.
Under the skin
Under the skin sits 817 other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. Kerb weight is 670 kg. The gearbox is a 4-speed Manual transmission / manual / 4-speed Idroconvert/Idromatic Semi-automatic transmission / semi-automatic w/ torque converter. The layout matters: the engine hangs behind the rear axle, a layout that gives ferocious traction out of a corner and a reputation to match on the way in. The wheelbase is 2027 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
Where it sits in Fiat's history is not in doubt: the Fiat 600 came before it; the Fiat 127 / Fiat 133 / Fiat X1/9 (Spider) / Fiat 900T (Familiare & 850T) followed it; it was built at Turin. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Porsche 911, the Plymouth Barracuda, the Nissan Silvia. Nearby in the Fiat catalogue sit the FIAT 702 and the Fiat 1.
The money
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Fiat 850 has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.