SEAT does not build many cars like the SEAT 1500: a 4-door saloon / 5-door estate / pick-up with 1,481 cc I4, built from 1963 to 1973 in the decade that gave the world the pony car and the mid-engined supercar. Its designer of record is Dante Giacosa.
Where it came from
The SEAT 1500 was a Spanish-built 6-seater model of saloon and estate cars, based on the Italian Fiat 2300 and using a 1481 cc engine from the Fiat 1500. The 1500 was the successor to the SEAT 1400 C; it was manufactured from 1963 to 1973, with the five door estate ("Familiar") version arriving in 1965.
Apart from the larger engine, differences between the 1500 and the C version of its predecessor were limited to minor details such as a speedometer that now read up to 160 km/h (100 mph). There was also a '1500 pick-up' offered, and the coach builder ONECA developed a long-wheelbase 'pullman' version. A total of 134,766 cars were built.
Under the skin
Under the skin sits 1,481 cc I4; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. Kerb weight is 1210 kg. The gearbox is a 4-speed manual. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 265 cm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
Where it sits in SEAT's history is not in doubt: the SEAT 1400 came before it; the SEAT 132 followed it; it was built at Barcelona (Zona Franca), Spain. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Aston Martin DB5, the Maserati Quattroporte, the Pontiac GTO. Nearby in the SEAT catalogue sit the SEAT 124 and the SEAT 133.
The money
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the SEAT 1500 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.