A little over a year ago, we featured a FIAT 1500 Familiare as one of our Prime Finds. I haven’t seen another since, although there is currently one for sale in Switzerland. This week, however, we’ve found an almost equally as rare machine (in the UK, at least) in the form of its saloon sibling.
As is often the case with me, the FIAT 1300/1500 is one of those cars that I remember seeing in Germany on family holidays to visit relatives in the ’sixties. There were quite a few of them around in those days, though not here in the UK. Now there are few left anywhere, though more in the UK than I expected – according to howmanyleft.com, there are as many as twenty on our roads, nearly all 1500’s, with a handful SORN.
We covered the background to the launch of the FIAT 1300/1500 in our Prime Find feature on the Familiare, which you can read here, so I’ll only touch on it briefly for this piece. Introduced to the world in 1961, the FIAT 1300 and 1500 were effectively identical except for their engine sizes. Body styles were conventional three-box four-door saloon, five-door estate and an achingly pretty pair in the svelte shapes of a coupé and convertible (spider), both penned by Pininfarina and now generally priced beyond our theoretical budget, though not excessively so.
Alternatives in the small family saloon sector back in the early to mid-1960’s would have included the likes of the Hillman Minx, Ford Cortina Mk 1, VW 1500 Type 3, DKW F102, Lancia Fulvia Berlina, Peugeot 403, Simca 1300/1500 among others– all were rear-wheel-drive except the Lancia – so plenty of choices available in most European markets.
In 1300cc form, the in-line four-cylinder engine pushed out 60bhp, and 75bhp as a 1500, delivered to the rear wheels. This was enough power to enable maximum speeds of 88 and 91 mph respectively, with 0-60mph taking 15 and 19 seconds – not exactly road-melting, but respectable enough for the time.
Although a standard three-box design, the car had some interesting styling features that gave it a distinctive look. The four headlamps at the top edges of the large grille gave the car purpose, and the wrap-around waistline had the door handles neatly integrated into it. All-round visibility was excellent, thanks to a low waistline, large glass area and thinner roof pillars than would ever be allowed today.
Besides Turin, FIAT’s subsidiary factories in Zastava in the former Yugoslavia (for which the car was also named in the local market) and Neckarsulm in Germany also built the car, which goes some way to explaining why I saw so many on those holidays back in the day, and it was also built outside Europe, in South Africa and Argentina. The model was a success, with about 1,900,000 built worldwide until production ended in 1979, although manufacture everywhere except Yugoslavia had ended a dozen years earlier.
Autocar tested both versions soon after they were launched, in December 1961, and had praise for the car’s roominess, all-round visibility, seat comfort, quietness at speed, the interior in general, and considered the FIAT well-priced, although still more expensive than its British rivals. The magazine particularly favoured the 1500, and it is a 1500 saloon that we have found for sale while trawling the interweb this week.
Enough of the background – what about our car? Finished in a bright white with dark tan – ok, brown – interior, the private vendor has run this 1965 example for seven years, having had it resprayed and restored during the first year of his ownership. Work on the car also includes a complete new exhaust system, clutch and brake master cylinders as well as new rubber seals. Photographic documentation of the work is supplied with the car.
The odometer reads a mere 65,000km – though this is not documented – and the Swindon-based seller describes the car as “in very good all-round condition”. Based on the photos we have borrowed from the advert, which you can see here, it certainly looks to be in good shape, and with an asking price of £5,995, it appears to offer very good value – there is currently just one other for sale in the UK for £7,940, and for me, based purely on the adverts, this white example looks the better car.
I really like this characterful ‘60’s FIAT 1500– it looks sharp, is very cool, and is not a car you see very often over here – I can’t recall seeing one at any event over the last half-dozen years, although I’m sure they are more plentiful in Europe. For an entry-level budget classic it represents an excellent opportunity to join our hobby with something that many people will not even recognise, and it would make a really interesting first classic.
As usual, if this rare piece of 1960’s Italian motoring history appeals to you, we recommend arranging prior inspection if possible.
With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us be inspired by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same.
Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro.co.uk