1969 Fiat 850 Sport Coupe - The Ferrari For The People 

This must be one of the prettiest cars ever - why don't they make anything like this anymore? Ever so stylish without being aggressive.

My Dad had an 850 Sport (rhd) in the early 70s, in Glasgow. It was used for the primary school run with 3-4 kids in the back frequently; my Dad also drove our family of 4, "enthusiastically". He had slept in for a cricket match and drove at 90mph on a 70 mile journey arriving in time to open the bowling. My Mum spent the day drinking G&T to recover. My sister & I were oblivious and happily played Top Trumps in the back seat. Happy Days.

What a joyous car! Coming to this after watching St Harry review a 650BHP BMW M2, the contrast is stark. On the one hand we have a butt-ugly ego pumper which you will never be able to use approaching its full potential, and here we have a beautiful gem of a car which you could use all day every day. Wring its neck and you will still keep your license. Bravo!

I had 5-10 Fiats and Abarths, one 600 and the rest 850's and loved them all. Wish I had them back. The engine is indeed a jewel. You can carry the complete engine in one hand by its exhaust system, and install the engine with a floor jack. Great car for young mechanics. Simple. Even my wife liked them.

My first car ! 🥰 In 1970 my girl friend and I drove with that car from Belgium to Pisa, Italy. We gave it a name : Dolly. In 1972 we married and when there was a baby in 1973, the car became too small and I sold it, which I regret. But the wife I still have. ❤️ And the baby is now 51 and lives near Pisa. ❤️

My father owned a White one like this when I was growing up, and I remember he used to rev high all the time. What great times these were! ❤️

The smile on Jack’s face! Small, light, slow car fun!

Someone in my town, Dartmouth, MA, had one of these in the early 70s. We played together, me in my 67 Karmann Ghia, one some of the local backroads, I couldn’t shake him when I was in front, and visa versa. We swapped cars for 15 minutes or so. The Fiat was much more of a sporty drive than my KG.

Is there a happier RU-vidr than lovely Jack ?

That's a little jewel, love these small, lightweight old cars. The Italians made some beauties.

I had the Fiat 850 Spyder - fragile, rusty and absolutely marvelous. The handling was incredible and the sounds were soul-satisfying.

Hi Jack. Well.....if you're depressed or have had a shitty day. here's the tonic! What a peach. Just lovely. Gorgeous little car......why can't we buy cars like this now? Cheers S

Jack the way that you describe a car's dynamics and handling is getting to be really amazing, you have a great turn of phrase describing technical capability without losing those of us who are completely non technical. Combined with your passion for all things automotive you are delivering output that is superb.

This is real motoring, you engage with the car, the road and the terrain, and every mile is a joy. There is nothing anodyne about this car, or others of its day. You listened to the engine and everything else to ensure that everything was working properly. The only way to drive. Most only drive 20 miles or so a day, no problem for a car like this. Great car, great video. K Ghia was alwful to drive. Go for an Isetta next...

There's something to be said for a car that has low power but great handling. I absolutely loved my '81 FIAT X1/9 - it had (barely) 75 HP stock, but that wasn't the point. Its incredible handling, especially when given 60-series tires instead of the 80s it came with, meant that I almost never had to slow for a corner. Instead, I could throw the thing into the curve, relying on the mid-engine balance to let me carry speed instead of scrubbing it off - and so the SOHC could come out of the corner high into its best revs. After a bit of modification, the power went up but was never world-beating. It was still one of the most fun cars I have ever owned, or even driven. The closest I have some were my 1991 Isuzu Impulse XS (Lotus suspension!) and my current 2013 Boxster S with Sport Chrono package (mind-blowingly great).

My dad rented one, once, when his car was in the repair shop. I think it was 1968. I thought, as a young lad that it looked super-cool. Thanks for the memories.

1982, I was given a mustard yellow RHD by my girlfriend's father. A non runner, needed a little settling but, I didn't appreciate at the time what I had been given. My daily driver, a daimler sovereign, was the comfortable place to be and the little fiat was left unattended. A few years later, time had taken its toll and I ended up scrapping it. Such a shame and something I regret but, at the time I did not realise or appreciate what a little gem it was.

Arguably the prettiest of the 850 coupes , the Mk1 had just single lights , but the twin lights with the slightly smaller inner lights really do set it off. The Mk3 , they switched to larger inner lights which made it look a bit goggle - eyed. Only the Italians could offer such chic styling with a budget car . Fantastic .

We had one, bought brand new, in the early 1970s. You were right about the rear seat; my younger brother and I struggled to fit when I was 7 and he was 5 but we loved it, anyway. Just a great car!

I had one of these 1981-1995. Was a great car and although FE2o3 was starting to eat it away I sold it to a guy who was going to restore it with his son. Putting something under the bonnet improved front end grip no end. I used a bag of sand. After my 128SL it would be a favourite. Great review Jack.

I loved my 850 sports coupe but found it so hard in the early 80s to get parts so I regrettably sold it , today with the internet it's a lot easier to keep old cars on the road , I wish we had the internet back then

Great car from when Fiat made great, interesting, and fun cars. In the early 1970s in the US, I owned a Fiat 850 Spider which was wonderful fun. Please do a video about the 850 Spider. Later I replaced it with a Fiat 128 because I needed a back seat, which was a remarkable design and wonderful car. Please do a video on that car too. Then, I was a great fan of Fiats - I wish those days when Fiat was great would return!

I had two friends, here in Australia, that both had 850 coupes and both in light blue with brown interior. I used to drive both. This was the late 1970’s. We had both engines out and did major work to them and the drove them again. Fantastic little cars.

My mum had one of these when we lived in Rome in the 70s. It was heroic. 50ish brake was sufficient for the time - my only complaint, as a large child, was that the rear seat was cramped. Shotgun was the place to be because mum would let you change gear (when she wasn't on one. She was on one a lot). I had a Cinquecento Sporting in the 90s - 55 BHP in a light body. It wasn't fast in outright terms but it was a complete riot - 'never lift'. In the 70's an 850 Sport must have been hilarious.

My first car was a red 1971 850 Sport Coupe. My father took me shopping for my first car when I was 17. I had a 1971 Suzuki TS 125 and a few hundred dollars. We drove straight to Charlie Williams Import. I had no idea where my father was taking me. The car was brand new sitting in a tiny showroom. I couldn’t believe when he asked me if I would pay him back if he loaned me the money for the car. I said yes I would. I helped lift the car so we could turn it toward the door. The only experience shifting was with motorcycles and a short spin in the Shawnee Mission North parking lot in my friend’s VW. I drove the car home and took pictures of it. I loved that car. It was great around KC but not geared or powerful enough for the highway. I hit the 6400 rpm redline going about 75 down hill on I35. I put headers on it with a glass pack muffler. It sounded amazing. The motor was 903 cc’s but very smooth and peppy. First gear was so short people were always almost running into me as I got underway. My mother would give me $3 and I’d drive around all day with my buddies. I was too young to own that car and didn’t take care of it like I should have. I haven’t seen one since 1976 when my sister bought a well used one, red and toasted from the Tucson sun. She abandoned her Sport Coupe when there was a problem and said I could have it. I started the engine and heard the rod knock. I had just arrived in Tucson with my 1971 Norton 750 Hi Rider. It was an easy decision to stay with the Norton. I never had as much fun driving a car.

You can throw it around the cloverleaf without chirping the tires at 100 km an hour, that's the best fun

Saw this very car in Witney outside our pub the other night. We also have an 850 and couldn’t believe it. This one is a really lovely example 👌🏼 Glad you enjoyed it.. they really are jewels and wonderful to drive around the Cotswolds 👍🏼

A friend owned both a series 1 and a series 2. Great tiny cars. The headers and the little Weber made the engine look like a miniature racing engine. In 1968 they got a 903 cc engine and 52 horsepower and those could get to a bit over 90 mph which in those felt like well over 120 mph :)

standard 52 bhp from an 850 in 1969 is really quite a lot

I had a Fiat 850 in the early 1980s. Such a fun car to drive, loved to rev that engine, once we were camping and had to run through kms of thick mud via back roads to get back to the highway. The 850 just went through the mud like a 4x4 as the light weight meant it didn't stop. Other heavy 4x4 Land Rovers just slid into the ditches. If we wanted to take some larger item home we would slide the passenger seat off its seat rails for a temp spacious cabin. This 850 was a far better car than our classic mini...the 850 had much larger wheels. Yes one adult would sit sideways on the back seat. The electrics were always not working so I would roll start it on some occasions. The 850 would make an excellent goldilocks restoration project.

This car exemplifies just how great class-leading FIAT was for small cars like LANCIA of course Fiat is still great nowadays e.g. 500e by modern standards but the gap has narrowed considerably between rivals but that era was very special under the chairman Gianni Agnelli including Giorgetto Giugiaro in the 1980s that can never be replicated. This car also reminds me of another great small Fiat of the 1970s the 128 Sport Coupe.

A friend of mine had one. The big brother of another friend of mine, had one. That gave me the opportunity to "investigate" this lovely little coupe. I fully understand the smile on his face.

The 850 Coupe was an uncle's dream car, he had a little song that he sang as we drove around the mountains in Reggio Emilia, Ottocento cinquanta coupe, ottocento cinquanta coupe. He replaced his 750 Fiat some years later with a Panda.

I was lucky enough to have one of these as my first car in March 1975, same colour and that was a 1969 model. Years later I worked for Fiat, and I had a 850 special, 127,124S, and a 128. Great fun to drive and with their own characteristics , which are no longer found in today's cars.

If ever a car deserved a set of tailored coco mats. Thanks for the video - your enthusiasm for Italian cars is a joy!

My first car when I passed my test in 1980! Absolutely loved it! I pulled up after driving it in the rain and heard that tick tick coming from the front. "Ah, that'd be the engine cooling......hang on, the engine's behind me!"...... I was listening to the front battery compartment rusting! The battery dropped out soon after! 😂 Had quite a bit of welding done to keep it going, but eventually had to scrap it. 😢 It was a wonderful, fun little car. It cost £50. I'd love another now, but the missus would kill me! 😂

My first car in 1978, in white with a red interior and RHD. I think my later version had a slightly bigger engine - 903cc - but still called 850 Sport. It had a bit of flair compared to the British stuff. Made an 18-year-old feel special. I sold it to buy a Triumph GT6 MkII. Wish I still owned both!

So lovely to see this wonderful littel car again. I have restored one in the Late 80s for my dad. It was a Kind of orange colour and we got it from the first owner. Had to replace the hole front and many other parts and my dad drove it for a couple of years. It was a nice little beast. Thank you so much for showing is this nice little italian car!

My first car in 1985 in NZ! Same colour, i still remember the smell of the interior, LOVED driving it, exactly as you describe. I learned a lot about car repairs....

A time-machine which started nostalgia in many of your viewers, me included. I would stay in it just to bring back from memories lovely moments and emotions and smell and feel of those beautiful past times :)

I owned one just like this as a young man. It really was a lot of fun to drive, and just as pretty in person. I have to say, though, that driving it every day in Los Angeles freeway traffic was kind of terrifying! It felt very, very small indeed on those roads surrounded by all of that big 1970's Detroit iron.

Wonderful to watch. My Mother had one of these OLB730E following an 850 Special NRD738G as she was a bit of a petrolhead. I passed my driving test in OLB730E in 1971. It was obviously a series 1 as there were no foglights and it was a RHD. I had driving lessons in a standard 850 and Fiats were catching on in our neighbourhood my Father had a 125 and the neighbour opposite had a 132. The local Fiat dealership in Reading of that era was RCR of Shinfield. Thanks for a great video.

Thanks Jack & the owner of the Fiat.Brought back some great memories. Had a Red 1966 Series 1.Bought @ 29000 miles in Toronto for $300 in 1969 due to rust holes on top of the front fenders already . Wonderful fun car. I've been looking for one ever since but @ least in Canada NO SURVIVORS : (.

The interior reminds me very much of my 1972 FIAT Spider. That was such a cool little car, when it worked properly, which was not often. But I loved it and think I'd probably enjoy having another one, today. With an additional 40 years of automotive technical and mechanical experience, I believe I _could_ now keep it functioning perfectly well - most of the time. Sadly, most of them dissolved into piles of rust, long ago.

I have driven one in the 1970's and it definitely put a smile on my face.

In the 90's we had a white saloon as family car. Loved that, too, and always wished for a coupe. This version was also included in the service manual.

Brings back memories, my bestfriend had one of these in the late 80's. 3 of us travelled from the Isle of wight to London in it. I occupied the back seat for the journey. She flew on the motoway !

My grandmother drove one of these, and she kept as a baby for many years. in 84 she sadly died, and I got to keep it. Drove it for a couple of years, but it was too far gone, and at the time it was just a silly LITTLE car. I enjoyed it but the girls laughed at my funny little car - witch btw was was rather rare in Denmark!

You even got the four round taillights that Ferrari usually had! What a delightful little car!

Simple engineering that did the job. My dad bought a blue one new in 1969 (TVF437G) from a Fiat garage in Norfolk. He'd wanted a Capri 1600 GT XLR but the waiting list was just too long. It's surprising how nippy that thing was. Did hundreds of miles in it in Uk and on the continent. A bit buzzy at speed, but surprisingly comfortable even as a passenger. Great review, thanks!

Those round rear lights from the standard 850 were those same used by ferrari sportcars and lots of others.

My mother Co drove one from Melbourne to Perth in the late sixties, when the Nullabor Plain was still dirt for hundreds of miles.

I had one back in the 1970's when I was a teenager, it was one of the most fun cars I ever had.

Fantastic little car! My brother in law had the sedan version in the seventies and he drove it like crazy. Sweet memories.

Abarth took the series 1 850 coupes and installed the 1197cc pushrod 124 engine. He bored the block out to 1300cc, installed timing gears to change the crankshaft rotation and installed a 3.70 rear gear set to replace the 4.88 . Of course the radiator was moved to the front of the car behind a nice looking grille. 5.5 inch rims and performance tires and lowered suspension. The result was the 1300/124 ( 1324 in Europe I believe). A fantastic tiny GT car capable of effortless high speed cruising and with the capability to humble much more expensive cars when the road got twisty.

Sweet little car jack as a teenager in the 80s i owned a little 600 always loved the fact its was 4 cylinder water cooled 😂

Beautiful little berlinetta,this car was very popular in Italy.They sold a lot of them because it was nice,easy and fun to drive and was also extremely reliable,with low manteinance costs and low fuel consumption. A kind of little Porsche 911,with the sound of a real sports car,often enhanced fitting a twin pipe Abarth exhaust. Also Skoda had something similar,the 110 R with an air cooled 1.1 litre 4 cylinder engine,50 bhp,that was not fast as this Fiat. After came the 128 Sport with 1.1 or 1.3 litre engines,front wheel drive. The world was slowly changing....

I always LOVED those Coupes. But when I started driving in the late Seventies they were already getting very rare. They were Beauties indeed and my first Fiat 127 had the same engine that could hardly be killed, I had only 45 hp in the 127. What killed those cute cars was rust. A painter in our body shop got one for free. It had been tuned quite a bit with Abarth parts. I specially recall that it had four tiny exhaust tubes. Very happily he drove it and raced home with it for having lunch. When they put it on our lift after he returned and checked underneath they realized that he had been lucky that he had not dropped the engine or lost a wheel. There was hardly any metal left to hold it together. That was 45 years ago and they dumped the car right away. Nowadays you would surely save the engine and a lot of parts from the vehicle.

Thanks, Jack. You brought back memories of our '69 850 shared from new with my 4 brothers. Bright Mediterranean Blue. What fun!

A word on the feeling Jack describes as the tall front tires 'rolling over' in the corners. Most cars designed prior to the mid-late 1970s (more or less) were intended to use 'bias-ply' tires, which have much stiffer sidewalls than 'radial-ply' tires (given equal sidewall height). Consequently, those cars employed less 'negative camber' in their suspension geometry. I think this accounts for that sensation, and also contributes to what is often a general feeling of 'skittishness' or 'squirminess' in older cars running on modern tires.

I saw one of these at a classic car show. Really nice looking car.

These were very popular here in NZ in the 70's even though they attracted a tariff of 45%.A schoolfriend's parents owned an orange one which he brought round to show me once.I was very impressed at the time.I think the engine capacity was actually 903cc if I remember correctly:probably quite fast for the time.They've all long sinced rusted away now sadly.The FIAT 124 Sport was also very popular here.Great styling.

Served my time on these pretty little cars .There is a famous drag racing Fiat coupe that ran a racing big cc VW flat four .

I can confirm children' fitted on the rear seats, I was one when my grandmother owned an 850 coupe in dark blue :).

A family member had one back in the early 70's which i drove a few times and it was terrific. One of my most memorable driving experiences - was disappointed when i arrived at my destination and had to get out. Ditto with a Ritmo in the 90's. Couldn't say the same about subsequent Fiats tho'.

I remember seeing just one of these here in the US. The Spyder was much more popular. If there is a one word description for these it is clearly "adorable."

We had a series one and a series two in the family when I was a kid (in Australia) and I spent a lot of miles on that back seat. Learnt to drive in my aunt's 850 saloon and dad's 124 coupe.

I now the feeling. I did todat a trip with my '74 127 and i got that smile on my face.

I nearly passed on this video but then I see that you Jack was covering it. Love your honest enthusiasm. Great video and lovely little car. Wouldn't it be nice if we could go back and have just enough power instead of acres and acres of which we can't use and mostly can't handle. 👌

cute lovely little car. I was so lucky to have worked on the odd one of these back in the day before they rapidly disolved. our closest equivalent was probably the Sunbeam Stiletto.

Love it. Light, simple and delicately styled. The antithesis of modern cars.

My brother bought one new. That was a wicked little car with a sort of usable back seat. Once he had to take some family friends somewhere and really old lady wound up riding in the back seat.

Thanks for showing off this great car, Jack! You showed how much fun they really are to drive!

Not the best idea to announce that you are speeding on a single lane carriageway (110 km/h = 65 mph) 🤣 Glad you enjoyed the drive as much as we enjoyed your video 👍

Lovely! I am reminded of a gymkhana race sponsored by the Corvette Club held at the Indianapolis Raceway Park in 1969. To their chagrin, the fastest time of the day? A Fiat 850 (with a little help from Abarth). My 124 Coupe didn't do as well.

Erinnert mich an meine Jugend, meine Mutter hatte zwei davon, in gelb und genau in diesem rot. Natürlich mit Kopftuch auf im Tennisoutfit und großer Sonnenbrille 😍…und aus dem Radio trällert Umberto Tozzi mit Gloria ❤❤❤

My second car in 1975 was this one tuned up in green with beige interior. I did a circuit tour of northern Europe with a great shot being ⛴️ ferry offloaded by crane at 🇳🇴 Kristiansand. It did a ton on the 🇩🇪 Autobahns no sweat. Afrer twenty months of mild Atlantic maritime climate, rust killed it at its MoT☹️

In Yugoslavia, we tuned the Zastava 750 (the Yugoslav version of the Fiat 600) with parts from a crashed 850 coupe from Italy... happy days

My dad had one of these Coupe's here in New Zealand in the early to mid-1970s in BRG (or the Fiat equivalent) as our second car. I think it was a 1969 model, but definitely a S2. It was a great little car that I learned to drive in about 1973. I remember doing 90mph at one point (makes me quake in fear to think of that today)! It was screaming at the red line but it didn't miss a beat. Wouldn't have wanted to go round corners at that speed but it was a lot of fun to travel in and was certainly better than the Toyota SR coupe that replaced it! Difference is that the Fiat will have rotted away by now while the Toyota will still be out there somewhere🙂

Had a 1968 fiat 850 sport back in 1981 right hand drive rare car then. I was only 19 years old. Coming through London one night had a race with a mini copper he couldn't lose me great little car only thing was the tin worm it was rotten as a pear pity because it was such a pretty looking car

I used to ride in the back of one of those in the late 60s, as a teenager. It was a bit cramped after a while but fine for an hour or so.

So it's like the X1-9 of the era? Lovely little thing. Thanks Jack. Greetings from the Netherlands

Back when that car was new, there were plentiful Abarth parts available to hop those engines up

Small, light and thrashable, just how a sports car should be!

A real jewel of a car. Fiat were so good with the smaller car. My favourite would be the 128. Just wonderful things.

I had a red one LHD in the 80's which had a number of Abarth goodies on it, the shell was rotten, but the engine was a peach- it revved to 7k plus ( on a pushrod ohv!) which was madly noisy. I used to wear ear defenders or a helmet. I used to race Porsche 924 s and xr3 s . However, the handling was okay provided you didnt lift off on a corner as It was a hammer on a string when the rear let go! The fuel filler directly above the exhaust ( as well as the tank!) was an eye-opener

I believe these Fiat 850 engines turned anti clockwise which made engine swaps interesting

I was a boy in high school here in Texas in 1969. We loved British sports cars and yes, the Karmann-Ghia was quite popular. But--in a state where one can drive from dawn to dusk and still not be across the state, FIAT cars were simply far too delicate. They never sold well here. Only in the Northeast US and Cali would one see these cars, where people didn't drive the same distances. Me? I'd have picked a Midget or Spitfire over any of the 850 variants. Great video! You pick some really beautiful roadway to film with your guest cars.

I sold mine nearly thirty years ago, and wish I hadn't. This model is vanishingly rare in the UK in RHD, only 33 I believe in the UK when I owned mine.

Our Uncle Tom had one of these. A delightful little car.

I had a '71 and '73 850 Spider in the US (903cc engines)... if it wasn't for the propensity of the fuel tank to rust out and clog up the fuel filter ... they would have been awesome little cars. The sound of that little engine brings back memories of driving from south Denver up to Boulder, Colorado for classes at Colorado University. I had to get rid of the 71 because I couldn't afford to have the fuel tank replaced and it became unpredictable when it would just run out of fuel pressure due to clogging.

My young auto-lust was strong for this one back in the day, top stuff 👍

There was a time in history when Italy made the best cars? They did? Fun video!

Next get hold of the 850 convertible! They are wonderful too! From the days when the Italians made some of the very best cars… Look how many won “Car of the Year”!

Cars that you can scream to the limit in every gear are so much fun. Reminds me of my old Alfa Sud Ti 1.5

This little adorable car seems to give you bigger smiles than super powerful cars :)

I remember these Fiat 850s when they were new and always wondered what they were like to drive but thanks to you l now know

Bought one of these off a mate for my then girlfriend. Paid £100 for it in 1981, brilliant car. Downside was he had rolled it up onto the drivers door handle the day after the MOT and it wasn't straight. I adjusted everything so it drove straight but of course it failed its MOT when the year ended and it got scrapped. Very rare, I don't think we ever saw another one.

Beautiful little car and a great review that brought back some very happy memories. I had a 69 G-reg 850 Sport Coupe in Positano Giallo 2005 to 2009, a UK reg car RHD with 42k miles on her and absolutely loved the drive and the attention she got.

Thanks Jack ,that brings some memories. I had a few of these when I first started working in a garage, early 80's. They didn't cope well with Australian summers or Aussie water and were at the end of their lives so they didn't last long. I remember that it was the first engine I ever rebuilt and the parts were incredibly cheap: I put in new pistons and bearings, and an exhaust on it for less than the cost of a single tail light for a Silver Shadow Series 1. I sold the engine to another garage because I had no good bodies to put it into, and they needed one for a customer: I learned from that to never fit anything unless you fit it properly, because I just spun the oil pressure sender in without tightening it, thinking I would get to that later. Of course it sprayed oil all over when it started up, made a right mess. Sorry Pat, did you dirty there...