Is it due-per? Anyhow, these little Bertone spiders are such fun-looking little cars. People who’ve owned them say that although they’re not fast, they feel quick, and of course there’s the whole thing about having a great time going at 10/10ths in a slow car. There’s also something remarkably sophisticated about them for a car their class – front disc brakes, coils and trailing link suspension at the rear, and simple folding top that hides under a tidy metal cover. And what is better than a car of such elegance and pedigree as the Fiat 850 spider? Two Fiat 850 spiders, for the bargain price of $4000 in Covington, WA.
Even though you can see some imperfections, these really look like decent drivers. Most of the time, they’re restored and pricey (well, Fiat-850-pricey), or sun-fried cars with a free collection of black widows thrown in. The blue car apparently only has surface rust where the paint has chipped, but is otherwise solid. It looks to be a 1968 – 1970 model due to the smaller rear badge and little round side marker lights, and possibly the overrider-less front bumper. The engine on the blue car has recently been out and worked on since the seller purchased it with a dropped valve guide (which itself happened after a rebuild). There have been 5000 miles since the work, which has to be a pretty good sign.
Blue looks pretty mean with the Cromodora CD4 wheels, rollbar, and no top. But red also has its charms – period aftermarket wheels and hardtop, as well as a rebuilt head and replacement transmission. A noise has developed in the drivetrain, which the seller suspects is a driveshaft or transmission bearing. Either way, the later red car, which is likely a 1972 or 1973 model, also looks quite solid.
The seller says he picked up the red car to provide the wheels for blue. The risk with parts cars is you can get stuck into them, and sure enough, the in-the-box alloys that came with blue are now mounted on red, as is the hard top. But they do make for such an attractive pair on the seller’s lawn, no? Apparently, blue’s passenger seat is missing since the seller’s wife was going to reupholster it – check with the seller to see if it comes with the car.
If you don’t have room in your garage or your heart for two itsy bitsy spiders, you could buy the pair and sell the red one for $1K, and still only be $3K in for a stylish small car with only 5000 miles on a rebuild. How is that a bad deal?
Tags: 850, Feature, Fiat, italian, under $2000
Rusty But Trusty 
September 10, 2013 at 3:57 pm |
I read that on the West coast it’s popular to put in aftermarket hotrod VW engines and running gear; turbos, big displacement, etc.and take drag racing. We don’t do that here in Podunk