A clean Fiat Barchetta is a car for - to be trite - living in the moment. No track-use mods to plan for, no insane maintenance tasks to put off for a later date, no got-to-have-it upgrades that you car is missing; just you and your 5-speed roadster with an attention to design that would make it difficult to ask for more.
From the shape, to the cool 90s details like the body color on the door panels, to the headlight and taillight designs, to the white gauges - everything on the Barchetta is designed with an attention to detail that is rare in cars today. The price for all of this is a FWD layout, which is fine for the intended us of the Barchetta, but won't win anyone over on the track, we suspect.
With any brand of automobile, we find that there are always certain models that the enthusiasts just can't seem to embrace. Think along the lines of the BMW X4, for example. In the Alfa Romeo lineup, we would offer the 145 as an example of an unloveable model. And yet, while visiting some Alfa Romeo transaxle car enthusiasts in Germany, we were surprised to find that they were fans and owners of the 145, citing its performance as a daily driver.
These 3-door Alfa hatchbacks were the work of American Chris Bangle during his tenure at Centro Stile Fiat. We see what he was going for, but don't expect one of these to garner compliments at the gas pump. This example is painted in a color similar to BMW's Phoenixgelb, and really doubles down when it comes to acquired taste.
When browsing for Fiats online, every so often an 850 Spider will show up among the sea of 124 Spiders and X1/9s. An 850 Coupé, though, is a rare sight in the classifieds. We can't even claim to have ever seen one on the road ourselves. Around 340,000 Coupés were manufactured, though the majority of the 140,000 850s the made it to US shores were Spiders.
The OHV 4-cylinder engine was water-cooled like in its Fiat 600 predecessor, with the radiator mounted along with the fuel tank and engine in the rear engine compartment. The 903cc engine here produced 58bhp and was tasked with moving only ~1,600lb down the road.
Yesterday we saw a diminutive Chevy Spark packed to the gills with five passengers and some merchandise from their shopping trip. In Michigan, where a Jeep Grand Cherokee is seen as reasonable transportation for a single adult, it's uncommon to see a sub-compact used to haul so many passengers.
And yet, it's not the Spark that is being misused - it's the Jeep, once reserved for Forest Service or similar duty, that is being used outside of its intended use. A car like today's Fiat 126P might come across as a city car, or fun hatchback to whip around in, but it was designed and utilized as a family car for millions in Europe. It's incredible how perspectives can change.
We have trouble keeping track of the various models, but it seems that Zagato has had a hand in a number of rare machines over the years. The examples that stick out to us are the various Aston Martin Zagatos, the Alfa Junior Zagato, Alfa 2600 Zagato, and the Lancia Sport Zagato. Then, of course, there is the Alfa Romeo SZ and RZ.
While Zagato played a role in building the SZ, the vehicle was actually styled in a joint effort between Zagato, Fiat, and Alfa. Utilizing CAD software and Fiat's wind tunnel, the team achieved an impressive 0.30 Cd, which led to a top speed of 152mph when all (or most) of the Busso V6's 210bhp were invited to the party.
We're late for our Saturday post (it's already technically Sunday), so we'll make this a quick one. Yesterday consisted of a train ride from Detroit to Chicago to pick up a Milano Verde that we sorted for a Lancia expert. The drive home was comfortable and uneventful, and now having finished up some work on the Rabbit pickup project, it's time to blog.
The Strada was the English-marked version of the Fiat Ritmo, though we didn't even realize that these were offered in North America until very recently, when a reader asked if we could locate one. The answer was no, because these were reportedly not so reliable when new, and as such, flocked in droves to the junkyards. Though not so embraced in Italy from what we hear, we still like the way these look. The details are more enjoyable than those on the contemporary VW Golf, but the overall shape isn't quite as satisfying to us.
The Fiat Coupé fits squarely in the center of one of our favorite categories of European cars, but we don't really have a good name for it. The Audi TT, Alfa Romeo Brera, and to some extent, the BMW Z3 all join the Coupé in a group of small coupes and roadsters that place a major emphasis on style without feeling a need to maximize performance.
We've said it before, and we think it bears repeating: most driving on the street is substantially below the grip limit of a given vehicle, and most street driving inputs do not require perfect body control or steering feel. A car designed to perform well in everyday driving can be more satisfying to drive on the street than a car set up for ultimate performance. So, we really find nothing wrong with these styling statement coupes, where some turbo lag and uncontrolled body motion might accompany more aggressive driving.
The original Fiat 124 Spider production ceased in 1985, leaving about ten years between the 124 Spider and the Barchetta replacement. Compare this to the continuity at Alfa Romeo, where the Spider nameplate didn't skip a beat between the Series 4 spider and the 916 series Spider, swapping out RWD for FWD without so much as a name change. That Fiat abandoned its old nameplate to position the Barchetta as a new model was wise to us, as it allowed the Barchetta at least a chance at being evaluated in its own context.
In our experience, the formula for a hot hatch doesn't feel out of place in a roadster. Sports car reflexes are lost when the chassis is mined from a FWD economy car, but the result is far from hopeless. We've spent a lot of time behind the wheel of a first-generation Audi TT - a car that by all logic should be a disapointment - and yet the car just feels like a droptop GTI. No need to fret the FWD, in our opinion.
The Fiat Ritmo Abarth range started out with a relatively tame offering, the Fiat Ritmo Abarth 105TC. It aped the famous VW Golf GTI's performance, producing 104bhp from its 1.6L mill. As time went on, the Ritmo Abarths continued to see more powerful engine options, and by 1984, Fiat had installed a 128bhp 2.0L twin cam 4-cylinder in the Ritmo Abarth 130TC. In contrast to the fuel-injected GTI, the Ritmo Abarth sucked down fuel through twin carbs - more exciting, if not as livable in day-to-day driving. The Fiat also featured a more favorable cylinder head design, with a cross-flow twin cam architecture sure to breath better than VW's single cam reverse-flow design.
Unique trim separated the Abarth models from the standard Ritmos. Inside, optional Recaro seats were available. Exterior improvements included Abarth-specific wheel arch trim, spoilers, bumpers, as well as upgraded alloy wheels.
Yesterday a local automotive designer stopped by to say hi and to see what was going on in the CICFS garage (Milano close-ratio transaxle build, Maserati heater core swap). He brought his Dodge Viper. Base engine offered up from the contemporary heavy-duty Ram, Chrysler's newly acquired Lamborghini division was tasked with tapping into the V10's potential. A monster was born. The RZ, known as Il Mostro may not stack up to the specs of the Viper in terms of performance, but it stems from a similar corporate exercise; bringing a show car and its spirit to life in a series production vehicle.
The basis of the two vehicles could not be more different. Chrysler dove deep into the weeds, tooling up new cylinder heads and more for the engine, devising a new chassis, and putting together many of the car's mechanicals from scratch. Alfa, in creating an arguably wilder monster, dipped into its current parts bin, repurposing the DeDion / transaxle chassis of the Milano. Front double wishbone torsion beam suspension with coilover helpers, rear DeDion suspension, and a transaxle with inboard brake calipers. The V6 was a modestly hotter take on the 3.0L in the Milano.
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Year: 1993 Model: Alfa Romeo RZ Engine: 3.0L V6 Transmission: 5-speed manual Mileage: 9,090 Price: $97,500 Location: San Diego, CA
Alfa Romeo ES-30 Roadster Zagato, VIN: ZAR162000*03002149 Year 1993 Make Alfa Romeo Model Zagato Roadster Type No 162C1 VIN ZAR162000*03002149 Italian Homologation No DGM 52914 OM Zagato Production No 27011688 Zagato Body No 168 Engine No 61501++XXXXXX Production No 130 of 284 Exterior Color Rosso Alfa 130 Interior Color Black Full Leather Mileage 14,594 Kilometers 1993 Alfa Romeo Zagato Roadster, VIN: ZAR162000*03002149 Individual History: Completed in 1993 and exported to Japan but not sold new until August 10th, 2001 when it was road registered privately for the first time on Aichi, Japan plates "301 4616." On March 18th, 2005 it was sold privately to the second owner also in Aichi and registered on new plates "301 759." On November 6th, 2009, the registration was renewed on plates "303 4183." On April 8th, 2010, this Alfa was sold and registered on Ouayma plates "300 4314." On June 10th, 2014, it was sold again and reregistered on Kangawa plates "335 130." On February 6th, 2015, this Alfa was sold and re-registered on Tokyo plates "331 5517." On September 29th, 2015 it was purchased corporately and reregistered on Tokyo plates "300 4417 Registration remained Tokyo "30 4417 in dealer inventory from 2015 until sale of vehicle in May of 2018. Mileage at time of initial registration was less than 100 kilometers and vehicle was registered as a new vehicle, no previous owners or registration. No mileage discrepancies at each time of re-registation. Mileage officially recorded and confirmed by Japanese road-registration authorities on September 21st, 2012 at 12,700 kilometers. Mileage officially recorded and confirmed by Japanese road-registration authorities on September 2nd, 2014 at 13,500 kilometers. Mileage officially recorded and confirmed by Japanese road-registration authorities on at time of sale in May of 2018 at 14,500 kilometers. June 2018, Japanese road-registatino canceled, vehicle formally exported and imported to the Unites States July 2018, all services, safety checks completed. New tires installed.
Engine Compression Test Results: Cylinder No Pounds per Square Inch
1 185
2 190
3 190
4 194
5 192
6 190
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We only worry about the RZ/SZ specific components when it comes to keeping one of these on the road. There are very few of those when it comes to mechanicals - headers and coilers come to mind. Bodywork, on the other hand, is likely in short supply. Fortunately, this example looks very clean and complete and shouldn't require month-long eBay searches for anything short of a collision.
With the SZ, you're plunking down serious cash for a design exercise. An exercise that, to our eyes, was not an improvement on existing Alfa Romeo transaxle offerings. Still undeniably cool, the high valuations lend the RZ/SZ pair their new status as more of a collector car, as opposed to a true enthusiast car. And, if you're more of a collector? You might as well seek out a low-mileage example such as this RZ.
